Canadian CED Network
From the “Gift That Gives Twice”, to “Transforming Our City, One Purchase at a Time,” Local Investment Toward Employment (LITE) has a history of directing purchasing in Winnipeg in a way that has generated social value for the community while addressing community identified needs and goals. This has also impacted something that is absolutely essential to every social enterprise – access to a growing market in order to increase the scale of their social impact. 

LITE was created in Winnipeg in 1994 with a very simple mission: To promote Community Economic Development (CED) by supporting inner-city initiatives in Winnipeg that build capacity and provide jobs. LITE is a public foundation that relies primarily on public and private donations.  Since its creation 20 years ago, LITE has raised over 1.4 million dollars toward sustainable CED initiatives, as part of a long-term poverty reduction strategy.

LITE’s three main projects focus on building capacity and investing in workable solutions to poverty and unemployment in Winnipeg’s inner city:

Purchasing Programs

LITE’s origins are found in the flagship program – the Alternative Christmas Hamper Campaign. In 1994, it was noticed that at Christmas time, when most businesses are experiencing their highest sales of the year, inner city businesses were seeing sales drop. Winnipeggers were donating food to charitable Christmas hamper programs distributing food in the inner city, but this influx of goods meant that local residents did not need to buy food from the local businesses. The immediate problem of hunger was being solved, but businesses that employed local residents year round were under threat of closing. Neechi Foods Co-op Ltd, an Aboriginal worker owned grocery store was one business in particular that LITE was created to support. LITE founders believed that hamper donation dollars would be better spent if they could have a double effect: making hamper purchases within the inner city to support economic projects that would have positive benefits in these neighbourhoods long after the Christmas dinner is put away.  This program has now expanded and includes several other strategic purchasing partners designed to support even more inner city businesses and create more jobs.  In 2012-2013 LITE purchased $35,000 of food through the Alternative Christmas Hamper Campaign, supporting approximately 50 jobs in Winnipeg’s inner-city!

CED Grants Program

Recognizing that grants also effectively support employment and skill development, LITE began to invest strategically in programs that created training opportunities and jobs. In 2012-2013, LITE invested in 11 community organizations throughout Winnipeg’s inner city.  In total $46,390 was disbursed, contributing to over 350 employment and/or training opportunities for inner city residents in areas as diverse as child minding, sewing, catering, and construction. The programs all aim to support individuals living in the inner city who face multiple barriers to becoming employed or staying employed. They vary from providing short term employment experiences with more of a focus on building up confidence and self-worth, to longer term experiences that aim to get individuals work- ready and into a long term job by the end of the program. 

Social Purchasing Portal

Seeking to strengthen its social purchasing stream of programming, LITE became home to the Social Purchasing Portal (SPP) in 2010. A model first developed in BC, this project stemmed out of a need identified by community members involved with the social enterprise sector for access to a wider market. The SPP was launched by SEED Winnipeg in 2004 before later finding a home at LITE. The SPP is an online networking and collaboration tool that strengthens businesses, the community, employment creation, and the local economy. The project consists of three main groups:

  •  Suppliers, who are socially minded and locally owned businesses, co-ops and social enterprises that hire people with barriers to employment.
  • Purchasers, who commit to buy their goods and services ethically through the SPP when possible. These may be businesses, government agencies, public institutions, non-profits, co-operatives, and any other individual or organization willing to be a part of the SPP.
  • Job Seekers, who work with employment agencies to overcome their barriers and gain meaningful employment.

The SPP works to direct existing institutional and individual purchases toward our supplier partners in order to create local economic and social value. Currently, the project works with 41 suppliers, 60 institutional purchasers, and around 22 employment agencies. In our last reporting year, we were able to track over $697 000 in purchasing that has been intentionally directed to the socially minded and local enterprises of the SPP. In turn, these enterprises were able to have multiple social impacts in their communities, such as employment opportunities, poverty reduction, social inclusion and community economic development.

