The step-by-step guide to turning any neighborhood around A weak local economy can be strengthened. A run-down neighborhood of boarded-up storefronts, litter-strewn sidewalks, high unemployment, and poorly-maintained housing can be transformed. An entire community can be lifted up. Mihailo (Mike) Temali knows this first-hand. He has spent nearly twenty years working in community-based economic development, helping cities as diverse as St. Paul, Minnesota, and Santiago, Chile. In this concrete, practical, jargon-free handbook, he describes a proven way to make any community a better place to live. Comprehensive, realistic, and easy-to-use If you don't already have a community economic development (CED) organization in place, Temali tells you how to set one up. Then he defines four pivot points that are crucial to neighborhood economies: 1) Revitalizing your commercial district; 2) Developing microbusinesses; 3) Developing your community workforce; and 4) Growing good neighborhood jobs. He explains how to choose your first pivot point, then guides you through the process of tackling each one. True stories of successful CED provide inspiration. Sidebars explore related issues: dealing with gentrification, finding potential partners, supporting microentrepreneurs, and more. Other CED professionals share their insights in “From the Field” notes. Appendices point you toward useful resources, show you how to use the Internet to research your regional economy, and include dozens of worksheets that will help you move from reading about CED to doing it. The Community Economic Development Handbook is precisely what you need to turn your neighborhood around!

Community economic development (CED) is an increasingly essential factor in the revitalization of low- to moderate-income communities. This cutting-edge text explores the intersection of CED and social work practice, which both focus on the well-being of indigent communities and the empowerment of individuals and the communities in which they live. This unique textbook emphasizes a holistic approach to community building that combines business and real-estate development with a focus on stimulating family self-reliance and community empowerment. The result is an innovative approach to rehabilitating communities in decline while preserving resident demographics. The authors delve deep into the social, political, human, and financial capital involved in effecting change and how race and regional issues can complicate approaches and outcomes. Throughout, they integrate case examples to illustrate their strategies and conclude with a consideration of the critical role social workers can play in developing CEDÕs next phase.

The Routledge Handbook of Community Development explores community development theory and practice across the world. The book provides perspectives about community development as an interactive, relevant and sometimes contradictory way to address issues impacting the human condition. It promotes better understanding of the complexities and challenges in identifying, designing, implementing and evaluating community development constructs, applications and interventions. This edited volume discusses how community development is conceptualized as an approach, method or profession. Themes provide the scope of the book, with projects, issues or perspectives presented in each of these areas. This handbook provides invaluable contextualized insights on the theory and practice of community development around core themes relevant in society. Each chapter explores and presents an issue, perspectives, project or case in the thematic areas, with regional and country context included. It is a must-read for students and researchers working in community development, planning and human geography and an essential reference for any professional engaged in community development.

Encompassing community development, organizing, planning, & social change, as well as globalisation, this book is grounded in participatory & empowerment practice. The 36 chapters assess practice, theory & research methods.

Beginning with the foundations of community development, An Introduction to Community Development offers a comprehensive and practical approach to planning for communities. Road-tested in the authors’ own teaching, and through the training they provide for practicing planners, it enables students to begin making connections between academic study and practical know-how from both private and public sector contexts. An Introduction to Community Development shows how planners can utilize local economic interests and integrate finance and marketing considerations into their strategy. Most importantly, the book is strongly focused on outcomes, encouraging students to ask: what is best practice when it comes to planning for communities, and how do we accurately measure the results of planning practice? This newly revised and updated edition includes: increased coverage of sustainability issues, discussion of localism and its relation to community development, quality of life, community well-being and public health considerations, and content on local food systems. Each chapter provides a range of reading materials for the student, supplemented with text boxes, a chapter outline, keywords, and reference lists, and new skills based exercises at the end of each chapter to help students turn their learning into action, making this the most user-friendly text for community development now available.

Since the late 1970s, Congressional legislation has prompted officials to develop inducements to entice new businesses to their communities. These economic development incentives often include land subsidies, low interest financing, flexible zoning laws and infrastructure improvements. The 37 articles in this work, written by some of the leading experts in the field, examine all aspects of economic development, including a general introduction and information on how to staff various economic development organizations. The application of public-private partnerships is covered in depth, primarily using case studies of success stories.