Policy Summit 2007
June 21-22, 2007
Hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Cleveland Marriott Downtown — Cleveland, Ohio
Proceedings
Overview
The Cleveland Fed’s Fifth Annual Community Development Policy Summit provided a two-day forum for a group of 300 bankers, community development practitioners, elected and appointed officials, and academics to step back from their daily work and consider the policy landscape surrounding issues that affect communities today. The policy summit included panel presentations, breakout sessions and informal networking opportunities, all of which gave attendees the opportunity to examine key issues facing communities, among them foreclosures, vacant and abandoned properties, and finding new sources to fund community development. The opening plenary session focused on the Community Reinvestment Act, which was passed 30 years ago.
A pervading topic of discussion addressed partnerships among practitioners, bankers, community leaders, and funders, and how these alliances are increasingly being leveraged to address community development issues.
“Our aim with the policy summit is to bring together key players in community development — policymakers, bankers, academics, funders and, of course, practitioners — to examine critical issues in community development through a policy lens,” noted Ruth Clevenger Community Affairs Officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the policy summit’s key organizer. “So many communities, urban, rural, and suburban alike, are facing the same issues. We wanted to showcase some of the policies, practices and partnerships that have been most effective at helping communities address the issues.”
Capping this year’s conference was the keynote address by Clarence Page, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with the Chicago Tribune. Mr. Page shared observations, anecdotes, and wisdom culled from three decades of work covering community and political issues, beginning with coverage of the early activism of Gail Cincotta on Chicago’s West Side and running through his years in Washington, DC, covering these issues from a national perspective.