Community Wealth Blog
The killing of Michael Brown by a police officer in Fergsuon, Missouri, and the subsequent wave of protests illuminated for a national public the deep racial inequities in greater St. Louis. We sat down with Chris Krehmeyer, head of Beyond Housing, a local community development corporation founded in 1975, to learn about how they've been building a comprehensive approach blending affordable housing, community land trusts, public health, and business development aimed at changing the systems that perperuate disinvestment in African-American communities in the St.
Can Community Wealth Building Redefine City Economic Development?
In this article written for the Rooflines blog, our Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb points out key examples of equitable and sustainable alternatives to the traditional forms of economic development found in a new report released by Good Jobs First. Dubb highlights the case studies presented in our report, Cities Building Community Wealth as essential new approaches to combat the detrimental effects of traditional development practices.
What the defeat of marijuana legalization in Ohio tells us about the kind of economy people are sick and tired of
Ohio’s marijuana legalization effort suffered a crushing defeat on November 3rd. In the aftermath, there is much conversation about why Ohioans opposed the measure so strongly. Some have pointed to the bad timing of an off-year election, others to lingering puritanical opposition to drug use. But the strongest and most consistent message is the strong populist resistance to legally establishing a business structure that leaves out every day people.
Leaving aside heated rhetoric about the evils of “Big Pot,” the fact is that, had Issue 3 passed, it would have established a system of elite and most likely absentee ownership, as opposed to community-based family businesses. Voters recognized the need for local, broad-based ownership as the foundation of a thriving, resilient economy.
From cafeterias to farms: How students are mobilizing their universities to build a more local, just, and sustainable food system
How are student activists uniting to change the food system from the inside? The Real Food Challenge is a national campaign to restructure university cafeteria buying structures for a more equitable, sustainable future of food.
Gary Cohen, partner in healthcare innovation, wins MacArthur 'Genius' Award
The Democracy Collaborative extends a heartfelt congratulations to Gary Cohen, an activist and social entrepreneur innovating environmental responsibility in health care, for winning the MacArthur ‘genius’ award. This week he became one of 24 fellows to receive a grant in recognition of his groundbreaking, coalition-building work in the healthcare industry. (Photo: MacArthur Foundation)
Infographic: Housing Equity
An infographic depicting how the members of the Dos Pinos Housing Cooperatives are building wealth in Davis, California.
From New York to Oakland, CA, city governments support worker coops
This blog post highlights groundbreaking municipal involvement in worker cooperative development.
Mapping the Collaborative and Democratic Economy - Cooperatively
Critiquing the old economy is easy. The ends (more economic growth!) don't justify the means (privatize everything, and Devil take the hindmost!). And the means don't even get us the advertised ends; instead we just get widening inequality, perverted democracy, and degradation of life-giving systems.
Communities Building Their Own Economies
Steve Dubb writes for the Stanford Social Innovation Review on the importance of having access to tools that educate and empower low-income communities to shape their economic future.
Employee Ownership: A Solution that Preserves Retiring Owners’ Businesses
Reflecting growing enthusiasm for worker co-ops, the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy—held last month in Worcester, Massachusetts—attracted a record 300-plus participants. One item on the agenda: the possibility of creating new worker cooperatives through conversions in which employees buy a business from an exiting owner.
Key Facts & Figures: Community Land Trusts
Community land trusts (CLTs) are nonprofit, community-based organizations that help create permanently affordable housing, build equity, and reduce the displacement that can accompany rapidly rising or falling property values.
Infographic: The Impact of Community Development Corporations
These are some of the key facts and figures on how community development corporations build community wealth.