UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT, BURLINGTON, VT
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
FALL 1998
Community Development and Applied Economics  395

COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
 
 

Time, Place: Tuesday, 3:35-6:35 pm, 002 Morrill Hall

Instructor: Richard Schramm

Office: 103A Morrill Hall

Office hours: Tuesdays: 1:30-3:30 pm or by appointment

Telephone: 802-656-2001 (UVM)

802-457-3717 (Home Office)

E-Mail: rschramm@sover.net
 

Class Objectives

Our objectives for this class are to:

- gain an understanding of community economic development theory, goals, process, strategies, organization, and issues, and how CED relates to comprehensive and sustainable community development;

- develop skills and gain tools for community economic analysis, strategic economic development planning, assessment of the social benefits and costs and sustainability of development, and evaluation of CED policies, programs, projects, and organizations;

- apply this knowledge and these skills to the analysis and evaluation of actual plans, strategies, organizations and/or other CED activities;

- identify information sources and other resources and methods to support further research about, and practice of, community economic development.

Class Overview

Community economic development (CED) is the process by which residents of a low income community, working with one another through locally-based organizations and with other supporters, improve their economic well-being, increase their control over their economic lives, and build community power and decision-making.

This course examines the theory, goals and practice of community economic development; ways to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the local economy; role and local impact of regional, national and global economies; community-oriented economic development strategies such as community and cooperative business development, self-employment and microbusinesses, community loan funds and credit unions, bartering and local currencies; organizations and collaboratives which play a key role in development; and methods to evaluate CED programs.

Burlington’s Old North End (ONE) Enterprise Community program, one of the 72 urban sites for the Federal Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) Initiative, will serve as a continuing class case study. The ONE EC, which encompasses a variety of physical, social and economic development strategies, provides an excellent example of comprehensive and participative community development as well as opportunities for student field studies.

Resources

In addition to the resources brought to the class by participants, there will be:

- two "textbooks" for the class:

Blakely, Edward, Planning Local Economic Development, Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA, 1994 (2nd Edition), available at campus bookstore;

Shuman, Michael, Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age, New York: The Free Press, 1998, available in class.

We will also draw on: City of Burlington, Vermont: Community and Economic Development Office, Common Ground: A Strategic Plan for the Old North End Enterprise Community, June 30, 1994.

These books and a copy of the reader (see below) will be put on reserve in the library.

- a "reader" of articles, reports, case studies and other materials. This will be available for purchase in class.

- several speakers in the class on topics like planning for comprehensive community development, social services and community development, and enterprise development and community development, drawing on individuals working in or with the ONE Enterprise Community.

- internet sites including Community Organizing and Development (comm-org.wisc.edu), Community Economic Development Centre at Simon Fraser and CED-NET (www.sfu.ca/cedc), Electronic Policy Network (epn.org), and others related to CED.

Class Requirements

It is expected that everyone will do class readings and participate actively in class discussions. If speaking in class is difficult for you, please let me know and we can work on increasing your class participation or developing other ways you can share your questions and knowledge with other students.

In addition everyone will:

- provide a one page (more if you want to) weekly written reflection on readings, class discussion, speakers, field experience, problem sets, case studies, feelings about materials or the class, and/or other matters related to your learning and to the class. These reflections are intended to help you focus in on what you are learning (or not learning), identify issues or concerns on your mind, explore an idea more deeply, notice and think about some feelings that are coming up for you, or in other ways to enhance your learning about CED and yourself. They also help me get a sense where you are in your learning and what things I might do to help you in that process. These need not be fancy or highly organized; they are entirely between you and me, they will not be shared with others without your permission, and they will not be graded. These should be e-mailed to me (rschramm@sover.net) by Friday evening every week so that I can respond to them before the next class.

- serve as a class "resource person" for one class session (or part of a session) on a topic of interest, and participate in the development of that class session, identifying additional references related to that topic, doing outside readings so can help students dig deeper into issues raised in class, and/or sharing in the teaching of some part of that session.

- complete six or seven short written assignments over the semester that involve the use of specific analytical or evaluation tools, or the application of critical thinking in a more general sense, to CED-related problems. These will be commented on and graded.

- do a field study/term project (individually or in a small group) describing and evaluating a strategy, organization, collaboration, process or other element of the Burlington Enterprise Community Program (or other agreed upon topic) and report back to the class during the last two class sessions. The topic is due by September 29, when we will discuss in some detail how to approach evaluation of that topic. A detailed outline of the project needs to be turned in by October 27. I will help you make any contacts you need related to your topic, and meet with you outside of class as needed to help you in your study. I will ask for oral progress reports from time to time, and if I receive a draft of the report by November 17, will provide comments back to you to help in preparing your final version. Reports back to class will be on December 7 and 14.

Grades for the class will be based one-third on participation and class resource role, one-third on best five short written papers, and one-third on the term project.

