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Economy Remix: Reimaging Community Economic Development

Welcome to the Remix, as we take our latest spin around the economy. This Remix column explores the state of the field of community economic development, based on a conference I attended a few weeks ago in San Antonio that focused on “neighborhood economics.”

How do you build a local community-based economy in the shell of a larger economy that often actively undermines community building? It is, to be plain, not easy—and many of the speakers in San Antonio were forthright about the challenges.

Patricia Mejia, a local foundation leader, set the tone. In a keynote address, Mejia recalled the history of past promises—and past shortcomings. Sometimes the initiative came from the federal government, sometimes from philanthropy—but consistently, she noted, top-down initiatives had fallen short, at least in San Antonio. Mejia challenged attendees to advocate for community-led strategies.

The speakers that followed did not solve the challenge Mejia raised, but they did offer a few important pointers. One of these was to change the local tax system. As one speaker noted, property taxes often overcharge low-income residents and undercharge wealthy residents. This occurs in part because wealthier residents are more likely (and have more capacity) to lobby assessors than poorer residents. A fair tax system that taxes the property of rich and poor at the same rate, rather than one that taxes the wealthy at a lower rate—which is the norm in US cities—is a critical component to achieve more just community economic development outcomes.

At the conference, too, the importance of community land ownership was emphasized. Getting community ownership of land can be difficult. People working in community economic development cannot purchase land as quickly as private equity firms with deep pockets. But sometimes the land is already in community hands; it is simply not leveraged. For instance, take the role of faith-based institutions. At the conference, Mark Elsdon, editor of a new book titled Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition, noted that as many as 100,000 buildings nationwide—on land worth billions of dollars—is expected to be sold or repurposed between now and 2030. What if that land were leveraged to support community economies?

In reading this article, I encourage you to consider how existing resources might be leveraged to support community economies and community wealth building.

Until the next Remix column, I remain

Your Remix Man:

Steve Dubb

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