Boston Fed
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Community perspectives and conditions from the Fed’s Beige Book, July 2026
Communities nationwide are dealing with higher costs, limited affordable housing, workforce shifts, and less funding for training. Some workers now value stability more than advancement, while employers focus on hiring candidates with strong soft skills and offer job training.
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Where Are the Underbanked Areas?
This data tool can help organizations (financial institutions, community organizations, researchers and policymakers) identify where unbanked and underbanked households live, which financial services they use, and key demographic patterns.
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The Quarterly Catch-up, Q2 2026
Check out the latest community development-related research, analyses, and articles from all 12 Federal Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors. This post captures content published between April 1 and June 2026, on topics affecting communities.
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Community perspectives and conditions from the Fed’s Beige Book, April 2026
Inflation is driving increases in the utilization of support services, spending on credit, and restructuring debt. As one contact noted, lower- and middle-income households “can’t out-budget low wages, tariffs, and inflation.”
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How the Fed studies and understands housing’s key role in the economy
The cost and availability of housing affect family budgets, labor force mobility, business growth, and the health of the economy. Learn how the Fed studies and engages with communities around vital housing trends, challenges, and innovations.
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Community perspectives and conditions from the Fed’s Beige Book, February 2026
Community contacts report that rising costs for food, housing, and energy have strained low- and moderate-income communities and nonprofits, while rural hospitals face financial risks. Stable employment for some helped ease economic anxiety, contacts noted. But vulnerable groups and small businesses remained stressed under increasing costs, according to observations for the February 2026 Beige Book.
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Small business strategies for supporting employee child care needs
Small businesses employ nearly half of private-sector workers but often have limited resources to offer benefits like child care. This article examines the prevalence of employer-supported child care and the practical strategies small businesses employ to support working parents.
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The Quarterly Catch-up, Q4 2025
Check out the latest community development-related research, analyses, and articles from all 12 Federal Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors. This post captures content published between October 1 and December 31, 2025, on topics affecting communities.
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The Quarterly Catch-up, Q3 2025
Check out the latest community development-related research, analyses, and articles from all 12 Federal Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors. This post captures content published between July 1 and September 30, 2025, on topics affecting communities.
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2025 Community Perspectives Survey: Insights from the field—Health of entities serving low- and moderate-income communities
The second report from the 2025 Community Perspectives Survey highlights how LMI-serving organizations are managing demand, funding, and staffing. While many can meet community needs, challenges like resource strain and adapting to uncertainity are impacting their overall organizational health.