Community Development

In the present policy context of globalization and international trade, most of the alternative efforts to fight unemployment and generate economic growth are focused at the community rather than global level. "Think global and act local". This means acting at the community level and fostering economic, social and culltural growth. This page lists and rates web resources related to community development in general and community economic development in particular.

Version Française
Last updated June 10th 2005

no star: Average ; Fair ; Good ; Very good ; Excellent ; Outstanding

Sites are reviewed individually and rated mostly according to content depth and value added, while also considering ease of navigation and speed of loading. For each category best resources are listed first.

National Council for Urban Economic Development (CUED)

.CUED's primary aim is to develop and revitalize local economies.CUED's mission is to provide practical, timely information to its members on development strategies, tools and techniques that members can use in their cities.CUED's members include 1,728 elected and staff officials in city development agencies, quasi-public development corporations, and neighborhood groups who direct nationally recognized programs in cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. A very interesting and complete site.

Center for Community Economic Development

The Center for Community Economic Development from the University of Wisconsin , creates, applies and transfers multidisciplinary knowledge to help people understand community change and identify opportunities in their communities. Excellent site which contains several tools useful for the community development worker. Worth several visits.

The Center for Community Enterprise

The Center for Community Enterprise (CCE) is a nonprofit organization committed to building the capacity of community-controlled organizations to generate durable social and economic benefits. Excellent site which contains essential resources for Community Economic Development. Do not miss the Community Resilience Manual: a resource for rural recovery and renewal and also the manual on Tools and Techniques for Community Recovery and Renewal which can be both downloaded from the site.

Community Tool Box

The Community Tool Box (CTB) from the University of Kansas provides over 6,000 pages of practical information to support work in promoting community health and development. The core of the Tool Box is the "topic sections" that include practical guidance for the different tasks necessary to promote community health and development. There are sections on leadership, strategic planning, community assessment, grant writing, evaluation, etc. Each section includes a description of the task, advantages of doing it, step-by-step guidelines, examples, checklists of points to review, and training materials. Excellent site on community building despite the initial focus on community health.

PRAXIS: Resources For Social and Economic Development

PRAXIS provides access to a vast array of archival resources on international and comparative social development. The intellectual commitment of PRAXIS is to the promotion of positive social change through informed action. A key resource with regards to social development.

Methods to Strengthen Communities

The training material you will find here is mainly for community workers in the field. The strategies and methodology described go beyond traditional community development techniques, with their rural bias and emphasis on mobilizing self help groups; it includes modified action-oriented management training aimed at community members and their leaders, and adaptations of community organizing methods that are appropriate to the currently rapid urbanization of the world. Other topics include poverty reduction, gender strategy, facilitation, income generation, capacity development, monitoring, brain storm, community participation, social animation, learning an oral language, and empowerment.

CAP: Canada Community Access Program

CAP (Industry Canada's) Community Access Program works with rural Canadian communities to take advantage of new communication technologies. CAP's goal is to foster economic, social, and cultural growth in Canada. Although very much focused on Canada, it is a very interesting and innovative site as it provides information on how to start such a program. Do not miss the Community Access Virtual Public Library.

Community & Economic Development Toolbox

This web site is a joint collaboration between Cornell University and Penn State University and is maintained by the Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI) located at Cornell University. Its purpose is to provide accessible tools to local community and economic development (CED) practitioners, so that they are more knowledgeable about basic CED issues and are better equipped to assist in decision making and determining the future of their communities. Very good site.

Community Management and Development

This site provides training materials for the community development worker in the field as well as policy, strategies, methodology, curriculum, management and planning materials useful to teams initiating or upgrading any community empowerment or development programmes. A very good site.

Association for Enterprise Opportunity

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the US national association of organizations committed to microenterprise development. It provides its members with a forum, information, and a voice to promote enterprise opportunity for people and communities with limited access to economic resources. Interesting site directly related to community economic development. The section on resources is quite rich. Do not miss the Best Practice Guides for microenterprise development from the Aspen Institute.

RAC Information Guide on Community Development

The Rural Assistance Center (RAC) was established in December 2002 as a rural health and human services "information portal." RAC helps rural communities access the full range of available programs, funding, and research that can enable them to provide quality health and human services to rural residents. Their information guide on community development is a meta index of sites useful for the community development practitioner. The focus is on rural America.

Économie sociale et territoire

This francophone site, part of Globenet, an associative network, provides a list of links related to the social economy, alternative modes of financing, community development, etc. Interesting and useful.

OECD Territorial Development Service

The Territorial Development Service of the OECD is concerned with giving practical assistance to governments in relation to territorial context, encouraging the creation and development of locally driven initiatives for economic development, and integrating the two approaches into a coherent strategic approach. A very good site (although its structure could be improved). Do not miss the section on Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme, and most of all the section on "free" on-line documents.

Livelihoods Connect

This website from the Department for International Development (DFID) presents their approach to creating sustainable livelihoods in order to eliminate poverty. It includes guidance sheets, distance learning materials, key documents and a sustainable livelihoods toolbox, all of which available for download. Although not directly focused on community development per se it is a very interesting and useful site.

Corporation for Enterprise Development

The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) is a nonprofit organization that works to expand economic opportunity, primarily in low-income and distressed communities, in order to bring greater social equity, alleviate poverty and lead to a more sustainable economy for everyone. Interesting site of a leader in economic community development. The publications section is very rich but only a few items can be downloaded for free.

