The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is designed to encourage banks and thrifts to meet the financial credit and service needs of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, requiring that lenders use their private-sector resources to meet the financing needs of all communities in which lenders conduct business. This brief outlines several types of…

Sustainability is a critical issue for the vast array of community initiatives that promote healthy children, strong families, and safe communities. Noting that sustaining an initiative over time requires maintaining sufficient fiscal resources as well as a combination of nonfiscal resources from the initiative itself and the broader community,…

The First Statewide Legislative Symposium on Rural Development reported that, while community facilities and housing are vital to the successful growth and renewal of New York's rural areas, these requirements are not being met for many rural communities. Rural population influxes have caused escalating costs for maintenance and improvement of…