MML The Review MarchApr 2021 Magazine

COMMUNITY WEALTH BUILDING

Deepening Our Commitment to Place An Agenda for Community Wealth Building

By Melissa Milton-Pung

T he Michigan Municipal League and the communities we represent have spent more than a decade investing in placemaking strategies throughout the state, showing that “we love where you live” by lifting up what residents themselves love. We have fought to give local leaders the flexibility and resources they need to serve their communities by advocating for municipal finance reforms and the preservation of local empowerment. We have convened our members and

of our population have been left out, while shocks like the housing finance crash of 2008 have reverberated across sectors and shown traditionally measured growth to be fragile. In reflecting on the uneven economic landscape of post-Recession recovery, the League has spent the past year pulling together threads from our past work into the concept of building community wealth. This model balances economic prosperity, sense of place, natural assets, and cultural substance. It also considers the importance of the safety,

health, and well-being of our residents, as well as the ongoing process of learning over time. This model takes into account the human experience in our Michigan communities. This work must be local for many reasons—most importantly because every community has a different context. Our planned rollout of this new framing was interrupted

partners to dive into the challenges posed by accelerating changes in our communities, whether those are economic, demographic, technological, or environmental, and to discuss how we can better equip local

“Community Wealth Building is about developing assets in such a way that the wealth stays local… helping families and communities control their own economic destiny.” – Marjorie Kelly, Democracy Collaborative “What is Community Wealth Building and Why is it so Important?” 2014

communities to tackle solutions to new needs and opportunities.

by another shock—the COVID-19 pandemic. Watching our members respond to this crisis has reinforced the need for new approaches and provided inspiration. Witnessing local leaders step up to serve in creative ways gives us confidence that we can collectively emerge from this crisis on a path to attain meaningful and equitable opportunity for our communities. That path is community wealth building.

All these efforts have emphasized the need for resilient local systems—for communities that can learn, innovate, adapt, and prosper even in the face of adversity. They have also revealed that traditional models of economic development, focused narrowly on growth rather than on broadly enjoyed prosperity, have fallen short: large segments

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THE REVIEW MARCH / APRIL 2021