Across the United States a growing number of communities are experimenting with innovative ways to create a more equal, democratic, and community-based economy from the ground up. Our Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly, Manager of Community Development Programs Sarah McKinley, and Research Associate Violeta Duncan co-write a piece for the Renewal Journal on how we can use a "politics of place" and "politics for places" to uplift communities across the country and world:
As community activists and a rising generation of progressive mayors and city economic development professionals get to grips with entrenched poverty and inequality, a new bottom-up paradigm is beginning to emerge – a systems approach to economic development that promises to create an inclusive, resilient, community-based economy grounded in local, broadly held ownership. We call this new asset-based paradigm 'community wealth building'...