Articles excerpted from the Fall 2003 issue of NeighborWorks^® bright ideas

Engines of Community Development: Banking Opportunities in Rural America, by John D. Hawke, Jr., Comptroller of the Currency and a member of Neighborhood Reinvestment’s board of directors.

"Rural America needs banks –- and vice versa," writes John D. Hawke. "Banks need viable communities to thrive. When a community declines, so do its banks. Those banks that diligently and creatively attend to the present and future needs of the community –- the entire community, including its low- and moderate-income residents –- have the best prospects in the long run." The article contains excerpts from two issues of Community Developments, an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency publication. These two issues focused on rural America and the role of banks in strengthening rural communities. The fall 2002 Community Developments highlight rural economic development initiatives; the spring 2003 issue addressed financing affordable housing. Download PDF [PDF, 833KB]

Tales From the US Census: Taking Stock of Rural America and Its Housing, by Lance George, research associate with the Housing Assistance Council.

The article contains excerpted portions of the Housing Assistance Council’s (HAC’s) publication, Taking Stock: Rural People, Poverty, and Housing at the Turn of the 21st Century. Taking Stock provides an overview of rural America’s residents, their economic condition, and their homes, based on data from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing. Download PDF [PDF, 910KB]

View From the Kansas City Fed: Thinking Regionally, Acting Locally: Emerging Rural U.S. Regions, by Kendall McDaniel, associate economist, Center for the Study of Rural America, a unit of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Throughout the nation, rural leaders are rethinking their economic development strategies. What was once a uniquely community effort is now giving way to regional economic development partnerships that pool rural resources. New regional alliances are emerging in the United States to overcome fiscal crises, bolster local economies, maintain public services, and take advantage of new economic opportunities. For the most part, it is too early to measure the success of these fledgling rural regions. But identifying and tracking emerging rural regions can help inform public policymakers and encourage other rural leaders. Download PDF [PDF, 305KB]

Regional Strategy in Kentucky: Community Ventures Uses MNTC Award to Expand Business Loans

When Community Ventures Corporation, a NeighborWorks organization of Lexington, Kentucky, was chosen this year to receive an allocation of $12 million in tax credits under a new, innovative federal program, it was an indication of just how far the organization had come in the last decade. Download PDF [PDF, 246KB]

Previewing December’s Symposium: ‘The New Rural America'Promises a Reality Check on Diverse Regions, by David Dangler, manager of Neighborhood Reinvestment’s Rural Initiative.

For many Americans, "rural" is a special state of mind that has little to do with what is actually taking place in a thousand distinct markets across the nation. Each market or unique economic region has its own defining characteristics. Collectively, it is true, there are enough of the most basic ingredients – less people, more open land – to justify the generic label, "rural America." But today, as never before in our history, what we casually refer to as rural America is in fact a patchwork quilt of wildly diverse economic regions. Download PDF [PDF, 283KB]

To learn more about Neighborhood Reinvestment’s NeighborWorks Rural Initiative, click here or visit Neighborhood Reinvestment’s Web site www.nw.org for more news about affordable housing and community development.

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