MML The Review MarchApr 2021 Magazine

“Community Wealth is being raised bottom up, and is fundamentally committed to upgrading skills, growing entrepreneurs, increasing incomes and building assets.” – Ross Baird, Bruce Katz, Jihae Lee, and Daniel Palmer, “Towards a New System of Community Wealth” 2019

What Is Community Wealth Building? The League has developed our definition of community wealth building from our decades of work on policies and programs that promote people, authentic places, and sustainable economies, and from partners working around the country on related efforts. We know that community wealth building strategies are: Incremental Community wealth relies on continuous investments in people and place to achieve its aims and avoids reliance on “silver bullet” projects. The sum of individual investments of money, time, and energy create cumulative progress far greater than any single endeavor. Constructive Community wealth is measured in homes and hospitals; in storefronts and schools; in workshops and factories; in streets and services; in health and well- being. Investments catalyze a durable legacy that are enjoyed in the present and can be built upon by future community members. Complex Community wealth measures require the investment of social and community capital in addition to financial resources, and recognizes the critical interaction of these as central to improving the human experience

in the community. Community wealth building increases the local economic multiplier effect by reinvesting and maximizing dollars within a community, improving economic conditions, and producing other public benefits. Equitable Community wealth strategies recognize and repair historical inequities. Inclusion, in all facets, is a core tenet, while exclusion (of individuals or groups) is identified as a violation of human rights and an inhibitor of growth. Community wealth empowers individuals, embraces their participation, and celebrates their unique cultural contributions. Participatory Community wealth is created by building and securing assets in communities, ensuring that ownership of those assets is more broadly and equitably distributed among community members. Individual investments are made with an interest in long-term health, economic opportunity, and resiliency.

Community Wealth Building will be the focus of the League’s activities for months and years to come.

Melissa Milton-Pung is a policy research labs program manager for the League. You may contact her at 734.669.6328 or mmiltonpung@mml.org.

“Experts from around the world— in academic, business, and public sectors alike—agree that investing in communities is a critical element to long-term economic development in the 21st century.” – Colleen Layton (ed.), Tawny Pruitt (ed.), and Kim Cekola (ed.), Michigan Municipal League, "Economics of Place" 2011

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THE REVIEW MARCH / APRIL 2021