Here’s how Neechi Foods has appreciated LITE’s impact (from their website in 2010):

“A huge ‘thank you’ to the many volunteers and staff at LITE for helping sustain our business during difficult times in the 1990’s and for helping us to expand our business during the past decade. When we started 21 years ago sales were flat in December and we soon realized that this was directly related to the widespread distribution of Cheer Board hampers in our neighbourhood. Through direct purchases of groceries from Neechi for Cheer Board hampers and through public education about community economic development, LITE helped turn December into the strong retail month that it is elsewhere.”

There are many ways in which we can impact the climate in which social enterprises are working. LITE and the SPP showcase the multiplying effect a community can create by re-directing purchasing at both corporate and community levels.

LITE’s projects are forever growing and adapting, and we would love to share and learn more! Are you trying to establish a similar purchasing model in your community? Do you already have a successful initiative in place? We want to hear from you!

Molly Dunbar is Coordinator at the Winnipeg Social Purchasing Portal

  

 

This post is one of several CCEDNet will be doing to profile how social enterprises contribute to strong and inclusive communities in preparation for the Social Enterprise World Forum, October 2-4, in Calgary.  Join us there!

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Registration is now open for the 2013 Manitoba CD/CED Gathering!

October 25, 2013
Winnipeg, MB

The Gathering is an inspiring annual opportunity for people interested in community development and community economic development, to connect, learn, and celebrate together.
As we head into our second decade, let’s reflect on how we know our work is successful, how we can use that knowledge to move us forward, and how we can do this together!

Preliminary Workshop List includes:

  • Put Our Money Where Our Mouths Are!
  • CED 101
  • Effective Practices for Social Inclusion
  • Speed Dating! Resources for Community Organizations
  • Knowing Your Work is Successful
  • Watch for an updated program soon!

Charlene Lafreniere: Keynote Speaker

Charlene was was born and raised in Thompson. She is a proud northern Aboriginal woman and Thompsonite. Charlene has been the Director of Institutional Advancement at the University College of the North (UCN) since September 2010. Charlene was elected as a City Councillor in 2006.

Charlene will be speaking about The Thompson Aboriginal Accord. According to the City of Thompson, “The Accord is a ground-breaking document that recognizes the role of Aboriginal people in our history and affirms our Commitment to strengthening relationships with Aboriginal governments and peoples.

[ MORE INFORMATION ]

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Which social enterprise has been running the longest? 

How many Ontario volunteers do you think contribute their time to social enterprises? 

How many people do Ontario social enterprises actually employ? 

If you are anything like me, you have heard a lot of interesting stories about social enterprises. They are hiring people who face  barriers to employment. They are helping farmers sellfood locally. They are sharing our culture through museums and theatres. I love to hear and share these stories. But in my work at CCEDNet I also get asked the more difficult questions. The “how many” questions. The “what’s the real impact” questions.  And questions like the ones above.

It’s because of these kinds of questions that I was really excited to work with my colleagues at CCEDNet to conduct the BALTA* survey of nonprofit social enterprises for Ontario.

That data has now been analyzed, the report has been written and is now almost ready to publish. We are really looking forward to sharing with you:  Inspiring Innovation: The Size Scope and Socioeconomic Impact of Nonprofit Social Enterprise in Ontario.

This picture shows a few of the significant points we learned about social enterprise, but let me get specific and share a few numbers too. In 2011 these 363 respondents:. 

  • generated at least $143 million in sales
  • paid at least $117 million in wages and salaries
  • employed at least 5,355 people
  • trained 65,900 people
  • involved almost 18,000 volunteers
  • provided services for at least 2.7 million people, excluding their customers

And what’s amazing is that these figures represent only a fraction of the total contribution of the nonprofit social enterprise sector in Ontario.

