Policy Summit on Housing, Human Capital, and Inequality to convene in Cleveland on June 22-23

Author J.D. Vance and Cleveland Fed President & CEO Loretta J. Mester among the featured presenters

Several hundred policymakers, community and economic development practitioners, academics, and funders will gather in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 22-23, 2017, for the 13^th Policy Summit on Housing, Human Capital, and Inequality.

Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in partnership with the Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia and Minneapolis, the Policy Summit provides an outside-the-beltway forum for discussions about issues of vital interest to our communities.

J.D. Vance, author of the #1 New York Times best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, will open the conference with a luncheon keynote address on Thursday, June 22.

Loretta J. Mester, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, will close the event with a luncheon keynote speech on Friday, June 23.

Also on the agenda are more than a dozen plenary and breakout sessions that will focus on topics such as:

• The economic performance of the nation’s industrial heartland
• Linking unemployed and underemployed workers to in-demand jobs
• The opioid crisis
• What drives disparities in health outcomes in both urban and rural areas
• Reducing the structural barriers to opportunity that often plague residents of high-poverty, racially segregated neighborhoods
• Anchor institutions, such as hospitals and universities, as drivers of economic inclusion
• Fintech lenders and their potential to reach underserved women- and minority-owned small businesses
• Innovative programs that use art to engage multicultural groups, urban youth, and other under-tapped voices in civic life and discourse

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that along with the Board of Governors in Washington DC comprise the Federal Reserve System. Part of the US central bank, the Cleveland Fed participates in the formulation of our nation’s monetary policy, supervises banking organizations, provides payment and other services to financial institutions and to the US Treasury, and performs many activities that support Federal Reserve operations System-wide. In addition, the Bank supports the well-being of communities across the Fourth Federal Reserve District through a wide array of research, outreach, and educational activities.

The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

Media contact

Doug Campbell, doug.campbell@clev.frb.org, 513.218.1892