CED Class Outline, Schedule, Reading Assignments
 
 

September 1

I. Introduction

- Review of class resources and needs

- Review and revision of class syllabus

- Discuss Strategic Economic Development Planning Approach

- Define Sustainable Community Economic Development
 
 

September 8

II. Community Economic Development Constituents, Goals and Issues

- Alternative views and definitions of CED

- Identifying CED constituencies and establishing CED goals

- Local government and community nonprofit perspectives

- Key issues and concerns in CED

Common Ground, pp. 1-4, 15-20; 37-41 (background and strategic vision for ONE Enterprise Community)

- Black, Sherry Salway, "Redefining Success in Community Development," The Indigenous Planning and Development Times, pp. 48-57

- Blakely, Ch. 3

- Roseland, Mark, Toward Sustainable Communities, pp. 1-26

- Perry, Stewart and Mike Lewis, Re-Inventing the Local Economy, pp. 1-12

- Shragge, Eric, Community Economic Development: In Search of Empowerment, pp.1-18.
 
 

September 15

III. Context for Community Economic Development

- Overview of problems and policies that impact CED

- Role for federal, state and local policies; conflicts
 

- Blakely, chs. 1, 2

- Schramm, ONE EC Problems/Conditions/Opportunities

- Nancy Nye and Richard Schramm, Federal Jobs Policy and Support for Community Economic Development and Jobs for the Future et al, Federal Jobs Policy: History, Current Status, and Future Challenges (excerpts)

- Information on Federal Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community Program (check out www.ezec.gov/)
 
 

September 22

IV. Community Economic Development Theories

- Overview of CED theories

- Traditional & community-based approaches

- Outside-in and inside-out approaches

- Globally and locally-oriented approaches

- Bingham, Richard and Robert Mier, Theories of Local Economic Development pp. 284-304 (overview of theories)

- Schramm, Richard, "Local, Regional and National Strategies," Chapter 9 in Bruyn, Severyn and James Meehan, ed., Beyond the Market and the State: New Directions for Community Development

- Kretzmann, John and John McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out, pp. 1-10

- Shuman, Michael, Going Local, Intro and Ch. 1
 
 

September 29

V. Community Economic Development Planning

- Strategic planning elements and process

- Criteria for strategy and project selection

- Need to base strategic choices on economic analysis

- Incorporating sustainability

- Common Ground, pp. 5-14 (planning process)

- Blakely chs. 4, 6

- Dickstein, Carla, John Piotta and Elizabeth Sheehan, "Sustainable Development in Practice: Coastal Enterprises, Inc.’s Experience," (Medford, MA: Filene Center, Tufts University, 1997)
 
 

October 6

VI. Evaluation Methods, Measures, Indicators

- Evaluation methods for projects, programs, policies, strategies, organizations                     - Dimensions and measures of success

                    - Community indicators

- Agreement on student projects - Mt. Auburn Associates, Evaluating Development Loan Funds, pp. 4-17

- Weiss, Carol, "Nothing as Practical as Good Theory: Exploring Theory-Based Evaluation for Comprehensive Community Initiatives" in Connell, James, Anne Kubisch, Lisbeth Shor, and Carol Weiss, New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives

- Hart, Maureen, Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators, pp. 3-31.

- Schramm, Indicators for the ONE EC
 
 

October 9 (Friday, 1-4 pm):

Old North End Tour

- with Judith Ramaley and City and Neighborhood Spokespeople October 13

VII. Community Economics and Economic Analysis

- Defining the local economy                     - Measuring performance, structure, resources - Berne, Robert and Richard Schramm, The Financial Analysis of Governments, ("Economic Base," pp. 100-115)

- Mt. Auburn Associates, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Assessing Your Local Economy
 

October 20

- Tools for analyzing the local economy

- SWOT analysis

- Matching community preferences and economic opportunities                                         - Blakely, ch 5

October 27

VIII. Overview and Analysis of CED Strategies

- Review of production, consumption, investment strategies                     - Use of strategic analysis for strategy selection - Identifying private and social costs, benefits and net returns (monetarized and non-monetarized)

- Submission of student project outlines (if not already turned in)

- Common Ground, (strategies) pp. 44-177 (on reserve)

- Stephan Michelson, "Community-Based Development in Urban Areas," in Robert Friedman and William Schweke (eds), Expanding the Opportunity to Produce: Revitalizing the American Economy through New Enterprise Development

- Schramm, Evaluating CED Proposals

November 3

IX. Economic Structure, Locality and Consumption Strategies

- Economic structure, diversification, value-added, export stimulation, import substitution, reduce "leakages," expand specific sectors

- Land, facilities, infrastructure development, industrial parks, incubators, zoning

- Conservation, cost of living reduction

                                        - Blakely ch 7, 13 - Shuman, Michael Going Local, Chs. 2, 5

- Clark, Peggy and Steve Dawson, Jobs and the Urban Poor: Privately Initiated Sectoral Strategies (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, November 1995), read for main ideas.

