Understanding the Cleveland Fed: What we do and what that means for you

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is part of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), the central bank of the United States, and has a public service mission to promote a healthy economy and financial stability.

The Fed’s unique structure helps us achieve this mission. We’re part of an independent and decentralized central bank, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks across the US overseen by the seven-member Board of Governors in Washington DC.

Congress designed this structure more than 100 years ago to avoid concentrating economic power in Washington and on Wall Street. This structure also helps the Fed monitor regional economic conditions closely and understand the challenges facing communities, industries, and small businesses in different parts of the country.

Our nonpartisan makeup helps to insulate us from political considerations, allowing us to work more effectively in the longer-run best interests of the US economy.

Who we serve

The Cleveland Fed serves the Federal Reserve’s Fourth District, an area that covers all of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Our 1,100 employees work in our Cleveland headquarters and branch offices in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

The Cleveland Fed’s main responsibilities

As part of the Fed, we have five main responsibilities, all aimed at promoting the health and stability of the US economy and financial system:

• Conducting monetary policy in pursuit of two congressionally assigned goals, maximum employment and stable prices, sometimes referred to as the “dual mandate.” The Fed does this primarily through the formulation of monetary policy, essentially influencing the availability and cost of borrowing money. The president of our Bank participates in this process, supported by research from our economists and regional outreach team.
• Supervising banks and other financial institutions in our region so that they operate safely and soundly.
• Promoting the stability of the financial system so that it can absorb shocks and still meet the needs of investors, savers, borrowers, and spenders. We lend to financial institutions so that they can always meet the needs of their customers.
• Supporting the soundness and resilience of the payments system by distributing currency and coins, clearing checks, and operating electronic payments systems. We distribute cash from our main office in Cleveland and our Cincinnati Branch.
• Fostering consumer protection and community development to promote access to the financial system and a fair and transparent marketplace for financial services and to carry out research supporting the economic mobility and resilience of people and communities.

In addition to these shared responsibilities, the Cleveland Fed makes two unique contributions that yield benefits to the entire Federal Reserve System and beyond.

The Center for Inflation Research, housed in our Research Department, is internationally recognized for its study of inflation, the economic condition the Fed works to influence through its policy decisions.

Our Treasury Services team designs, builds, and maintains digital products and payment services for the US Treasury. If you’ve ever applied for a passport, made a payment on a federal student loan, or bought a souvenir in a national park gift shop, you’ve touched applications designed, developed, and managed by the team.

Engaging with our region to gather insights

We work hard to gather information about local economic conditions from multiple perspectives and to share what we learn with the public.

Grass-roots-level information gathering is crucial. A lot of the basic measures of the economy, such as gross domestic product, price changes, and the employment rate, look backward. They’re based on data that have already been collected. We need eyes and ears in our region to help us understand what’s happening now.

Getting near-real-time perspectives on local conditions enables our president, Beth Hammack, and the heads of the other Reserve Banks to make better-informed monetary policy decisions.

The importance President Hammack places on gathering this kind of information is evident in her interactions with the public. Since assuming the leadership of the Cleveland Fed in August 2024, she has visited more than a dozen cities to meet with business leaders, social service providers, educators, workers, and other residents of the Fourth District.

Beyond road trips, President Hammack and other Bank officials collect data and information from many other sources, including the directors on our boards in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. There are about two dozen directors, representing banking and a wide range of other economic sectors, along with representatives of labor and nonprofit organizations.

We also have nine geographically focused business advisory councils, plus an oil and gas roundtable, that provide insights into financial conditions and emerging trends in specific regions.

Our Community Advisory Council, with leaders in affordable housing, financial inclusion, and rural prosperity, offers perspectives on issues affecting underserved and lower-income people and communities.

The council’s contributions dovetail with the work of our community development team, which conducts research to support the economic mobility and resilience of low- and moderate-income households in line with the Fed’s mission to help build a stronger economy for all.

To highlight timely research and best practices in community development work, we’re hosting our 17th Policy Summit on June 26–27, 2025, in Cleveland. It’s one of many ways we connect and share information with the public we serve.

Other ways include

• Our Fed Talk webinar series on relevant economic topics for general audiences.
• Our Speakers Bureau of Bank employees for appearances before nonprofit groups of 25 or more.
• Conversations on Central Banking, a webinar series on what’s happening in the world of inflation and monetary policy, organized by our Center for Inflation Research.
• President Hammack’s speeches and interviews.
• Cleveland Fed Digest, a monthly look at some of our research and upcoming events.

We also publish more than a dozen indicators and datasets about economic conditions such as inflation, employment, and risks to the financial system along with Economic Commentary and working papers by our research economists.

For those just beginning their study of finance and economics, we offer a variety of teaching aides and study guides that meet Ohio’s financial literacy curriculum standards. These guides, and everything else we provide, are free.