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Taking the Pulse of Community Economic Development in Canada
May 10, 2004
By Louise Chatterton Luchuk
"The community economic development movement is perhaps the
most exciting field to be involved in...it is a privilege, an opportunity.
We have the chance to build a better world."
-- Juan Tellez, director of the Atlantic
Community Economic Development Institute
While the descriptor "community economic development" may sound straightforward
enough, Tellez jokes that if you put ten CED people in a room, there would
be ten different descriptions of what CED is all about. Essentially, though,
CED is a community-led process where economic and social goals are integrated
to create sustainable communities where people are empowered to find their
own solutions. The idea of the "triple bottom line" is a central CED concept.
Social, economic, and environment considerations are collectively important
in decision-making as opposed to a single bottom line of profit. "We're
not just economic units. We're people. We can't just look at the bottom
line," says Terry Baker of the Toronto
CED Learning Network.
Everyone has a contribution to make
The gap between the rich and poor continues to grow, increasing the marginalization
of the poor and decreasing their choices. "If we believe in a society
where everyone can make a contribution," says Baker, "then we need a way
to involve the poor so they can make their contribution." Created in 1999,
the Toronto CED Learning Network is a nonprofit organization serving a
community of more than 500 organizations and individuals who are interested
in CED in the Toronto area. The network provides opportunities where members
can learn from each other, share their resources and skills, and work
together to develop inclusive, equitable, and sustainable business activity
in Toronto.
Next month, the network will launch a Social Purchasing Portal,
their first venture into direct service CED work. Baker explains, "Every
business uses office supplies, couriers, catering, promotional materials,
etc. Economic and employment opportunities result from directing these
existing business purchases to local businesses and social enterprises
that hire the disadvantaged." The Social Purchasing Portal is a web-based,
business-to-business database that facilitates purchases from these local
businesses and social enterprises. This triggers economic growth for the
suppliers, which in turn creates employment opportunities for those who
have been deemed unemployable.
Seeing strength not weakness
Kathleen Donauer is the general manager of Community
Action Co-op in Regina, an organization that works in the inner-city
to alleviate poverty. "We always keep the principles of CED foremost in
our minds because CED tries to raise the standard for the whole community,"
says Donauer. What excites her about CED is the fact that some of the
poorest neighbourhoods are the best when viewed in other terms. "They
know each other and they would like more but they want it for the whole
community, they want the whole community to succeed. We focus on these
strengths and assets. We don't just focus on problems."
Despite the organization's positive approach to finding solutions, Donauer
says they still have to battle negative attitudes and perceptions about
poverty and poor people. There is the public perception that taking care
of the issue is what the government is there for. "It's a challenge if
we are attempting to start a project in an area that is perceived as a
'bad' one," she says. "We have to fight so plans aren't blocked
or funding withdrawn. So, I say to people: Walk with me. Talk with me.
Let's go visit and see what's happening there."
Another huge issue lies ahead for Donauer's Regina-based organization
and she anticipates that their challenges will get bigger before they
get better. The group works with aboriginal communities and in the next
five to ten years there will be a huge population boom of aboriginal people
reaching the age to enter the workforce. Donauer is concerned that if
these young people do not receive the education and the skills they need
and if there are not suitable housing units available, there will be significant
social and economic problems. These issues need to be considered now.
Balancing globalization
For Tellez, an important reason for CED is to balance the globalization mindset.
He's been involved in CED work for almost thirty years in this country
and in Bolivia. He's particularly interested in rural community economic
development and working with indigenous people. "The nature of globalization
is the erosion of the economic and social fabric of communities. Wealth
and brain power becomes clustered in urban centres. CED provides communities
a chance to reestablish the economic and social relationships," he says.
One significant challenge identified by Tellez is that current policies
and funding allocation processes are not conducive to community involvement.
Plus, community resources are not really in a community's hands to own
and control. The solution, according to Tellez, is a strong united network
of CED practitioners - through the
Canadian CED Network (CCEDNet) - that collectively have the clout
to influence policies, the taxation system, and allocation of resources.
Rupert Downing, the executive director of CCEDNet, explains that
influencing policy is a priority area for his organization. "Our National
Policy Council is developing specific policy recommendations to inform
the government, private sector, and financial institutions about CED."
Government recognition of social economic needs
Building the capacity of CED organizations is another priority concern.
As with all other areas of the nonprofit sector, CED organizations work
with short-term funding contracts but the work of transforming communities
is long-term. CCEDNet is arguing for five-year funding contracts as well
as policies and tax incentives that encourage corporations to invest in
CED, as is the case in the USA and Europe.
In February, there was a tremendous breakthrough for CED in Canada. The
Paul Martin government announced $140 million to support a "social economic
agenda" over the next three or four years. Downing sees CED as the "engine
of the social economy" and the engine is certainly gaining momentum. "There
is dissatisfaction with top down charity approaches that entrench dependency,
and similar dissatisfaction with the smoke stack industrial approach to
economic development." CED is an alternate, holistic approach to traditional
social service or economic development approaches. It has many people
excited and now there is an infusion of federal dollars, making for a
powerful combination.
Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who
combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial
and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information,
visit www.luchuk.com.
