2004 Development Report Card for the States

Posted by on December 31, 2004

[posted from the Community Development Banking Listserv]

Last month, CFED released its 2004 Development Report Card for the States. Available online at http://drc.cfed.org, the annual report card benchmarks the 50 states against one another in an array of factors that influence economic vitality. This is the 18th annual report card.

Because the report card gathers a wealth of comparative economic data, it can provide you a powerful tool for conducting research (all raw data are publicly available, searchable, and free) and advocating for effective policies at the state level.

About the 2004 Development Report Card for the States
The Development Report Card for the States uses 68 economic and social measures to compare the 50 states’ economies with one another. In contrast to other report cards, the Development Report Card for the States takes a wide view of the components needed to create a successful economy: a skilled workforce, a high quality of life, technology development and transfer, entrepreneurs, existing businesses, world-class infrastructure, and quality public services. In a new feature this year, the report card also shows trend data by state to show which states are improving or declining over time.

About CFED
CFED is a nonprofit organization that expands economic opportunity. We work to ensure that every person can participate in, contribute to, and benefit from the economy by bringing together community practice, public policy, and private markets. We identify promising ideas; test and refine them in communities to find out what works; craft policies and products to help good ideas reach scale; and foster new markets to achieve greater economic impact.