Overview

Community Economic Development (CED) promotes the economic advancement of individuals living in an economically challenged place or community. CED’s main goal is to build wealth for those at the economic margins through organizing and harnessing assets such as collective community knowledge, social, political and financial capital, which are all critical to building overall wealth and community prosperity. CED has accomplished much over the last 40 years and the question is in a post- industrial economy, can the field promote innovation and change for marginalized communities?

Over the next two years, IRCT will delve into this question through different vehicles such as conferences, interviews with practitioners and scholars and written briefings. The first effort in the Reason to Hope project is an Interview with a well-recognized expert in the field of CED, Bob Giloth, Director, Family Economic Success at the Annie. E. Casey Foundation.

Bob has written a great new book, Non-Profit Leadership, Life Lessons From an Enterprising Practitioner, using his experience as front-line practitioner running CDCs in Chicago and Baltimore to raise critical questions about leadership and management in the CED field. We recommend this important book and encourage you to listen to an interview with Giloth about the book and  his views about the future of CED. Enjoy and look out for new contributions to the project.

Reason to Hope Project Podcasts