Impressive as these accumulative numbers are, people often tell me that they really are more interested in knowing about the impacts of individual enterprises. Because of research ethics, we can’t  share data about particular enterprises of course, but in many ways averages are even more interesting and tell us even more. On average, responding social enterprises each:

  • sold $548,700 worth of goods and services
  • hired 17  employees and 13 contract workers
  • paid $517,600 in wages and salaries
  • generated net revenues of $42,000
  • engaged 57 volunteers
  • trained 209 people
  • provided services to 9,120 people, excluding their customers

These numbers highlight exciting impacts based on our entire sample of social enterprises, but the data lets us breaks things down into more helpful  pieces. In the report we provide extensive analysis based on five unique subsector categories: arts and culture, farmers’ markets, thrift stores, social purpose enterprises (providing employment or training to those facing barriers) , and miscellaneous that did not fit into any of the preceding categories). These subsector divisions help to capture the diverse nature of the social enterprises and how they interact with the market economy. The report also pays particular attention to francophone social enterprises, urban/rural and regional distinctions, years of operation, and specific mission focus.

Beyond the data analysis we also felt it was important to set the context for the survey findings. To do that we provide:

  • a description of some of the key historical influences and components of the broad sector of activity surrounding social enterprise in Ontario, increasingly referred to as the social economy
  • a brief snapshot of some of the broader-based community organizations and networks that provide support to social enterprise in the province
  • a picture of the provincial landscape of financial supports available to social enterprise gleaned from interviews with a selection of sector funders, financiers and intermediaries
  • highlights of several aspects  of the provincial government’s complex relationship with the social economy. 

Ontario’s Special Advisor on Social Enterprise recently stated that governments need  to work with communities to create “an integrated, co-ordinated and collaborative social enterprise strategy that supports innovative organisations”** and our review of government connections with social enterrpise certainly supports that approach.

This survey is the first in Ontario to focus exclusively on social enterprise and it’s great to know that the baseline data provided in this report will allow future surveys to track developments within the sector over time.

We are excited to be officially launching the report at the upcoming ONN conference. We’ll be  fielding your questions and  sharing a lot more details with you in our “We’re on the Map” workshops. And of course, copies will be available for you there.

Oh, and the oldest social enterprise – In 1780, the City of Kingston became home to the first farmer’s market in Ontario.

Download Inspiring Innovation: The Size, Scope and Socioeconomic Impact of Nonprofit Social Enterprise in Ontario

Paul Chamberlain is Ontario Program Director in the Toronto office of the Canadian CED Network. Reach him at pchamberlain at ccednet-rcdec.ca

This post is one of several CCEDNet will be doing to profile how social enterprises contribute to strong and inclusive communities in preparation for the Social Enterprise World Forum, October 2-4, in Calgary.  Join us there!

* The model for this study is based on the work of the BALTA (British Columbia and Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance),which has conducted similar surveys in other provinces over the past 5 years under the direction of Peter Elson, Mount Royal University and Peter Hall, Simon Fraser University. All of these reports contribute to a better understanding of a national entrepreneurial movement within the nonprofit sector. The Ontario survey was co-led by Kate Daly and Jo Flatt.

**Helen Burstyn Lessons from Ontario: How Government Can Help Social Enterprise, originally in the Guardian –April 10, 2013

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Three Key Steps to Public Policy Advocacy

Creating a supportive policy environment is an essential, and often daunting task for many non-profit organizations. The Canadian CED Network has created a new resources to help simplify the policy advocacy process. Public Policy Advocacy: Best Practices is a best practice guide that takes readers through three critical steps to effective policy advocacy:

  1. Research the political and public policy context within which your issue fits
  2. Prepare your campaign using the information gathered in step one
  3. Action: develop an action plan to carry out your advocacy campaign

Also included are four principles, which encourage readers to be patient, cultivate partnerships, and be ready embrace opportunities.

[ DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE ]

See also: The Art of Advocacy

This and other helpful resources can be found in our CED Toolbox.