Social Capital for Development

Social capital is defined as the norms and social relations embedded in the social structures of societies that enable people to coordinate action to achieve desired goals. This World Bank's site presents in a comprehensive manner this essential concept for community development.

Institute for Social and Economic Development

The Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED) is a nonprofit organization that provides a variety of services to assist disenfranchised individuals to enter the economic mainstream and create solid economic futures for themselves and others. The site is rather small but interesting nevertheless, its main value added being its publications section. Do not miss the literature review on microenterprise development and the cookbook on microenterprise lending

StreetEquity Network

This is a site about small investment banking for neighborhood economic community development. It is a very innovative and challenging site. Difficult to describe but worth several visits.

Chantiers de l'économie solidaire

A special edition of "Monde diplomatique" on the social economy which is perceived as supplementary to the " market economy" which is in itself unable to establish the regulatory social functions necessary to cushion the various shocks resulting from the current technological revolutions. Includes various articles as well as links to selected websites.

Canada: "Community Futures"

Community Futures is a canadian community economic development (CED) program introduced in 1986. The program helps rural communities to develop and implement a long term Community Strategic Plan leading to the sustainable development of their local economy. The program is administered by Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDC) at the local community level. Although primarily focused on Canada, it is an interesting site. Do not miss their related links.

Centre for Sustainable Community Development

The Centre for Sustainable Community Development of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia aims to integrate economic, social and environmental objectives in community development. Interesting site. Do not miss the Gateway to Community Economic Development Resources despite a number of broken links. The Minding Your Own Business report is also quite interesting.

National Center for Economic & Security Alternatives

At the core of the National Center's work are projects and initiatives designed to promote better understanding of the need for a coherent "system-wide" strategy which emphasizes community building, enhanced democratic participation, community-based asset development and environmental sustainability. Interesting site, very much still in development, the main value added being the "Links" section.

CDFI The Coalition of Community Development Financial Institutions

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are private-sector, financial intermediaries with community development as their primary mission. There are six basic types of CDFIs: community development banks, community development loan funds, community development credit unions, microenterprise funds, community development corporation-based lenders and investors, and community development venture funds. Quite interesting. Do not miss their CDFI Forum.

National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions
This very new web site is a source for basic information on Community Development Credit Unions and the National Federation of CDCUs. This site also serves as a link to the network of CDCUs, other community development resources, and the broader credit union movement.

Woodstock Institute
Woodstock Institute is a nonprofit organization that works nationally and locally to promote reinvestment and economic activity in low- and moderate-income communities. The Institute focuses on community reinvestment, community development, community economic development, and other issues related to increasing lending to minorities and lower-income borrowers--with attention to both home mortgage lending and credit for small business development

PRAG
The Policy Research Action Group (PRAG) is a collaborative partnership between four universities ( Loyola University Chicago , University of Illinois at Chicago , Depaul University , and Chicago State University ) and more than 20 community organizations.PRAG consists of Chicago-based academics and community activists who have been building a collaborative research network to better link research and grassroots activism. Of particular interest are their Community-Based Collaborative Research Projects on local economic development and women self employment.

AeRie - Economic Development Information Center
AeRie's Applied Rural Telecom Resource Guide. The Guide provides rural communites throughout the United States and the world a toolkit of resources to help them meet their economic and community development goals using telecommunications. The Guide offers a directory of economic development resources, an overview of basic telecommunications concepts, a schedule of upcoming conferences and events, and background information on rural infrastructure.

International Association of Investors in the Social Economy (INAISE)
INAISE is an international network of "social investors"whose goal is to foster and support the development of financial organisations which invest in enterprises of an ethical, ecological, cultural and self managing nature, including enterprises working within the social economy. The most interesting part is the section on Financial Instruments of the Social Economy (FISE) in Europe and their impact on job creation.

CIRIEC
CIRIEC, "Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche et d'information sur les entreprises collectives", is a non profit organization which combine collective as well as individual members. The objective is to contribute to the development of a "solidarity economy" through the enlighten and critical support of the social economy, and the promotion of the collective interest with regards to economic matters. Potentially very interesting site but limited at this stage. Do not miss the section on links which lead to interesting publications.

Center for Social Development
The Center for Social Development (CSD) is part of the Washington University, St. Louis, and is a research and policy center. Social development refers to investing in people, promoting active citizenship, and strengthening families and communities. Interesting publications section.

Business Growth Partners
The mission of Business Growth Partners, Inc. is to develop systems that will grow businesses.These systems take into account all factors that affect the success of business, including community,economy, information and technology. Do not miss their link to community development approaches

Community Development Venture Capital Alliance
CDVCA promotes use of venture capital to create jobs, entrepreneurial capacity and wealth to advance the livelihoods of low-income people and the economies of distressed communities. Interesting concept although not much free information is available on the web site. Do not miss the section on new markets legislation.

Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities
The Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program is designed to afford communities real opportunities for growth and revitalization. The framework of the program is embodied in four key principles:Economic Opportunity, Sustainable Community Development, Community-based Partnerships, Strategic Vision for Change

HandsNet
HandsNet is a national, nonprofit organization that promotes information sharing, cross-sector collaboration and advocacy among individuals and organizations working on a broad range of public interest issues.

The Community Reinvestment Fund
CRF is a nonprofit organization that provides a secondary market for economic development loans. They buy loans from economic development organizations and use them as collatoral to sell bonds to private investors.

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