Summary
Contents
Subject index
The Handbook of Community Practice is the first volume in this field, encompassing community development, organizing, planning, and social change, and the first community practice text that provides in-depth treatment of globalization—including its impact on communities in the United States and in international development work. The Handbook is grounded in participatory and empowerment practice including social change, social and economic development, feminist practice, community-collaboratives, and engagement in diverse communities. It utilizes the social development perspective and employs analyses of persistent poverty, policy practice, and community research approaches as well as providing strategies for advocacy and social and legislative action.
Community Economic and Social Development
Community Economic and Social Development
Even though many neighborhoods, especially inner-city communities of color, confront severe economic and social problems, the public sector ignores their needs, instead continuing to subsidize economic development for the better off. This chapter suggests an alternative model for community renewal, one of humane capitalism, which combines economic and social development in ways that build capacity, increase assets, improve life chances, and empower low-income and low-wealth communities (see also Sherraden & Ninacs, 1998).
The holistic approach we term humane capitalism begins by redirecting conventional development to benefit poor neighborhoods instead of just middle- and upper-class communities. For instance, rather than subsidize business development in the downtowns or suburbs, government incentives can be focused on projects built in poor neighborhoods. Humane capitalism also can be accomplished through innovative techniques that go beyond mainstream economic development models. Programs such as Individual Development Accounts (IDAs; see also Padilla & Sherraden, Chapter 5, this volume) help families accumulate assets for long-term investment and development, while land trusts and cooperatives preserve and enhance community assets. Business incubators help would-be entrepreneurs find the economic and social resources to enter the market economy. Social service efforts improve the human capital needed for economic change, while social service agencies provide training and jobs to community members. Advocacy groups work to bring about a humane capitalism through pressuring government to support set-aside jobs for the poor, fund guaranteed loan programs for community enterprises, redirect capital budgets for infrastructure repairs to poor communities, and provide contracts to firms that guarantee “living wages” that enable people to live above the poverty level.
In this chapter, we sketch out the possibilities and challenges for a humane, progressive approach to community economic and social development (CESD). We begin by exploring the philosophy that guides humane capitalism, then highlight a variety of strategies used by community-based organizations to guide these efforts. We briefly examine the technical skills that social workers and other practitioners must master and discuss their role in CESD (Midgley, 1995; see also Midgley & Livermore, Chapter 7, this volume). After identifying dilemmas faced by those involved, we conclude with a challenge to social work education.
Philosophy and Aims
CESD reflects a set of goals that distinguish it from corporate-centered redevelopment. CESD simultaneously addresses social and economic needs of those within the nation's poorest communities. It is inspired by a moral mission to help the poor by fighting systemic economic injustice, recognizing that just as poverty comes about through human neglect, intervention by human agency can reverse the process. In a practical vein, CESD works to provide the poor with the very assets that enable them to escape from cycles of poverty (Edin, 2001).
First, CESD is part of a broader holistic package of community renewal strategies that recognize the need to integrate social and economic development (Midgley, 1995), encourage social change, and strengthen families (Wilson, 1996). Second, CESD involves building capacity by creating institutional structures that facilitate and encourage sustained renewal among people who live within neighborhoods of poverty (Beverly & Sherraden, 1997). Third, CESD builds assets and expands social capital, paving the way for continued development. Asset building provides long-term resources to provide economic stability, to continue economic and social improvement, to increase hope for the future, and to enhance intergenerational welfare (Page-Adams & Sherraden, 1997; Sherraden, 1991, p. 148). By expanding social capital, defined as the “resources embedded in social relations among persons and organizations that facilitate cooperation and collaboration in communities” (Committee for Economic Development, 1995, p. 12; Putnam, 1993), CESD builds capacity for subsequent development (Woolcock, 1998). Social capital not only allows individuals themselves to obtain needed resources but can create an image among business and government that a neighborhood has the capacity to absorb new resources (Gittell & Thompson, 2001).
...
- Loading...
Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL
-
Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life -
Read modern, diverse business cases
-
Explore hundreds of books and reference titles
Read next
More like this
Sage Recommends
We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.
Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches