COMMUNITY ECONOMIES PILOT ARCHITECTURES OF COLLABORATION FOR STRONG COMMUNITY ECONOMIES: AN ASSET-BASED APPROACH
ARCHITECTURES OF COLLABORATION FOR STRONG COMMUNITY ECONOMIES: AN ASSET-BASED APROACH
Overview
This document, prepared by the Coady Institute, highlights aspects related to community development, community economies, and collaboration that were key concepts of the Shorefast Foundation’s Community Economies Pilot (CEP). This two-year initiative worked to answer the question “how do we strengthen community economies?” Through the work of its five community partners (called “Prototype Communities”), South Vancouver Island, BC; Hamilton, ON; London, ON; Prince Edward County, ON; and Fogo Island, NL, some answers to this question were explored by seeing what is working individually in, as well as across, communities; what some of the common challenges they are addressing; and what exemplary practices that are occurring in these places. You can read more about the pilot here.
This document is meant to help communities and/or individuals consider how you can establish or mobilize collaboratives geared towards community economic development. It offers some of the learnings from the CEP pilot, as well as some practical tools for developing a community economic development strategy through the following topics:
• What is community development broadly, and from that, what is more specifically community economic development (CED)?
• Who exactly makes up your local community economy?
• How can an asset-based approach support the development of collaborative structures that will support and foster CED within a place-based community?
Community development can have many meanings, which will depend on how you define “community” (e.g. communities of place, of meaning, of interest, of cultural, of professional interests, etc…). For the purposes of this document, as in all of Shorefast’s work around community economies, we are not defining “community” so much by strictly geographic boundaries, but more specifically, by the group(s) of people who feel attachment to a particular place.
At the Coady Institute, when we speak of this type of community-driven development, we refer to “asset-based, sustainable, and just development,” or “asset-based citizen led development” (ABCD). When we speak of citizens in relation to community development, we are not referring to a legal category of citizenship, but rather individual(s) who are actively engaged in the life of their community. So when we talk about asset-based, or citizen led development, we are talking about a process in which a group of people engaged in a shared activity, organization, or neighbourhood, are motivated by an issue or opportunity, and then self-mobilize to undertake an activity without any direction from an external agency, using only their own resources (at least initially) and maintaining control even when external agencies do get involved. In these situations, community members tend to act out of a sense of civic duty. Whether they are self-employed, unemployed, or working in the private or public sectors, they take part as citizens of their community first and foremost, not in any other capacity.
Community economic development also has differing definitions, although both start at the same place, i.e. development that is driven by the community’s social, economic, environmental priorities, in which the community identifies and drives the solutions and initiatives. The difference lies in who is working to build the economic development. In the traditional definition of community economic development, the economy is seen to be separate from community, and often subordinate to it. Standard economic structures like businesses, financial institutions, policies, and systems operate at a level removed from the community, although the community is one of the drivers of an economy.
When we speak about a community economy, the economy is not seen as separate from community, but community as a whole is what creates and develops a local economy. It becomes something grounded in place, adaptable, and sustainable. All local community actors work in collaboration with businesses, policy makers and other mixed economy actors to envision and action a place-based economic plan for a community, integrating cultural, social, economic, and environmental assets and objectives.
What is community development broadly, and from that, what is more specifically community economic development (CED), and how where do community economies fit in?
Who exactly makes up your local community economy?
Your local community economy is made up of a variety of actors. We tend to think of just businesses as the economy; however, it is much more complex than this. A mixed economy is created by various actors that operate on both the macro and local scales. Think about who the actors are who make up your local economy. Who besides business/industry are included? (Think about philanthropic, social services, cultural, educational, Indigenous, and other organizations you might not normally include.)
Collaborative frameworks and models are often not intuitive to communities. Organizational roles and commitments tend to be narrowly defined or undefined, and as a result silos are created. Where partnerships do exist, there can be challenges as each partner struggles to find their own role within their own parameters and capacity to participate and contribute. A small community- based organization doesn’t have the same capacity or resources as an anchor institution; therefore there can be issues of power imbalances and a resulting frustration and disengagement of partners. Even when formal or informal structures for collaboration are in place, the partnerships may be working on common problems, but an understanding of how to approach solutions are defined separately by each individual institution.
