ACCION Texas is the largest microlender in the United States. With an active loan portfolio of $6 million, the nonprofit is reaching small businesses throughout the 262,000 square miles of Texas. In 2001, ACCION introduced the Out-of-Area Network to help connect with small businesses throughout...

John Molinaro, codirector of the Community Strategies Group for international leadership organization the Aspen Institute in Washington, spoke to Banking and Community Perspectives about his perceptions of rural asset building from a national perspective.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assists historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) with grants through the Office of University Partnerships. The office helps the HBCUs expand their role and effectiveness in addressing community development needs in their...

In September 2011, the Disability Opportunity Fund (DOF) and the Dallas Fed partnered on a conference that addressed the financing of disability housing.

With 14.2 percent of the population over the age of 5 having a disability,[1] finding viable housing options that are universally designed and constructed to be accessible for people with disabilities is an ongoing challenge in Texas. And promoting housing solutions and partnerships that can...

Over the past two years, Community Affairs offices in all 12 Federal Reserve Banks have worked on a joint study of concentrated poverty--neighborhoods with poverty rates of at least 40 percent. ; In collaboration with Washington-based nonprofit the Brookings Institution, the Community Affairs...

Banks, their customers and the local community share the long-term benefits of meaningful community investments.

This issue of Banking and Community Perspectives analyzes the dynamics of concentrated poverty in rural and urban settings.

Leigh Tivol, senior program manager with the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, D.C., presented the national perspective on the asset-building movement at the RAISE Texas Action Summit in April.>

What began several years ago as a network of matched savings programs to encourage low-income Texans to save has blossomed into a statewide, comprehensive asset-building movement now known as RAISE Texas.