Articles by Jon Ford

Group of diverse multi-ethnic people communicating
By Jon Ford, Julie Siwicki, Jennifer Wilding
Communities benefit when research is conducted collaboratively with community members rather than to them. Here are five ways this approach, called participatory research, is different from a typical research process and how it benefits communities.
Grand Opening, Frogtown Square, 2011
By Jennifer Wilding
Experience Investment Connection—from pitch to impact—with small business owners, community organizers, and bankers, and the Federal Reserve community development experts bringing them together.
Paul Woodruff
By Jennifer Wilding
“Banks and nonprofits need mutually beneficial relationships,” says Paul Woodruff. Investment Connection encourages organizations to highlight what both the nonprofits and the banks have to gain.
Otis Zanders, executive director of Ujamaa Place; Atum Azzahir, executive director of Cultural Wellness Center; and Mihailo Temali, CEO of the Neighborhood Development Center.
By Jennifer Wilding
The loan purchase program was a pilot, a new model that Dan Fagan hoped more banks could adopt. “We just decided that we were going to plow forward."
Business Launch Boot Camp Retrospective
By Jennifer Wilding
In 2011, Ariel Cisneros from the Kansas City Fed invited Rob Smith to pitch at Investment Connection. In the three years following the event, Smith raised about $300,000. The funding came at a pivotal moment.
Eviction Notice
By Jennifer Wilding
A growing number of states and cities have passed laws that say low-income tenants have the right to counsel when they’re facing eviction. Most come with funds to implement the right to counsel.