Federal Policy

Cities are undoubtedly America’s future. The federal government can bring scope and scale to smart social policy within cities, particularly in the areas of urban business development, job creation, and infrastructure investment. ICIC is continuously working to shape policies that will serve inner cities better. To that end, here is ICIC’s collection of best practices and recommendations for federal urban policy in the 21st century:

• Capital Availability in Inner Cities: What Role for Federal Policy: This paper examines capital availability in America's inner cities and the role of federal policy. The paper received the KFS Promising Paper Award for 2011, which is bestowed on the authors of working papers with promising potential for impacting the understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation using the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS).
   
• Building Sustainable Communities: This presentation outlines ICIC's approach to building sustainable, equitable inner city communities.  The presentation was presented at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Cities Bootcamp at the Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

• Federal Role in Supporting Inner City Business Development: This presentation outlines ICIC's recommendations to the Obama Administration about how to improve the inner city business environment. The presentation was presented jointly the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program 
   
• America’s Capitol City and Urban Problems Nationwide: This link includes A To The Point conversation about Washington, DC, its inner cities and the implications for the urban challenges across the U.S.  ICIC's Senior Vice and Director of Research Teresa Lynch participated in the discussion. 
   
• Building Bridges to Jobs: Investing in Inner City Infrastructure: This ICIC policy briefing describes why infrastructure investment is critical to inner city business development.  

• Is There a New Geography of American Poverty? This paper examines the notion that poverty is moving to America's suburbs. Based on an analysis of data from the American Community Survey, ICIC finds that targeted economic development in cities remains the most effective approach to alleviating regional poverty.