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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

CED After #OWS

These  two  ideas  at  the  heart  of  the  Occupy  Movement — the  struggle against  structural  inequality  and  the  desire  for  a more directly  democratic process to take back control over our lives — share much in common with the ideas underlying Community Economic Development (CED).  Contemporary CED first emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, when activists in low-income   communities   fought   for local   residents   to   have   a   direct leadership role in efforts to revitalize those communities, and, in an era of widespread protest movements and civil unrest, private foundations and the federal government began  to provide funding to support community-based non-profit organizations  seeking  to  improve  their  neighborhoods  through  locally-designed,  community-controlled  projects. While  some  of those funders  may  have  been  motivated  by  a  desire  to  squelch  the  more  radical voices  in low-income  communities  of  color, the political  visions  of these newly government-and-foundation-funded community organizations varied. While  many  groups  sought  to  avoid  confrontation  and  simply  improve community services and promote neighborhood self-sufficiency, others grew out  of  the  civil  rights, Black  Power,  and  other  community  and  activist movements and fought to stimulate “grassroots political action to advance a broad-based, redistributive economic agenda.” By the 1970s, a significant number    of    these    organizations    became    Community    Development Corporations  (CDCs),  and  their projects  included  the  development  of affordable  housing,  locally-owned  businesses,  job  training, and  social services programs.

Read the rest at SSRN

 

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