ABSTRACT
An integral component of Community Asset Assessment Analysis is an understanding of a community’s economic vitality. Community economic analysis and development has been defined as a process whose goal “is to increase the wealth of a community by raising incomes, increasing access to services and reducing unemployment.” It is accomplished when the public and private sectors collaborate to make community investments. Subsequently, these investments increase the demand for goods and services and thus create “new jobs and sustain existing ones” (Lapping, et al.1989, p. 272). In other words, economic development occurs “when wealth is created for citizens, businesses and government.” The consequence of successful economic development is in a “measurable improvement in the economic and social conditions of individuals and communities” (Magil, 2003, p. 267). Consequently, a prime component of economic investment is to create jobs. With no employment opportunities, small town residents cannot afford to shop for commodities, pay for housing or feed themselves.
