that will help small businesses as they work through some of the more subtle issues constraining their overall growth. going forward, we will coordinate a series of regional forums for financial institutions and cdfis on the use and deployment of small business programs authorized in the small business jobs act and on sharing information about issues and successful practices at a national level. the forums are being organized with participation from the opportunity finance network ( ofn ), the trade organization for cdfis ; the sba ; the treasury ; the cdfi fund ; and our partner regulatory agencies. in addition to providing information to regional forum participants, we will seek to use these forums to gather information on best practices, trends, and any barriers to the successful implementation of these federal programs. this year ’ s work will culminate with a november conference at the board of governors, in partnership with the federal reserve bank of atlanta, to discuss small business credit and workforce training issues facing entrepreneurs – particularly women and minority entrepreneurs and those living in low - and moderate - income communities. because jobs and the needs of low - and moderate - income communities remain a priority for us, we will continue to foster collaborative efforts in hopes of additional innovative responses. community data initiative the federal reserve has a long history of using anecdotal information gathered from businesses within the reserve districts to better understand underlying regional economies and economic conditions. one of the lessons to be learned from the role of subprime lending in the recent crisis is that it is equally important to pay attention to underlying trends in segments of the economy, such as low - to moderate - income communities or small businesses. the anecdotal information we collect from community advocates and development professionals is quite valuable, but it will be even more actionable if we have a framework for systematically collecting, studying, and disseminating the information. to address this need to identify early warning signs of future economic challenges, we are testing several initiatives to collect information from practitioners and others working directly in the communities. this effort, known as the “ community data initiative, ” is intended to provide a systematic approach to gathering and disseminating on - the - ground intelligence on current conditions and emerging challenges facing low - and moderate - income communities. insights from the data will inform existing processes at the fed and provide useful information to low - and moderate - income communities. in order to achieve this new data collection and analysis objective, a number of the reserve banks are leveraging their own research resources to survey,

poll, or otherwise collect information about communities in their district. at the board, we are also conducting our own surveys to help validate the district results. although the project is in its infant stage, i would like to share some initial findings from two of the reserve banks that are already participating in the process. the federal reserve bank of san francisco ’ s “ community indicators project ” is a quarterly survey tool that includes a collection of open - ended questions to inform community development policy and practice in a richer way than quantitative data alone. leaders from banks, nonprofits, community - based organizations, foundations, local government, and the private sector are asked about the conditions and trends affecting low - income households. the lack of jobs was the dominant theme in the first year of data collection, with the majority of respondents identifying unemployment as the primary cause of new distress in the housing sector as increasing numbers of residents struggled to make mortgage or rent payments. one survey participant stated that “ prolonged unemployment and underemployment are causing a huge bis central bankers ’ speeches growth in the number of low - and moderate - income individuals and communities. unemployment is now the driving force behind most of the other crises we are facing. ” 11 similarly, the federal reserve bank of richmond has been using their emerging issues surveillance tool ( eist ) to identify the most significant current and emerging community development issues in the district ’ s diverse communities. the top three issues in the spring 2011 data release were employment opportunities, access to housing, and home foreclosures. the jobs issue surfaced again, with a focus on the need for training, when a participant stated : “ employment is the key to sustained self - sufficiency. there are jobs available in the washington, d. c., market, but mostly high - skilled jobs for which low - income residents are unqualified. ” as with the san francisco survey, the results from this tool provide useful data for richmond policymakers and district stakeholders. virtual collaboration the growth in survey and other tools is intended to expand the federal reserve ’ s outreach efforts and to ensure that we are responsive to the entire population. as we continue to improve the tools we use, we hope to continue to engage each of you in the conversation. in the past, collaboration often required outlays of scarce time and financial resources to attend face - to - face meetings. we are increasingly exploring ways to use technology to effectively expand our reach. for example, the system is using live web -