ABSTRACT
One of the most significant challenges currently facing urban communities of color is increasing economic inequality. Unlike past economic devastation wrought primarily by de-industrialization, rising inequality within many urban economies has resulted from new structural conditions of growth rather than abandonment (Sassen, 1998). Polarization within the labor market driven by the rise of low-wage work has been a central feature of this new growth regime, attended by community-level effects of gentrification, displacement, and increased poverty. In a number of cities experiencing a resurgence in development, low-income communities of color have challenged the new growth regime by embarking upon innovative campaigns that demand growth with equity. Among the many tactics deployed by this new accountable development movement, one of the most innovative and successful has been the negotiation of community benefits agreements (CBAs). Though not limited to employment, a concern for living-wage jobs has been at the center of such agreements.
