The Community Affairs Officers of the Federal Reserve System hosted the sixth biennial Community Affairs Research Conference on April 16-17, 2009 in Washington, DC. The conference theme, Innovative Financial Services for the Underserved: Opportunities and Outcomes, was designed to encourage objective research into financial services issues affecting low- and moderate-income individuals, families, and communities.

The conference explored the role, processes and outcomes of innovation in financial services for low- and moderate-income consumers and underserved populations. Leading researchers presented original and objective research to inform innovative market and product development through a framework that moved from:

• individual consumer preferences and behaviors with focus on consumer finance products, to
• influences that affect market participation such as financial education and institutional structures, to
• effects of mortgage products on both performance and wealth creation, to
• approaches for shaping market participation.