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Calgary_City_Dusk alt 2

The 2013 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) will bring together 1,200 individuals from more than 30 countries to galvanize the social enterprise movement and facilitate dialogue across all sectors devoted to enhancing social impact, from social enterprises to policy makers, private sector leaders, social good businesses, not-for-profits, and philanthropists.
 

An Amazing Lineup of Speakers

All Speakers and the attendees will represent countries in every corner of the globe, and consist of social enterprise practitioners from all sectors and purposes, funders, investors, and supporters, elected officials and public servants.Click for the schedule and see all the speakers and attendees.
 

A Showcase for Calgary’s Social Enterprises

Thrive, the Calgary CED Network, and CCEDNet member Momentum have helped prepare five tours of Calgary’s innovative local social enterprises, two social purposes businesses, and a first-of-its kind North American innovation centre. Find out more about the tours.

 

A CCEDNet Networking Reception

Just prior to the SEWF opening session, join CCEDNet members and friends for a networking reception offering new contacts and new ideas from North American leaders working towards inclusive community economies.  Bob Massie, President and CEO of the New Economics Institute will share insights into the growing New Economy movement in the US, and Canadian leaders will respond with their perspectives on the most promising strategies for transformative economic change.  Register for the CCEDNet reception >>
 

 

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Italy. Wow. The country is beautiful, the people are passionate, and the co-op sector is incredible. This summer, I had the great privilege to be invited by Vancity Credit Union to join their two-week study tour of the Italian co-op community as a representative of Assiniboine Credit Union, where I have been elected by the members to the Board of Directors.

With more than 111,000 co-ops serving their members, their impact in communities and the whole country is enormous. At the epicenter of the movement, the region of Emilia-Romagna has 8,000 co-ops, which represent 40% of the region’s GDP. Research evidence reveals that this co-operatization of the economy creates both a stronger economy, but also a fairer one – something that leads to greater social cohesion and societal stability.  

What led to the permeation of co-ops in their economy, particularly in northern Italy, is a set of historical and cultural factors that we simply cannot replicate in Manitoba. However, the Italian story is also grounded in a strong dedication to a set of values – cooperation and reciprocity – that is at the root of their success. These values are not only held within a co-op between members, but as a vision for the future in solidarity with all other co-ops.  

This values-guided vision has driven them to work as inspired grinders over decades to create an enabling ecosystem in which co-ops thrive. Yes, they do this for their own benefit as they know that a strong ecosystem will help strengthen their own co-op. However, their efforts are also inspired by a selfless vision for a different society where Co-operative Enterprises Build a Better World – and they dedicate their own resources to achieving this vision even if it will not directly benefit their own co-op.

For example, the Italian co-op sector worked to create legislation mandating every single co-op in Italy to contribute 3% of their profits toward co-op development. As a result, each year millions of dollars resource a range of co-op institutions that advance public policy priorities, provide a range of financing options, implement marketing and public education campaigns, offer training and build sector capacity, and build the solidarity and relationships between co-ops in the sector.

It is not only the comprehensiveness of this ecosystem that is impressive, but also its scale and robustness. These sector-building institutions create an ecosystem in which co-ops have the support they require to start, grow, and flourish. Again, the resources are provided by co-operatives that are passionately dedicated to the success of the co-op movement as a whole, rooted in an unwavering vision for a better world and a belief that to achieve this vision the whole movement will need to be strong, not just their own co-op.

In Manitoba, we also have a strong history of communities working together to create co-operative solutions to local economic and social challenges, resulting in a strong co-op community in our province. And yet, we do not have the ecosystem they have in Italy, which limits our ability to support existing and emerging co-ops and leaves us far short of the full potential social and economic impact that co-ops could have in Manitoba.

