Community Development Data Guidebook

Posted by Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on March 2, 2015

This guide is meant to serve as a “how to” for those interested in conducting more robust

community development research. This type of community-based research, often termed performance context in the regulatory world, is critical to bankers looking to make impactful investments and loans pursuant to Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements. It is equally critical to community development practitioners looking to maximize impact in the areas in which they operate. In the first part of the guide, we provide a variety of data resources, divided by topic area, along with a practical application of how to retrieve the data and commentary on what to do when you have it. In the second part of the guide, we include an example of how different data pieces can come together to produce a strong performance context. While most of the sample resources referenced in this guide are publicly available and free, there are a few referenced items that are fee-based. Neither the inclusion of referenced resources nor their hyperlinks in this guide implies our sponsorship or endorsement of any third
parties’ views, products, or service.

http://www.frbsf.org/community-development/files/Community-Development-Data-Guidebook.pdf