Wealth creation: a new framework for rural economic and community development

Abstract

Can economically marginalised people and places become viable and sustainable in the main-stream economy? This practitioner-oriented book presents a convincing case that it is poss-ible. Ratner ’ s wealth creation approach will resonate with communities and government o ffi cials who are frustrated by the limited e ff ectiveness of traditional economic and social service programmes. It is a process that is grounded in social science theory. It was implemented in a dozen rural communities in three economically depressed regions of the US (Central Appalachia, the Deep South, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley) during the Great Recession 2015). The Ford Foundation and the Aspen Institute o ff ered Ratner the opportunity to develop this wealth creation approach to economic development. The dis-tinguishing features of the approach are: a broad vision of wealth; identifying underutilised assets of marginalised places; building bridges for cross-sector value chain participation and connecting with cross-regional entrepreneurial market opportunities (for scaling); and harnessing the power of market-driven investing for inclusion and sustainability rather than relying on grants and subsides. To a greater or lesser degree, every community has eight foundational forms of wealth: individual, social, intellectual, natural, built (infrastruc-ture), political, cultural, and fi nancial. Ratner ’ s framework starts with an assessment of this wealth as it exists in a community. This assessment is used as a wealth matrix to identify underutilised resources (e.g. small farms, vacant buildings, unemployed youth, manufactur-ing waste, etc.) and fi nd ways to develop these. This is facilitated by a trained value chain coordinator. The primary aim is to link a community ’ s underutilised assets with market opportunities to create income so both the community and investors gain. Over time, these actions result in changing systems to achieve inclusion of marginalised people, resilient rural communities, and sustainable economies.