The globalization of capital and labor has severely limited place-based development, especially in poor urban and rural areas.

Current trends exacerbate long-existing questions of equity for marginalized, vulnerable communities in the United States and abroad. Many of these are racial and ethnic groups who have struggled to develop their internal economies and human capital, all with the desire to improve the quality of life in their communities. Often located in places that are economically marginalized and prone to natural disaster, these communities are struggling with the reality that their fortunes are tied to flourishing regions both nearby and on the other side of the globe.

The IRCT's mission is to support the transformation of marginalized communities and people through the production of relevant knowledge and strategies—both public policies and public and nonprofit management capacity-building strategies—that will help lead to their equitable inclusion in the regional, national, and world economies.

A no less important component of our mission is to use knowledge as a base for convening key leaders in civil society to make effective, strategic choices when deliberating the public policies that frame community and regional development.

The mission of community and regional transformation rests on the vision of a preferred future. The IRCT, in collaboration with its partners, has developed the following working definitions of this future and the fundamental components of a sustainable, equitable community and region.