2019 Federal Reserve Community Development Research Conference

The Federal Reserve System Community Development Research Conference is a biennial event that brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss important issues facing individuals and their communities.

The 2019 conference, which convened May 9-10 at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington, D.C., explored the latest research on strategies to renew the promise of the middle class including:

• emerging trends in education, labor practices, entrepreneurship, housing, credit, wealth, indebtedness, and other developments affecting the middle class;

• policy innovations and legacies that either encourage or discourage the creation of an inclusive middle class;

• actions by individuals and institutions, including governments, financial institutions, community groups, businesses and non-profits, to create new and enduring paths to the middle class.

The conference featured keynote remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard, and City Colleges of Chicago chancellor Juan Salgado.