How does your county fare in accessing federal community development funding?
Capital is vital for communities. Businesses depend on it to expand. Families need it to be safely and stably housed. Consumers need it to find affordable groceries. And cities need it to pave streets and update sewers.
But how well are federal community development finance flows targeted to areas that need them? Relatively little is known about community development investment trends at the local level. Our new Community Development Financial Flows data tool shows which counties are doing better at accessing federal funds and which are facing serious shortfalls.
We measured federally sponsored or incentivized community development capital to all US counties with populations greater than 50,000 (which accounts for 88 percent of the US population) using data from 2011 to 2015. We tracked funding in four dimensions—housing, small business, impact finance, and other community development—and created a combined measure that averages those four categories.
The Urban Institute
by Brett Theodos
June 26, 2018