As this is my last issue, I want to thank you for 10 years of amazing support. Your emails, participation in focus groups, and ideas for articles have been vital.

I think you will like Ana Patricia Munoz's cover story on the shocking racial wealth gaps in the Boston metropolitan area. In other Boston Fed articles, Bo Zhao and Calvin Kuo use a "municipal gap" lens to describe the fiscal disparities across Connecticut municipalities. Mary Burke and Austin Drukker take a look at some hard data contradicting the common wisdom about Rhode Island's relatively slow economic recovery. Amy Higgins maps changes in mortgage originations in New England.

Brown University's Matthew Kraft offers confirmation that teacher-parent communication has positive effects on student success. NBER researchers Scott Carrell and Bruce Sacerdote examine coaching programs that nudge students to apply to college. And Keith Wardrip, Philadelphia Fed, highlights the disconnect between housing costs in Greater Hartford and the wages many residents earn.

UC Berkeley's Ken Jacobs and colleagues discuss how a higher minimum wage keeps working families from needing public assistance. Drexel's Paul Harrington and Ishwar Khatiwada show that US teens have diminished opportunities for work experience and, hence, future success. Finally, Third Sector New England's Jonathan Spack warns about the impending shift in nonprofit leadership.

I leave Communities & Banking in the hands of outstanding colleagues. If you find it valuable, please let them know at CommunityDevelopment@bos.frb.org.

Caroline Ellis

Managing Editor
CommunityDevelopment@bos.frb.org