- Seigel, Beth and Peter Kwass, Jobs and the Urban Poor: Publicly Initiated Sectoral Strategies (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, November 1995), read for main ideas.
 
 

November 10

X. Labor and Business Development Strategies

- Employment and training, labor force development, school-to-work programs, worker buyouts

- Business attraction, retention, expansion, startups; self-employment, microenterprises, small business development

- Social business; local, community and cooperative ownership

- Integrating work and worker development
 

- Blakely ch 8,9,10
- Shuman, Michael Going Local, Ch. 3
- Nancy Nye et al, Working to Learn, Learning to Work: A Study of Training Businesses (New York: Seedco, November 1995), Ch. 1
 
 
November 17

XI. Finance and Capital Strategies

- Small and micro-business and household financing

- Community development loan funds, credit unions, peer lending

- Savings, individual development accounts
 

- Hill, Edward and Nell Ann Shelley, "An Overview of Economic Development Finance," Chapter 1 in Bingham, Richard, Edward Hill, and Sammis White (eds), Financing Economic Development

- Shuman, Michael Going Local, Ch. 4
 
 

November 24 (no class; time available to work on class projects)

November 31

XII. CED Organizations and Institutions

- Local government, community-based development organizations, health and educational institutions, intermediary and national development organizations

- Foundations and other funding sources for CED

- Development of CED networks and collaboratives of private, governmental, and nonprofit organizations

- Interconnections among organizations, projects; creating "synergy"

                    - Public-private partnerships

                                        - Blakely chs. 11, 12

- Okagaki, Alan, Building Communities of Opportunity (Minneapolis: Northwest Areas Foundation, 1997)

- Shuman, Michael Going Local, Chs. 6, 7
 

December 7, 14 (no final exam; class will meet during reading period)

XV. Student Project Reports (Blakely ch. 14)

CED References

1. CED Goals, Planning, Strategies, Organizations, Issues

Bingham, Richard and Robert Mier (eds.), Theories of Local Economic Development: Perspectives from Across the Disciplines (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993)

Bingham, Richard and Robert Mier (eds.), Dilemmas of Urban Economic Development: Issues in Theory and Practice (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997)

Black, Sherry Salway, "Redefining Success in Community Development," The Indigenous Planning and Development Times Issue 3, Fall 1997, (or from the Filene Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA)

Blakely, Edward, Planning Local Economic Development, (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994, 2nd Edition)

Bruyn, Severyn and James Meehan, ed., Beyond the Market and the State: New Directions for Community Development, (Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1987)

Fosler, R. Scott, ed., Local Economic Development Strategies for a Changing Economy, (Washington, D.C.: International City Management Assoc., 1991)

Galston, William and Karen Baehler, Rural Development in the United States: Connecting Theory, Practice, and Possibilities (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997)

Hart, Maureen, Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators (Ipswich, MA: QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment, May 1995)

Keating, Dennis, Norman Krumholz, and Philip Star, Revitalizing Urban Neighborhoods (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1996)

Malizia, Emil, Local Economic Development: A Guide to Practice (New York, NY: Praeger, 1985)

Meeker-Lowry, Susan, Invested in the Common Good, (Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1995)

Murray, Michael and Larry Dunn, Revitalizing Rural America: A Perspective on Collaboration and Community (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996)

Perry, Stewart and Mike Lewis, Reinventing the Local Economy, (Port Alberni, British Columbia: Centre for Community Enterprise, 1994)

Roseland, Mark, Toward Sustainable Communities (Stony Creek, CT: New Society Publishers, 1998)

Shragge, Eric (ed.), Community Economic Development: In Search of Empowerment (Montreal/New York: Black Rose Books, 1997)

Shuman, Michael, Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age, (New York: The Free Press, 1998)

2. Economic Context/Economic Analysis

Ben David-Val, Avrom, Regional and Local Economic Analysis for Practitioners, (New York: Praeger, 1991)

Berne, Robert and Richard Schramm, The Financial Analysis of Governments (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1986)

Harrison, Bennett and Barry Bluestone, The Great U-Turn (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1988)

Hustedde, Ron, Ron Shaffer and Glen Pulver, Community Economic Analysis: A How To Manual (Ames, Iowa: North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, Iowa State University, 1984)

Korten, David, When Corporations Rule the World (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1995)

Kretzmann, John and John McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out, (Evanston, IL: Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern University, 1993)

Madrick, Jeffrey, The End of Affluence: The Causes and Consequences of America’s Economic Dilemma, (New York: Random House, 1997)

Mander, Jerry and Edward Goldsmith, The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn toward the Local (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996)