While co-ops themselves are inherently collective, are co-ops in Manitoba more individualistic than those in Italy? As mentioned, 100% of Italian co-ops contribute financially to building the movement and a strong ecosystem. Yes, it is mandatory, but nobody is complaining and it was the sector’s idea in the first place. In Manitoba, fewer than 10% of co-ops have made the decision to contribute to the Co-op Development Fund, despite extremely generous tax credits offered by the Province to do so. Yes, there are many other ways for co-ops to support the sector, both here and in Italy, but the difference in this particular comparison is stark.

I believe passionately in the co-op model, for its ability to create a better economy and society. But what I learned in Italy is that we really could hit another inspiring gear in our drive to achieving this potential if we build a more cohesive, integrated, and collectively resourced co-op system in Manitoba. However, this can only be realized by dedicating our collective capacity (skills, time, expertise, and cash) to building it, which will require us to ground our vision and work in the values of reciprocity and solidarity.

If we really believe in the transformative power of co-ops, why not put our full weight behind creating an ecosystem with the necessary expertise, services, and resources required to achieving our vision? Do we live in a duality where we value the collectivity of the co-op we are part of, and yet see the co-op itself as an individual entity rather than standing in solidarity with all other co-ops? Is our sector a random collection of similar legal structures, or are we a family / movement that believes that we can create a better world if we aggregate our various efforts, resources, and outcomes? If the latter, we must act concretely to ensure that this becomes the reality in Manitoba.

We have a million co-op memberships in Manitoba. Each membership is an opportunity for people like you and I to raise this question at our co-op’s next AGM – what is our co-op doing to contribute to the growth and strength of other co-ops and the co-op movement as a whole? Let us challenge ourselves to do better, to think with vision and solidarity, and to believe that together we can build the ecosystem required in Manitoba for Co-operative Enterprises to Build a Better World.

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Since the late 1990s, neighbourhood renewal corporations, or NRCs, have been working to strengthen Manitoba communities. NRCs take a holistic, community-led approach on

neighbourhood renewal, incorporating community economic development principles wherever possible and allowing the community to drive planning and programming.

CCEDNet-Manitoba was asked by the newer NRCs to facilitate a knowledge transfer between new and old NRCs. Through interviews with both the newer NRCs on their challenges and the older NRCs on their strengths, 15 profiles have been developed. These profiles detail programs, processes, history, tips, and lessons learned on some of the most effective NRC practices.

Download the Profiles:

You can download the 15 reports compiled into one pdf by clicking here.

Or you can follow the links below, as where you will find the profiles categorized under various community themes:

Diverse Communities

Many of the NRC communities have a wide range of cultures, all living close together. This profile will look at the BNRC’s Cultural Awareness Network working to prevent discrimination, share cultural experience, and promote acceptance.

>> BNRC: Brandon Cultural Awareness Network

Engaged Communities

Community engagement is one of the most important parts of NRC work. However, it can be difficult to build trust, community leadership, and buy-in. These profiles will look at different ways to get people involved in a community based mandate for the long haul.

>> Scan: Board Structures
>> NECRC: Community Plan vs Organizational Plan

>> SNA: It’s All About Relationships

Growing Communities

There is a consistently high level of interest in community gardening and food security in many communities, and for good reason. As each unique profile will show, gardening meets a number of goals including shaping the local economy, and can easily be a universally positive experience despite different groups with different objectives getting involved.

>> BNRC: 500 Plots Strong

>> WBCO: Gardening for Food Security
>> DMSMCA: Orioles Garden
>> SNA: Green Planning

Housed Communities

While housing is a key component of community renewal and CED, getting beyond fix-up grants and into creating new, affordable, and accessible housing is a daunting task. This profile will scan a range of different housing projects from the Massey Building in Brandon to SNA’s history of in-fill building to hopefully spark some creative solutions to housing shortages.
>> Scan: A Range of Housing Options

Partnering Communities

These will explore the benefits and keys to doing partnerships effectively, a crucial part of CED. BNRC and TNRC have taken different approaches, but have similar advice such as: be consistent, be helpful, emphasize common goals, and build trust.
>> BNRC: Partnerships
>> TNRC: Getting Out There

