Cross-Sectoral

MODELS & BEST PRACTICES

Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (Athens, OH)
www.acenetworks.org
This organization, founded in 1985, has followed a local development strategy that includes owning and operating a community kitchen business incubator to support local food production and marketing, a community technology center subsidiary that acts as a business incubator and provides local business with high speed data services, and a community development loan and near equity venture fund. The group has also been a leading advocate of state support for community wealth-building efforts.

Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative (Baltimore, MD)
www.bncbaltimore.org
Founded in 1996 and housed at the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, the Collaborative brings together local and national funders, public sector agencies, business and civic organizations and takes a cross-sectoral “regional equity” approach to building community wealth. Priority areas include support of housing rehabilitation and homeownership counseling, transit oriented development, and asset building programs.

Center for Community Based Enterprise (Detroit, MI)
www.c2be.org
Founded in 2007 and inspired by the examples of the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation (centered in the Basque Country in Spain) and the Quebec Solidarity Fund, this group aims to develop and launch strategies to create and support community based enterprises in Detroit and elsewhere by developing anchored forms of wealth-creating capital that are committed to operating in a specific community through its ownership structure, business model, or by-laws.

Center on Wisconsin Strategy (Madison, WI)
www.cows.org
The Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) is a research and policy center dedicated to improving economic performance and living standards in the state of Wisconsin and nationally. Based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an office in Milwaukee, COWS promotes “high-road” strategies that support living wages, environmental sustainability, and innovative local polices that support community wealth building objectives.

Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council (Chicago, IL)
www.chicagomanufacturing.org
Founded in July 2005, CMRC works to bring together regional labor, business, government, education and community leaders to develop “high road” economic development based on the developing of a high-value added manufacturing economy. The group's work has included the development of a public high school, Austin Polytech, which specializes in training its largely African-American student body that will enable students to graduate with industry-recognized credentials that are in demand by area manufacturers.

Coalition for a Livable Future (Portland, OR)
www.clfuture.org
Through research, policy advocacy, and public education, the Coalition for a Livable Future (CLF) works to create and preserve affordable housing; ensure clean water; protect open space, wildlife habitat and farmland; create living wage jobs; provide real transportation choices; and end hunger. CLF work emphasizes a cross-sectoral approach that stresses the interconnections between these issues.

E2M (Easthampton, MA)
www.e2m.org
Founded in 2000 in Western Massachusetts, E2M (“Economy 2000”) aims to forge a community supporting economic model in which participating businesses agree to: 1) share a percentage of profits (at least 5%) with their employees and 2) contribute a percentage of profits (again, at least 5%) to the community, half of which would go to charitable causes with the remainder helping provide start-up capital for more community-oriented businesses. The group kicked off this effort with the sale of E2M coffee, but, over time, hopes to add a wide variety of product lines.

Good Work (Durham, NC)
www.goodwork.org
Since 1991, Good Work has trained over 3,000 people in economic literacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills, helping create or strengthen over 850 small businesses and social enterprises in North Carolina. Through business creation, Good Work helps generate jobs and contribute to the community's economic development.

Mountain Association for Community Economic Development
(Barea, KY)
www.maced.org
MACED works with people in Kentucky and Central Appalachia to create economic opportunity, strengthen democracy and support the sustainable use of natural resources. Since 1976, it has worked to achieve these ends through the creation of employment and ownership opportunities for low-income people by financing small business development, supporting community capacity building, and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources. MACED has built a loan fund with over $8 million in assets (both loans and equity investments) under management that finances business start-ups and expansions to create jobs. In the past 30-plus years MACED has lent and leveraged over $50 million, directly creating over 4,200 jobs.

Neighborhood Development Center (St. Paul, MN)
www.ndc-mn.org
The Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) was founded in 1993 and has helped 8 ethnic communities and 25 low-income neighborhoods through supporting small-business entrepreneurs and community organizations in these areas. NDC creates, finances, and provides additional support for resident-owned small businesses in an effort to revitalize the community’s economy. NDC has helped over 500 businesses that are currently in operation.

Northland Institute (Minneapolis, MN)
www.northlandinst.org
The Northland Institute, a subsidiary of the Northland Foundation, supports a broad range of innovative asset-building strategies for low-income individuals, entrepreneurial non-profits and community economic development organizations, including ESOP formation, social enterprise, and individual development.

Southern Rural Development Initiative (Raleigh, NC)
www.srdi.org
SRDI was founded in 1994 by rural and community-based stakeholders, led in part by Funders Who Fund in the South, an affinity group of the National Network of Grantmakers (NNG). In its first decade, it developed partnerships with six historically black colleges; helped establish statewide CDC associations in Louisiana, Arkansas, and South Carolina; and supported nine community-based organizations that focused on youth leadership and development. In 2008, the Southern Rural Development Initiative announced a more focused, intentional, streamlined long-term strategy for community asset development

Sprout Fund (Pittsburgh, PA)
www.sproutfund.org
Founded in 2001, the Sprout Fund is a nonprofit that works on issues related to civic engagement, talent attraction and retention, public art, and catalytic small-scale funding in Pittsburgh, PA.  Funding Sprout Seed Awards - modest grants that support community-based projects and strategic initiatives - the Sprout Fund has made nearly 200 awards, totaling $1.2 million.  In 2009, it had an operating budget of $1.3 million.

Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), (Los Angeles, CA)
www.saje.net
Founded in 1996, SAJE has taken a multi-faceted approach to pursuing community wealth building, combining a strong advocacy and community organizing focus with innovative redevelopment strategies, including negotiating community benefits agreements (in which developers agree to provide jobs for local residents in exchange for community support), affordable housing development, and immigrant access to the banking system.