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.

  • CultureBank: A Vision for a New Investment System

    Deborah Cullinan, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Penelope Douglas, CultureBank

    Arts organizations should focus on developing the conditions for new futures to emerge. As a society, we must value the essential role the artist plays as a key collaborator in community investment.

  • Culture and Creativity Are Fundamental to Resilient Communities

    Laurel Blatchford and Nella Young, Enterprise Community Partners

    Community development strategies that honor cultural identity and facilitate creative expression—often led by artists, designers, and culture bearers—can increase social cohesion and resilience.

  • “The Way We Work”: Integrating Arts and Culture into an Organization

    Ashley Hanson, Department of Public Transformation

    A rural theater artist partners with Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership and highlights the value of trusting the creative process, taking risks, and investing the necessary time.

  • Mimes and Road Construction: An Unlikely Partnership for Community Investment

    Enzina Marrari, Kendall|Marrari

    What might happen if unlikely partners came together to solve a problem and had room to experiment? MimeSpenard, a creative placemaking project that took place in Anchorage, Alaska answered these questions in black and white. With, well, a pop of red.

  • Foreword

    Laura Choi, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

    It has been said that listening is a form of art. The seemingly simple act of listening requires multiple skills: the ability to earn the trust of the person speaking; the fortitude to wholly focus one’s attention without being distracted; and the patience to iteratively process and understand what has been shared. Listening, building trust, […]

  • Creative Placemaking in Government: Past and Future

    Mary Anne Carter, National Endowment for the Arts

    The National Endowment for the Arts celebrates 10 years of strengthening communities across America through investments and support of creative placemaking projects.

  • Ibasho: A Place of Belonging1

    Scott Oshima, Japanese American Cultural and Community Center

    Sustainable Little Tokyo’s project ART@341FSN demonstrates the power of artists and arts-based strategies in advocating for Little Tokyo’s culture, history, and future.

  • Integrating Arts and Culture into Community Development to Improve Outcomes

    Maurice Jones, Local Initiatives Support Corporation

    Arts and cultural strategies can innovatively address challenges with social cohesion, spur economic development, and produce positive effects in the built environment that benefit current residents.

  • Dialogue on Organizational Growth and Change

    Erica Reed and Mahalia Wright, Jackson Medical Mall Foundation; Chelsea Alger and Ashley Hanson, Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership; Facilitated by Victor Rubin, PolicyLink

    This conversation explores how the integration of artistic practice into community development efforts spurred personal transformation and organizational growth and change.

  • From Zuni Art to The Sky is the Limit!

    Daryl Shack, Sr.

    An artist’s journey to help center Zuni culture in the design, building, and programming of a park and community center, in the process, transformed and empowered a community to shape their future.