Safe Communities

How safe people feel in their communities can be a good indicator of positive community economic development, but feeling insecure can also be a matter of perspective and misinformation. These profiles will look at ways to understand safety better, and ways to deal with actual safety concerns.
>> WBCO: Safety Plan
>> NECRC: Community Ambassadors
>> SNA: Community Connecting

Working Communities

How to create jobs and support people in obtaining quality employment is a constant question for most community development organizations. These profiles explore a couple different ideas for how NRCs can create jobs for community people.
>> NECRC: Building Maintenance Program

There is also a compiled document of all the above reports.

We have also been working on a project that creates and assembles profiles of CED organizations in Manitoba. There are about 40 profiles available as of now, with plans to expand the number of profiles up to 50.

Visit our CED in Manitoba Profiles Project page. 

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There are a significant number of post-secondary programs in Canada dealing with CED, co-operative and community development and local economic development.  CCEDNet’s Practitioner and Sector Strengthening Committee compiled them into a handy list some time back. 

We recently communicated with these programs as well as our many members involved in post-secondary education to draw their attention to the resources available on our website which may be of interest to teachers and students.

CED Toolbox

We have just completed a major update of our on-line CED Toolbox, which now contains over 600 resources organized into 38 themes and is keyword searchable.  For student research projects as well as teachers seeking curriculum materials, it is a convenient first stop.

Webinars

Since the fall of 2012, our national webinar series has offered sessions with leading Canadian figures in CED on current topics of most interest to our members.  These sessions are free for members and cost $20 for non-members, but we are pleased to offer complimentary access to interested students who would be willing to share their reactions in a 400-600 word blog post on our website.  Please contact us for more information about this offer.

Social Economy E-books

To conclude its activities last year, the Canadian Social Economy Hub published books synthesizing the major findings of the 6-year national research program and compiling the key products addressing public policy and the social economy.  They are available as free e-book downloads.

Job Postings

Finally, of practical interest to many students, we post jobs related to CED on our website.

E-newsletters and Social Media

Anyone can connect to the latest news and information from CCEDNet by signing up to our free regional and national e-newsletters, or connecting with us on Facebook and Twitter

We hope you will find these resources useful, and invite you to share them with anyone who may be interested.

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Last week I got to spend a couple of days in discussions with a remarkable core group of academics, practitioners and students working on the Scaling Innovation for Sustainability research project.

BALTA-SIS, as it is known, grew out of the national social economy research program.  One of the streams in the original BALTA project focused on the contribution of social economy initiatives to creating more sustainable and resilient communities, which grew into BALTA-SIS and The Resilience Imperative, an important new book co-authored by CCEDNet founding member Mike Lewis of the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal and Pat Conaty of the New Economics Foundation in the UK.

Perhaps because community economic development evolved out of a search by people in communities for new ways of reducing poverty and creating healthy communities, most CCEDNet members I meet seem to have the fibre of innovation, entrepreneurialism and research embedded in their outlook.  How can we change what isn’t working in our community?  What has worked elsewhere that we can learn from?  How can we improve our impacts?  These are fundamentally research questions that will always be at the root of our efforts.

So it’s not surprising that CCEDNet members are involved in numerous groundbreaking research programs across the country, several of which were profiled in a recent webinar organized by CCEDNet’s Research Committee.

But what amazes me each time I have the opportunity to participate in a meeting like this is the wealth of knowledge, insight and creativity that both practitioners and academics from a wide range of disciplines bring to our shared challenges.  At this meeting in particular, the work being done by the graduate students and a CCEDNet CreateAction participant, was exceptional. 

If you’re interested in staying connected to the latest information on CED-related research, consider subscribing to the CCEDNet Research Committee’s Google group, or check out the links below. 

Please log in or register to post comments.

