Olga Estrada dedicated her life to raising her children. She was born in Nicaragua and joined her family in California more than 20 years ago to build a better life. Working in a data entry position, Olga didn’t have a lot of money but she always made ends meet.

Read full story >
Read all stories >

Donate to CFED >

Entrepreneurial Resurgence Marks Beginning of Longer Road toward Job Recovery

The 18th annual Development Report Card for the States (DRC) finds a resurgence in entrepreneurial activity within the states. However, this resurgence isn't yet mature or widespread enough to provide a sufficient number of quality jobs to make up for the losses in recent years.

Specifically, the 2004 DRC finds that

• research and development spending is on the rise, both in the private sector and in the nation's universities;
• government funding to boost domestic business ideas with potential for commercialization is up;
• entrepreneurial capital is flowing faster, from both private and government resources; and
• the number of new companies is growing, as is the number of jobs created by new businesses.

Read more about 2004 findings...

2004 DRC Honor Roll

As tough economic times continue, the 2004 honor roll is shorter than in recent years. Although three states slipped from the 2003 honor roll, three new states worked their way onto the list this year: Delaware, New Hampshire, and Oregon. While Massachusetts remains on the list, this is the first year since 1999 that it has not earned straight As. Only one state, Connecticut, made it on to this year's straight As list.

Read more about the 2004 Honor Roll...

Enhancements to the 2004 DRC

Starting in 1999, the DRC added graphs tracking the grades of each of the three indexes over a five-year period. The response was positive and significant. This year, the report card offers even more depth and historical perspective by providing five-year snapshots of a number of individual measures. Of the existing 68 measures which indicate relative progress between the states, 17 have been carefully selected to assess how the states measure up to their own past performance. These 17 "trend indicators" gauge the direction and magnitude of the states' economic development efforts in the context of their own political and economic environment. In addition to measuring the absolute or percent change over a five-year period, the trend indicators track change from year to year.

Customize the DRC

Use a dynamic tool for researchers, analysts, policymakers, and practitioners, to cross-reference any of the DRC's 68 measures with any combination of states.

Customize the 2004 DRC

Download DRC Data

All of the data used in the 2004 DRC are available in a downloadable macro-enhanced Excel file that is capable of generating a variety of comparative graphs and charts. Directions on how to use this document are included within the Excel file.

Download the data used in the 2004 DRC

DRC Survey

As part of an ongoing effort to improve the DRC and gather feedback from DRC users, CFED has developed an eight-question survey. Take the 2004 DRC survey