PolicyMap Creator Discusses Geography of Recession

(Philadelphia) March 19, 2009– Airing tonight on ABC News is an interview with Jeremy Nowak, CEO and President of The Reinvestment Fund regarding the geography of the recession. ABC News was drawn to the employment data from TRF’s demographic estimates data and mapping tool www.policymap.com that BusinessWeek had used to write several articles in the past few months on the same topic.

Where is the recession hitting hardest? Where might there be best opportunities? Why?

BusinessWeek used PolicyMap’s data and geographic information system to consider cities across the country that had high concentrations of jobs in “safe” industries, such as: healthcare, education, law, energy and the government. Based on this indicator, it posited that cities such as Arlington, VA; Washington, D.C.; Durham, NC; Madison, WI; Boston, MA; Pittsburgh, PA; Baltimore, MD; Baton Rouge, LA; New Orleans, LA; and Philadelphia, PA may be more recession-proof.

“We developed PolicyMap to help policymakers and others – including reporters – to have the ability to quickly access important, sometimes hard-to-understand data,” said Nowak.

Jeremy Nowak’s interview is being distributed by ABC News tonight. The original BusinessWeek.com articles, including a sideshow of all 20 cities, can be found at PolicyMap’s blog (/?p=1586) or at businessweek.com.

About PolicyMap

PolicyMap is an online mapping tool that makes it quick and easy to gather and analyze geocentric information such as demographics, real estate, crime statistics and more. PolicyMap is a service of The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a not-for-profit leader in the financing of neighborhood revitalization. TRF developed PolicyMap to empower decision makers with better access to credible market and demographic data. PolicyMap can be found online at www.policymap.com. To learn more abut TRF, visit www.trfund.com.