NRDP-Federal Reserve Partnerships
Here are some of the successful partnerships that State Councils have had
with the Federal Reserve Bank. For more information, contact
Rick Wetherill in the Office of
Community Development
In February 2001, the Massachusetts Rural Development Council co-hosted the Rural/Urban Institute in Auburn, Massachusetts. The City of Worcester and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development joined the Council as co-hosts of this event. Providing generous support were Verizon, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and Nebraska's Heartland Center for Leadership Development, a nationally recognized expert in rural community development. This event focused on issues common to urban and rural communities and ways to pursue policy and service delivery changes in both communities. The more than 60 attendees included representatives from numerous local, state, federal, and community service agencies. USDA-RD and HHS were particularly well represented. The morning session began with an address by Congressman McGovern, who stressed the importance of the issues addressed at this event and how they relate to issues Congress faces. Working sessions covered a range of topics, including housing affordability and availability; oral health issues, such as accessibility to oral health care practitioners; business and entrepreneurial opportunities and obstacles; and juvenile justice issues. As a result of this productive one-day event, working committees will be formed to address adjusting policy and funding streams on the state and national levels and to improve the lives of both rural and urban populations.
The first North Dakota workshop dedicated to a review of Indian Reservation lending from the standpoint of tribal sovereignty was held in Bismarck in October 2000. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank contacted the North Dakota Rural Development Council requesting assistance in scheduling the special-emphasis forum. The event was held to address a number of shared misconceptions about lending on American Indian Reservations. There is a strong perception among lending organizations that tribal sovereignty is an inhibiting factor in the security of loans and the recuperation of debt. The goals of the workshop were to improve understanding of regulations governing tribal lending, open the doors of communication between the tribes and lending institutions, and ultimately improve mutual borrowing and lending access for tribal members and the financial community. As a result of the workshop, an Interagency Working Group on Reservation Lending, including the NDRDC, has been established. SBA, FDIC, CDFI, and the IRS all participated in the forum and now are represented on the Interagency Working Group. The Spirit Lake Sioux Nation of North Dakota agreed to pilot a focus project on their reservation, with emphasis on developing a uniform commercial code for the tribe. A mutually acceptable plan of action has been drafted, and regular progress reporting will occur throughout the pilot project. The goal of the pilot project is to develop best practices that will apply to other states, tribal governments, and lending institutions.
The West Virginia Rural Development Council, in cooperation with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, worked with a planning group of local leaders and officials from three counties to plan a regional forum. Entitled "Making Small Cities and Towns Work," the forum was held at Canaan Valley State Park in May 2000. State and nationally known experts addressed several topics, including the future of small town retail, attracting big and small businesses, tackling the wastewater issue, and closing the telecommunications and the health care gap. By attending the forum, county and community leaders learned strategies that other regions of the state and nation successfully employed to confront their own local challenges. The Federal Reserve Bank developed a basic model for the process and a format that was based on its earlier work in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area. However, further development was needed to make the model applicable to a rural setting. Since WVRDC was a recognized in-state partner, its executive director, as a charter member of the Richmond Federal Community Development Advisory Council, was approached by the Federal Reserve's Community Affairs Office to coordinate the effort in the state. WVRDC became the in-state partner and identified the appropriate communities that might benefit from the program, created a core group of local leaders from each of the participating counties, facilitated the planning meetings, and maintained communication among the participants throughout the planning process.
