Research has long shown the benefits of access to education focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). These benefits include improved workforce outcomes, higher wages, and adaptability across industries. For rural areas, it may also be a tool for developing and retaining a skilled workforce, which could in turn attract employers to areas that are often overlooked. In Williston, S.C., nonprofit founder Steven DK Brown is developing a multiuse STEM center to strengthen the local workforce and reduce rural flight. Like many rural areas, Barnwell County (where Williston is located) has experienced a shrinking labor force and low educational attainment over the years. Brown hopes the STEM center, with its tech labs, college readiness programs, and innovation zones, can provide a needed resource to reverse these trends. In 2024, Brown participated in the Richmond Fed's Community Investment Training program, which helps participants develop investment-ready proposals for their community development projects and connects them with potential funders.

Loan funds are place-based organizations that use external funding to provide financing for underserved communities and individuals. They are the most common business model type among certified community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and account for about half of respondents to the Federal Reserve's 2025 CDFI Survey. In their survey responses, loan funds reported needing to seek new methods of capitalization due to rising demand, but the cost of debt has made finding new lending capital difficult. One potential funding strategy is selling loans on the secondary market, an approach used by 21 percent of 2025 survey respondents; this frees up capital on CDFIs' balance sheets, which they can then relend. However, respondents indicated that many CDFIs have had difficulty finding buyers for the type or volume of loans they have available to sell.

Over the last few years, large manufacturers have generally been more optimistic about their local economies than small and mid-sized firms. Richmond Fed researchers looked at the diffusion indexes — summary statistics derived from survey responses — for several metrics of the monthly business surveys to better understand the divergence. One explanation could be that, in 2025, small and mid-sized manufacturers were more likely to report a decline in business performance and in shipments. Additionally, different sized firms reacted to changes in tariff and trade policy differently, with small and mid-sized firms focusing on pricing changes and larger firms adjusting supply chains.

On-the-ground anecdotal information can serve as an important complement to hard data, particularly in times of uncertainty or limited data access. From conversations between mid-September and mid-October, the Richmond Fed's business outreach team gleaned insights from businesses about economic conditions, the labor market, and tariffs. Businesses did not indicate any big shifts in economic conditions, sharing that demand varied by sector, geography, and household income; labor markets continued to operate in a low-hire, low-fire equilibrium; and firms continued to wrestle with pricing decisions due to tariffs. Insurance was mentioned increasingly as a reemerging cost pressure, in addition to tariffs.

Up-to-date metro area definitions are important because they impact how the Richmond Fed reports, analyzes, and understands its region. Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau provides updated information on the geographic distribution of the U.S. population; about three years after that, the Office of Management and Budget uses that data to redraw metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). The 2023 process, which was recently implemented, led to changes in almost 50 percent of the metro areas in the Fifth District. Changes included the addition and removal of principal cities, the creation and discontinuation of MSAs, and the renaming of some existing MSAs. For example, Pinehurst-Southern Pines, N.C., became an MSA due to population growth, while California-Lexington Park, Md., lost its designation due to the removal of California as a principal city.