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In response to the federal government’s invitation for pre-budget submissions, CCEDNet

submitted recommendations to bring a CED perspective to the 2014 budget. Our submission, which was sent to the Standing Committee on Finance, focused on two areas:

  • A procurement policy that incorporates 20% social value weighting in all Requests for Proposals and includes Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) on relevant contracts.
  • Levelling the playing field with an investment in training that would ensure relevant government staff are aware of, and understand, the social enterprise and co-operative business models so these businesses can access government-funded business development supports that other Canadian businesses have access to.
     

>> Read CCEDNet’s pre-budget submission

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At the last meeting of CCEDNet’s Board of Directors, Diana Jedig was selected as the new President of the Board.  She takes over from Caroline Lachance, who had been President since 2009. 

Diana is Executive Director for the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations. Her direct experience with the Community Futures Program has been a key strength in ensuring the Network responds to the needs of its members.  She has been on the CCEDNet Board since 2005. 

The Board extends its warm appreciation to Caroline Lachance for her leadership over the last four years.  

CCEDNet’s new Board Executive is:

  • Diana Jedig, President
  • Carol Madsen, Vice-President
  • Caroline Lachance, Past-President
  • Christine Landry, Treasurer
  • Yvon Poirier, Secretary

Learn more about CCEDNet’s Board >>

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Earlier this spring, I was amazed to read a new research report prepared by UK group Localise West Midlands evaluating how localised and community economic development can be scaled up to help create more successful, socially just and diverse places. 

Their literature review struck me as one of the most thorough analyses of the evidence base for CED that I have seen for a long time.  But I wanted to get the opinion of an expert, so I asked honorary lifetime CCEDNet member Stewart Perry to review the document and provide his comments on how relevant it was for a North American audience. 

Stewart is one of the pioneers of CED in the US and Canada, as both a policy adviser and a designer and manager of CED institutions. As head of the (U.S.) Center for Community Economic Development, he helped create the first finance institution for CED, the Massachusetts Community Development Finance Authority. He helped start Canada’s first community development corporation, New Dawn Enterprises, and headed the Community Economic Development Center in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. A consultant, researcher, and author, Stewart currently specializes in community and development finance as an associate with the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal. 

Stewart generously agreed to review the report and here is what he had to say:

  • This is a very valuable consolidation of the literature on the evidence for a crucial range of impacts that CED intends, both economic and social impacts.  It usefully enlarges the analysis to the general frame of localizing economic effort.
  • It’s a careful and penetrating analysis.
  • A side benefit is that it explores what might be called the other side of the debate: for example, that big corporations do the important work.  It cites evidence for the other side, but carefully analyzes it.
  • It recognizes and uses the fundamental insight that social and economic conditions are intricately and visibly interwoven at the local level, entangled such that we have to take this into account in any programming and policy.  This should be evident yet is so often not recognized.
  • There are insightful comments on the relation of the idea and reality of social enterprises in regard to CED — with the former seen as being a valuable but limited strategy in what has to be a more ambitious effort
  • It might have benefitted by closer contact with USA literature of yore, especially to use the careful work of Avis Vidal, Rebuilding Communities (1992).
  • Some of the UK vocabulary would need translating for a North American audience:
    • high street  – which I take to mean the downtown or commercial district?
    • inward investment  – importing outside industry and its branch plants
    • the spend – the expenditure, particularly government budget expenditures
    • multiples – chain stores?
  • I was struck by some of the helpful analysis of the hard-to-assess contradictory findings—for example, whether little local shops or a chain supermarket will serve a local population better. Some of the findings were fascinating news to me.

Stewart’s reaction suggests that the report is a valuable addition to the literature that we here in North America would benefit from taking note. 

I encourage other CCEDNet members to have a look and share your thoughts on the state of evidence for CED.   Please log in or register to post comments below.

Download the Literature Review >>

See the other Mainstreaming CED project reports >>

 

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