Neighborhood Revitalization Series

The Community Development Office of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - Louisville Branch sponsored a Neighborhood Revitalization series, “Tools for Making a Difference” on how to enhance the economic development of neighborhoods. The three-part series featured guest speakers from national community and economic development intermediaries that have developed innovative tools, policies and analyses to help restore viability and wealth to distressed urban neighborhoods. The series was also in support of the Greater Neighborhood Project, a collaborative effort among several local partners to strengthen the neighborhoods of Louisville and improve the quality of life of the city’s residents.

Ira Goldstein, Ph.D., director of policy and information services of The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a Philadelphia-based CDFI, kicked off the series in December 2006. Goldstein explained TRF’s proprietary Market Value Analysis and how it can help government and private investors target investments and prioritize action in ways that can revive depressed neighborhoods.

Social Compact’s president and CEO John Talmage was the second featured speaker in the series. Social Compact is a nonprofit research group funded by real estate and financial firms that has conducted economic assessments of some 100 inner-city neighborhoods, uncovering data that reveal consumption patterns. Instead of relying on traditional data provided by the U.S. Census, Social Compact uses information from municipalities, tax and police records, credit and utility companies and similar unconventional sources.

For years, retail site selectors disregarded urban neighborhoods, citing census figures, credit card stats and other data that pointed to poverty, crime and other social deficiencies. Washington, D.C.-based Social Compact looks beyond the rundown facades and rudimentary numbers to search for hidden insufficiencies that often prompt deal-makers to take that second look.

The third and final meeting in the series featured Dan Tatar, Community Affairs Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Tatar presented "The Impacts of Targeted Public and Nonprofit Investment on Neighborhood Development," a study conducted for and funded by the Richmond Fed. The study reviews the economic impact of Neighborhoods in Bloom (NiB), a policy that directed public and nonprofit investments to specific communities with the aim of attracting and sustaining additional private capital.

The series captured the interest of a broad group of attendees representing financial institutions, community-based organizations, grassroots organizations, foundations and the public sector. Recently, Social Compact announced an agreement with Louisville Metro to conduct a drilldown analysis of several underserved city neighborhoods. The report is expected to be released in a couple of months.