Sameera Fazili (on temporary professional leave) is the director of engagement for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's community and economic development (CED) department. She has spent her career working in domestic and international economic development, with a focus on access to finance and social enterprise. Prior to joining the Atlanta Fed, Fazili served as a senior policy adviser at the White House's National Economic Council where she covered retirement, consumer finance, and community and economic development. Previously, she worked at the Treasury Department on issues of domestic policy ranging from community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to housing finance to small business finance, and then as a senior adviser to the undersecretary for international affairs where she served as chief of staff. Before her time in government, Fazili was a clinical lecturer at Yale Law School's community and economic development clinic, where she helped start a CDFI bank and a local anti-foreclosure initiative, and expanded the clinic’s work to international microfinance. She also worked at ShoreBank, the nation's first CDFI bank. Her work in finance has spanned consumer, housing, small business, and microfinance. She received her law degree from Yale Law School and her bachelor of arts in social studies from Harvard College.
Atlanta Fed Working Papers
2020
2020-10
Decomposing Outcome Differences between HBCU and Non-HBCU Institutions
Mels de Zeeuw, Sameera Fazili, and Julie L. Hotchkiss
July 2020
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Atlanta Fed Community and Economic Development Discussion Papers
Anchor Institution Strategies in the Southeast: Working with Hospitals and Universities to Support Inclusive Growth
Sameera Fazili
Discussion Paper 2019-2 (December 2019)
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Can Community Development Improve Health? Emerging Opportunities for Collaboration between the Health and Community Development Sectors
Sameera Fazili
Discussion Paper 2017-3 (December 2017)
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Articles
Brittany Birken, Ann Carpenter, Karen Leone de Nie, Sameera Fazili, Mary Hirt, David A. Jackson, Sarah Miller, Patrick Pontius, Julie Siwicki, Sarah Stein, Nisha Sutaria, and Janelle Williams. “Tackling the Unknown Together: Community Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Partners Update (March/April 2020).
Sameera Fazili. "Aligning Capital, Training, and Economic Mobility." Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Workforce Currents (October 2019).
Sameera Fazili and Mary Hirt. "The Quest for Durable and Inclusive Economic Growth." Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Partners Update (July/August 2016).
Podcast Episodes
Sameera Fazili. "Our Region as a Whole Would Benefit": A Conversation about the Social Determinants of Health." Economy Matters podcast. August 30, 2018.