Federal Reserve Bank
of San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank
of San Francisco

Community Development Innovation Review

The Community Development Innovation Review focuses on bridging the gap between theory and practice, from as many viewpoints as possible. The goal of this journal is to promote cross-sector dialogue around a range of emerging issues and related investments that advance economic resilience and mobility for low- and moderate-income communities.

  • Innovations in Neighborhood Stabilization: Responses to the Foreclosure Crisis

    In this issue of the Community Development Investment Review, we have brought together a series of articles that highlights some of the stabilization strategies emerging from the efforts of committed nonprofits across the country. The articles in the first section of this issue reflect the lessons learned from the Housing Partnership Network’s 2011-2013 Innovations in Neighborhood Stabilization and Foreclosure Prevention Initiative, funded by the Citi Foundation. The goal of the Innovations Initiative was not only to support emerging strategies for neighborhood stabilization, but also to share experiences across nonprofits and create a body of knowledge of successful strategies for the community development field. In the second section of this issue, we bring you a series of essays written by influential nonprofit and public sector leaders that enriches the conversation about neighborhood stabilization, providing new and provocative perspectives on this work.

  • A Banker’s Quick Reference Guide to CRA

    Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

    This publication is a guide to the CRA regulation and examination procedures. It is intended for bank CEOs, presidents, and CRA and compliance officers as a tool for accessing CRA information quickly.

  • Making Performance-Based Contracting Work for Kids and Families

    Patrick Lawler and Jessica Foster, Youth Villages

    Done right, performance-based contracting (PBC) offers a win-win-win to government, providers, and, most importantly, the people being served. Government spends funds more effectively, higher-quality providers thrive, and recipients get better services. Take Tennessee’s experience introducing PBC to its child welfare system.

  • Bringing Success to Scale: Pay for Success and Housing Homeless Individuals in Massachusetts

    Joe Finn, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance and Jeff Hayward, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley

    Valentino became homeless after struggles with gambling and alcohol addictions left him with nothing. For more than a decade, Valentino stayed in shelters in the Greater Boston area—or in the hospital. Valentino had three heart attacks while he was homeless, each one worse than the last. He was unable to take care of his health without a stable, safe place to live. Now, Valentino lives in permanent housing through the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) Home & Healthy for Good (HHG) program, which is a partnership between MHSA and its member agencies like Pine Street Inn, where Valentino lives.

  • Tax Increment Finance: A Success-Driven Tool for Catalyzing Economic Development and Social Transformation

    Toby Rittner, Council of Development Finance Agencies

    In the wake of an economic downturn, many cities are left with sites, projects, districts, or entire urban cores requiring redevelopment. The need for social improvements such as community centers, school rehabs, and parks has also become a critical development challenge. However, the ongoing risks of the development market require communities to be even more diligent and aware when entering into the use of public financing mechanisms such as Pay for Success (PFS) financing. One such mechanism, tax increment finance (TIF), has the potential to forge a new path for communities to fund development projects on the basis of their success.

  • Supporting At-Risk Youth: A Provider’s Perspective on Pay for Success

    Lili Elkins, Roca Inc.

    Roca is currently negotiating with the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance to establish one of the first Pay for Success (PFS) pilot projects in the United States.

  • Can Pay for Success Reduce Asthma Emergencies and Reset a Broken Health Care System?

    Rick Brush, Collective Health

    In this article, I look at a path forward for one chronic condition, childhood asthma, and the potential for spreading this approach to the broader health system.

  • Pay for Success: Building On 25 Years of Experience with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit

    Terri Ludwig, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.

    Pay for Success (PFS) has been touted as the hot new innovation in social investing. Over the past year, investors and governments across the country have committed millions of dollars to exciting new tools like social impact bonds (SIBs), which deliver a financial return only when specific social goals are met. But this approach is not new.

  • Human Capital Performance Bonds

    Steve Rothschild, Invest in Outcomes

    The concept of the “new normal” has infiltrated the thinking of policymakers, employers, and service providers. Brought about by demographic and technological changes, the new normal demands change: business as usual will no longer work.

  • Rikers Island: The First Social Impact Bond in the United States

    John Olson and Andrea Phillips, Goldman Sachs

    In August 2012, Goldman Sachs Bank’s Urban Investment Group (UIG) announced the first social impact bond (SIB) in the United States, a $9.6 million loan it would make to support the delivery of therapeutic services to 16- to 18-year-olds incarcerated on Rikers Island.