Richard Walker

I would like to introduce Lynn Browne, she is responsible for the public policy here at the Fed. She is an economist and from 1993 to 2001, she was Director of Research and oversaw the Bank’s scholarly research.

Lynn Browne is an Executive Vice President and Economic Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. She has responsibility for the Bank’s public information, community affairs, and regional economic programs. Ms. Browne has been with the Bank since 1975. Prior to joining the Bank, she worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an analyst in the Division of Fiscal Affairs and as an economist for the Office of the Governor. She has a PhD in Economics from MIT and I am pleased to say she has been my supervisor for several years.

 
 
Lynn Browne
It is a pleasure to welcome you all to this very exciting conference. Cathy really wanted to be here because she is interested in this subject and particularly in achieving a measurable impact. Most of you know this is a series of one of many conferences that will take place at several of the Federal Reserves over the next couple of years. I would like thank Kirsten Moy and Greg Ratliff from the Aspen Institute who are helping make this happen. We would also like to thank Amy Domini for her participation as well.

The Federal Reserve has been responsible for providing financial support and we've done this most through public policy and regulation. Now that we've seen the opportunities there are in certain communities we haven't had to revert to that. We've shifted our focus on research of best practices and convening conferences so that people from the community can come together. This is better than just scrutinizing the banks. Community development is a complex process and it's difficult to know what works. After being here for a couple of years, we visited various community concerns and there is often an ad hoc nature to this work and we're not sure how this applies to other locations. We don't know what's going to work on the large scale. We all have our string of anecdotes but can we show that we've made a difference.

The goal of this conference is to establish models that will work on a substantial scale and have a way to develop metrics to know if and how we're making changes. We're trying to bring together different partners that have different strengths and create an opportunity for synergy. Community financial institutions know their communities but don't have the funding. There are other organizations developed to meet a particular need and they don't know how to continue to grow or don't know how to achieve economies of scale. They are perpetually vulnerable to funding. There is a recognition that we need to get beyond this.

There are other organizations that have access to funding and are looking for investment opportunities. Socially responsible investors are best known for what they don't invest in. They don't invest in corporations that offer products that are damaging to the environment or other practice3s that we consider unethical. Socially responsible take a positive approach by investing in organizations that engage in environmentally responsible business practices and in general do things that improve the quality of life. They also invest in local organizations that provide funding to small and ethically marginalized businesses. With access and knowledge the SRI's have better opportunities to provide funding; they know what the opportunities and challenges of particular communities.

Over the next couple of days, we're hoping you will learn more about one another and find ways to work together. We hope that this forum will provide an opportunity for you to appreciate your financial goals and the constraints you operate under.

We hope to have future dialogue on how to measure the financial and social impact returns. We hope there will be encouragement for this conversation and these ideas.

 

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