Community-Centered Economic Development in the New Economy: Assessing Impact and Policy Implications

2. The Alliance • 3 Manitoba universities • 16 Academics • 21 Community & Gov’t Partners • Principal Investigator – Dr. John Loxley • Lead Organization – CCPA Manitoba

3. Project Details • 3 ½ year project ending April 2006 • Total grant $895,000 • 42 research projects • 37 undergraduate researchers • 14 graduate researchers • 5 doctoral researchers • 37 community researchers

4. The New Economy • High tech, knowledge based • Globalization, corporate concentration

5. Research Goals • Assessing the impacts of the NE • Evaluating the potential of CED in NE • Evaluating the role of policy • Theorizing CED in the NE

6. Governance/ Decision Making • Proposal stage – consensual • Full Alliance involved • Research themes established • Research interests expressed • Levels of involvement • Research Committee • Alliance member • Partner/Researcher • Project Manager • Funds allocation stage • Requests for proposals • Research Committee decision

7. Issues in Governance • Funds allocation • Timeliness of research project completion • Quality control • Synthesis of results • Maintaining a sense of “team” • Administrative workload

8. “Collateral” Achievements • Research as a tool for community empowerment • Building alliances between community, academia, funders and government • Student formation • Academic research grounded in practice – more concrete, implement able • Stimulated practitioners to bring a systemic, theoretical reflection to their work

9. Design Features • Community members on proposal team • Community members on Research Cte. • Large promotional outreach to CBO’s • Organized research planning forum with practitioners in early months • 13 community research projects funded • 37 community researchers • About half of research topics from CBO’s

10. Design Features • Special grants to help develop proposals • Regular dissemination at national and local practitioner gatherings • Paired community researchers with academics where help needed • Embedded some academic researchers within CBO’s

12. Part Two Research Conclusions

13. Impact of the New Economy • NE not essentially a “good news” story • Inner city lacks capacity to take full advantage • Rural communities investing heavily in infrastructure – but depopulation continuing • Great promise for northern communities, but • Lack of availability of broadband • Internet playing very limited role in lives of northern First Nations • Technology has been a boon to CED networks

14. Impact on Specific Industries • Agricultural – assisted agri-business trend • Airlines – increased employment barriers • Banking – increased employment barriers • Call Centers – big growth, some connection to CED goals • Garment industry – production shifted overseas

15. CED Opportunities • Incorporating CED into welfare to work • Workforce Intermediaries & employment development best practices • Increasing uptake on potential provided by rural broadband • CED lens for business attraction policies • Social housing as a CED tool

16. CED Opportunities • Agricultural land trusts • CED models for business revitalization • Access to broadband, need for training in north • Range of opportunities for young women

17. Policy Implications • Role of government is crucial • Each opportunity has a policy application e.g. • Welfare to work • Business attraction • Employment best practice • Social housing • Etc. • Most CED work requires subsidization

18. An Aboriginal Construct for CED • Life stories of 26 aboriginal leaders in CD • “Organic intellectuals” • Holistic means: • Starts with individual – need to heal – decolonization • Process of rebuilding selves requires strong sense of community – in which aboriginal culture flourishes • Requires creation of aboriginal organizations to reclaim collective identity • All of which requires development of an ideology – rooted in historical impacts of colonization – based on aboriginal cultural values and traditions