Stephanie Norris and Davy Sell review the latest results of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's Survey of Community College Outcomes, which examined the variety of ways that these colleges served different types of students and communities in the Fifth District as well as in five states outside of this region. Norris is a regional economist and Sell is a regional analyst, both at the Richmond Fed.

Suzanne Holland talks about the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's recent visit to Martinsville to learn about the economic challenges and opportunities in the city and surrounding rural communities in southern Virginia. Kate Keller describes one issue in the region — the shortage of affordable housing — and the unique approach to the problem taken by her organization, the Harvest Foundation.

Holland is a senior outreach specialist at the Richmond Fed and Keller is president of the Harvest Foundation.

Zhu Wang discusses the emergence of "buy now, pay later" installment loans and shares his research on the potential impacts of this payment option on the credit risks of individuals and the stability of financial markets. Wang is vice president for research in financial and payment systems at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.