System Publications

Publications on a variety of Community Development topics

Opportunity Occupations Revisited: Exploring Employment for Sub-Baccalaureate Workers Across Metro Areas and Over Time

This 2019 report updates a 2015 publication investigating regional economic opportunity for workers without a four-year college degree. In this study, researchers from the Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia and Cleveland find that opportunity employment — defined as employment accessible to workers without a bachelor’s degree and typically paying above the national annual median wage, adjusted for regional differences in consumer prices — accounts for 21.6 percent of total employment but ranges from a high of 34.0 percent to a low of 14.6 percent in the metro areas analyzed. The report illustrates how the local mix of occupations, employers’ educational expectations, and the cost of living combine to expand or limit local opportunity relative to national conditions, and it finds that some of the largest opportunity occupations became more accessible to sub-baccalaureate workers as the labor market tightened.

Redefining "Rust Belt": An Exchange of Strategies by the Cities of Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia

This publication summarizes the key themes from the first event in the Redefining "Rust Belt" series. The event engaged community leaders from the cities of Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia in a discussion of challenges and successful strategies in city revitalization efforts. The event was held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia. 

A Perspective from Main Street: Long-Term Unemployment and Workforce Development

This report summarizes the key topics that emerged from forums held by the Community Development departments at the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Francisco, and St. Louis, as well as the Board of Governors in 2011. The forums were a part of an initiative to explore the causes of long-term unemployment in low-to-moderate income communities and to identify strategies that foster successful workforce development. 

REO and Vacant Properties: Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization

REO and Vacant Properties: Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization is a joint summit and publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Cleveland and the Federal Reserve Board. The summit will help communities and practitioners better understand current barriers, promising practices, and regional differences related to neighborhood stabilization and the disposition of real estate owned (REO) property.

The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America: Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S.

The report profiles 16 high-poverty communities throughout the country including 5th District cities, West Greenville, North Carolina and McDowell County, West Virginia.