Mt. Auburn Associates, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Assessing Your Local Economy (Boston, MA: Massachusetts Executive Office of Communities and Development, 1994)

Schramm, Richard and Duane Wilcox, Cost-Benefit Analysis for Local Governments (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Local Government Program, 1981)

Shaffer, Ron, Community Economics: Economic Structure and Change in Smaller Communities (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1989)

Stephan Michelson, "Community-Based Development in Urban Areas," in Robert Friedman and William Schweke (eds), Expanding the Opportunity to Produce: Revitalizing the American Economy through New Enterprise Development (Washington, DC: Corporation for Enterprise Development, 1981)

3. Employment Training, Job Development

Clark, Peggy and Steve Dawson, Jobs and the Urban Poor: Privately Initiated Sectoral Strategies (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, November 1995)

Dewar, Tom and David Sheie, Promoting Job Opportunities, (Baltimore: Annie Casey Foundation, 1995)

Harrison, Bennett, et al, Building Bridges: Community Development Corporations and the World of Employment Training (New York: Ford Foundation, 1994)

Jobs for the Future, Mt. Auburn Associates, Nancy Nye, Brandon Roberts and Associates, and Richard Schramm, Federal Jobs Policy: History, Current Status, and Future Challenges (Oakland, CA: Neighborhood Funders Group, March, 1996)

Nye, Nancy and Richard Schramm, "Federal Jobs Policy and Support for Community Economic Development" (Oakland, CA: Neighborhood Funders Group, March, 1996)

O’Regan, Fred and Maureen Conway, From the Bottom Up: Toward a Strategy for Income and Employment Generation Among the Disadvantaged (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, 1993)

Seigel, Beth and Peter Kwass, Jobs and the Urban Poor: Publicly Initiated Sectoral Strategies (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, November 1995)

Stillman, Joe, Making the Connection: Economic Development, Workforce Development, and Urban Poverty (New York: The Conservation Company, 1994)

4. Social Business

Adams, Frank T. and Gary B. Hansen, Putting Democracy to Work (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 1992)

Callenbach, Ernest et al, EcoManagement: The Elmwood Guide to Ecological Auditing and Sustainable Business (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1993)

Chappell, Tom, The Soul of Business (New York: Bantam Books, 1993)

Dickstein, Carla, John Piotta and Elizabeth Sheehan, "Sustainable Development in Practice: Coastal Enterprises, Inc.’s Experience," (Medford, MA: Filene Center, Tufts University, 1997)

Hawken, Paul, The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (New York, NY: Harper Business, 1993)

Makower, Joel, Beyond the Bottom Line: Putting Social Responsibility to Work for Your Business and the World (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994)

Nye, Nancy and Schramm, Richard, Building a Learning Organization: Final Evaluation Report of Replication of Cooperative Home Care Associates for Charles Stewart Mott (Flint, MI) and Ford Foundation (New York, NY), June 1994

Nye, Nancy, Melvyn Colón, Katherine Gross, Vickie Scott Grove and Richard Schramm, Working to Learn, Learning to Work: A Study of Training Businesses (New York, NY: Seedco, 2 volumes, November 1995)

5. Capital Strategies

Bingham, Richard, Edward Hill, and Sammis White (eds), Financing Economic Development (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1990)

Gunn, Christopher and Hazel Dayton Gunn, Reclaiming Capital: Democratic Initiatives and Community Development (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991).

Mt. Auburn Associates, The Design and Management of State and Local Revolving Loan Funds (Washington, DC: U.S. Economic Development Administration, August 1987)

Parzen, Julia and Michael Kieschnick, Credit Where It’s Due: An Introduction to Development Banking for Communities (Philadelphia, Pa: Temple University Press, 1992)

Schramm, Richard, (Ed.) Financing Community Economic Development (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Program on Urban and Regional Studies, 1981).

6. CED Evaluation

Alkin, Marvin C., Debates on Evaluation (Newbury, CA: Sage Publications, 1990)

Alkin, Marvin C., A Guide for Evaluation Decision Makers (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1985)

Berk, Richard A. and Rossi, Peter H., Thinking About Program Evaluation (Newbury, CA: Sage Publications, 1990)

Connell, James, Anne Kubisch, Lisbeth Shor, and Carol Weiss, New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives (New York, NY: The Aspen Institute, 1995)

Mt. Auburn Associates and Richard Schramm, Evaluating Development Loan Funds (Washington, DC: Council of State Community Affairs Agencies, 1987)

Patton, Michael Quinn, Practical Evaluation (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1982)

Patton, Michael Quinn, Creative Evaluation (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1981)

Rossi, Peter H. and Freeman, Howard E., Evaluation: A Systematic Approach (Newbury, CA: Sage Publications, 1989)

Weiss, Carol, Evaluation Research: Methods of Assessing Program Effectiveness (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972)