CFED conducts rigorous research, analyzes new ideas, tests programs and advocates for policies that will lead to a more inclusive economy. We are committed to helping people that traditionally have not been able to benefit from our economy.

Many of our publications are available online, free of charge. Others may be purchased.

Latest Publications

This is My Home is a new book from I'M HOME partner CRA-NC. Through photos and interviews, This is My Home shares the stories of people living in manufactured homes and communities. More

CFED and the Northwest Area Foundation have released two reports examining efforts to promote Native entrepreneurship.  One focuses on two reservation communities in South Dakota and the other is a summary of these findings and those of an earlier, national report on Native Entrepreneurship.

Subsidies For Assets: A New Look At The Federal Budget
Increasing attention has been paid in recent years to the critical role that financial assets play in household stability and opportunity. While much effort is going into developing new programs and policies to help more households build nest eggs, relatively little attention is paid to the cost and benefits of policies and programs that already exist

Linking Youth Savings and Entrepreneurship: A White Paper
Provides an initial overview of SEED children’s savings accounts and REAL Entrepreneurship youth entrepreneurship education and outlines the rationale for linking these two asset-building approaches.

Development Finance and Regional Economic Development
What are the best ways to use development finance to spur regional economic development?  “Development Finance and Regional Economic Development,” outlines current promising practices.  The paper rates both the current strategies of development finance institutions and the leading innovations in workforce development.

The School Choice Movement: Framing The Issue for Policy Change
This case study focuses on the origins, strategies and supporting infrastructure of the school choice movement, as an example of successful field-building for policy change.

IDAs and Asset Building

Entrepreneurship and Microenterprise

Development Finance

Economic Development and Business Climate

SEED