San Francisco Fed Study Examines Poverty in West Fresno

Business Wire, Oct 27, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- The challenges facing high poverty communities around the nation are the focus of a recently released Federal Reserve System report, "The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America: Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S." Each of the 12 Reserve Banks examined a high poverty area in its District; The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco contributed to this report with a case study on West Fresno, a neighborhood that has seen an increasing poverty rate over the past 30 years. It is one of the neighborhoods that contributed to Fresno's 2005 ranking as the city with the highest rate of concentrated poverty in the nation, exceeding that even of New Orleans.

The San Francisco Fed's case study uses US Census data and interviews with community stakeholders to explore the factors contributing to the high level of poverty in West Fresno and the difficulties it poses for the families who live there. Interviewees pointed to a number of long-standing challenges in the neighborhood, including patterns of public and private disinvestment, underperforming schools, high unemployment, and limitations in organizational capacity to address community needs. For example, according to the SF Fed study, in 2000, unemployment in the West Fresno neighborhood stood at 23 percent, almost double that of the Fresno metropolitan statistical area.

However, San Francisco Fed Senior Research Associate and case study author Naomi Cytron notes that increased recognition of high poverty in the community has catalyzed local action. "In the last few years, new partnerships have emerged in Fresno to develop and strengthen connections between neighborhood residents, community serving organizations, and city and regional business and governance structures," she said. "These efforts will hopefully help to realign resources and create new economic opportunities for West Fresno residents."

Allysunn Williams of the Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission said, "After decades of neglect, Southwest Fresno represents the last frontier of broad-scale development for our great city. The absence of coordinated economic and community development that bring family-supporting jobs and quality housing has left both non-profits and government programs with a formidable task. The Fed report is another tool in our arsenal to help us develop an actionable, investment-worthy plan to bring needed resources to the Southwest Fresno community. We appreciate the attention and the analysis and welcome the Fed's partnership."

Recognition that many diverse types of communities struggle with concentrated poverty led the Federal Reserve System to join with the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program in developing a research project to explore the relationship between poverty, people and place. The report breaks new ground by exploring how pockets of extreme poverty manifest across a variety of communities: smaller cities, immigrant gateways, suburban municipalities and rural counties. The resulting report contains 16 case studies, undertaken by the Federal Reserve System's Community Affairs offices across the United States.

The 15 other communities studied for this report are: Albany, Georgia; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Austin, Texas; Blackfeet Reservation, Montana; Cleveland, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; Greenville, North Carolina; Holmes County, Mississippi; Martin County, Kentucky; McDowell County, West Virginia; McKinley County, New Mexico; Miami, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Rochester, New York; and Springfield, Massachusetts.

The case studies in the report demonstrate that the issues Fresno faces are not unique; a number of themes are common across all of the case study communities, including isolation, struggles with human capital development, high rates of unemployment, inadequate housing, and limitations in capacity to address the complex and interwoven issues facing their communities. However, each community possesses unique assets that can be employed in creating a policy and programmatic framework that provides greater opportunity for neighborhood residents and for the regions in which those neighborhoods are situated.

"This report reflects the commitment of Community Affairs offices across the System both to understanding the challenges facing very low-income areas and to identifying public and private resources that can bring much needed investment to these areas," said Janet Yellen, president and CEO of the San Francisco Fed. "This report will hopefully stimulate a rigorous discussion regarding expanding opportunities in areas that have increasingly fallen behind."

The report's findings will contribute to the Federal Reserve's understanding of low-income communities and their needs in carrying out ongoing community development partnerships in these areas, and will inform other efforts to foster comprehensive solutions to community and economic development challenges. These include lowering the barriers to developing quality affordable housing and community facilities such as schools and health care centers, helping to support small businesses, and improving access to tools that build financial stability.