Many communities don’t have a defined economic development strategy in place, nor have an economic development office or staff member. Again, this allows for competing priorities and often different groups working at cross purposes or duplicating efforts, wasting both time and resources. Where strategies do exist, they do not include a collaborative partnership framework so there is a lack of clarity of roles for partners at all levels.
Increasingly, the realization of the importance of partnering with local Indigenous communities is emerging across the country. This is not based just in an ethical, reconciliation perspective, but from a growing understanding that if you want a strong and resilient local economy, you need to include ALL members of the community; economies are rooted in people, after all. The role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations, as well as of the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in community economic development is often not understood, nor defined in a strategy. Collaboration moves at the speed of trust, and there is a long road that goes into building trust between Settler and Indigenous communities. Having all the voices at the table is a start in building that trust.
Mapping Your Community Economy – an important first step
One approach to building collaborations aimed at strengthening your community economy is to apply an asset-based approach to development as described above. Rather than starting with the needs and gaps in your community, and looking to bring in outside help and expertise, start with the assets that exist within your community. This ABCD, or assets-based citizen/community led development approach can change how communities talk about their economy and the trajectories of their development. (For two examples of ABCD approaches to community economies see here and here).
By starting with the strengths that exist in a community, and then recasting individuals and organizations as active actors in their desired change initiatives, communities (in the holistic sense) can regain a sense of control over their community economy. This begins to break down
What are some approaches that can support the development of collaborative structures that will support and foster CED within a place-based community?
some of the walls that have been put up between “economy” and “community” and begins to build a community economy that serves the wellbeing of all community members. When using this asset-based approach however, there are some considerations to keep in mind:
• When exploring existing assets, a broad definition of assets should be taken into consideration that moves beyond just the financial. The Wheel of Assets figure below highlights some of the key assets that probably exist within your community. This can be used as a guide, but should not be seen as exhaustive. Have conversations with community members, get to know one another, and build your own asset wheel. This holistic approach to assets also helps open your conception of who makes up your community economy, and who needs to be involved in any collaborative work.
• Starting with your existing assets does not mean you never bring in outside help or resources. What it does do is help reframe the conversation to one where community members are not passive recipients of support, but active agents in determining where and when to bring in additional support to fill gaps.
• Focusing on assets does not mean you ignore the challenges that exist in your community, but that they are not the starting point for your work. It is important to note key gaps that emerge from this process and devise meaningful consultations and action plans to address them. This is particularly important when the gaps concern challenges related to equity, inclusion, and justice.
A key staring point for this process is to start by mapping the wide array of existing assets that contribute to your community economy. Gather a group together and start the conversation around who makes up your community economy. The mapping diagram included at the end of this document can be a good place to start organizing your thoughts.
• List everyone who falls into the categories listed on the map and add your own that may be missing. Do not feel limited by the existing boxes, these are just preliminary examples of categories of actors that make up the architectures of collaboration surrounding your community economy.
• As you are listing actors in your community economy, start to think about what levers they have for change and note those as well. For example, what can small businesses do to improve/support the local economy? What role do local anchor institutions such as post secondaries or health care centres play in your plan? Who are key individuals and what actions can they take?
• Once you have completed one round of this mapping, keep it as a living document, show it to others, pull other groups together to talk about it, and continue to add to the map.
• Start to take note of where there are gaps, or where there may be voices missing from the map? Are all members of the community represented? Are some voices (youth, newcomers, elderly etc.) missing from the map of your community economy? If yes, start to think about how you engage those voices and start to design an engagement plan.
Often asset or actor maps are seen as the result of a process, but in asset-based community led approaches to development, they should be the just starting point. Your map should be a living document that you add to as you continue to build out relationships and build networks to strengthen your community economy. Next steps include building out your plan to engage those on the map as well as those who are missing, having meaningful conversations with the various actors noted to develop a deeper understanding of the levers for change they may be able to apply, and working together to develop priorities and an action plan. Instead of the end of the process, mapping can be a first step to breaking down the conceptual silos between what is traditionally considered the economy and the community; these maps serve a variety of purposes: 1) they can reveal the wide variety of actors who make up your community economy, 2) they can identify the levers for change that already exist when we take an assetbased approach, and 3) they can serve as a building block for ongoing engagement and coalition and network building leading to collaborative action that is driven and owned by community members.
(Figure from Shorefast/Coady presentation to Tamarack Celebrating Neighbours Conference June 2023).
