ABSTRACT
Promoting individual and collective agency and self-determination is a central community economic development goal. This chapter looks at recent attempts to enhance or build individual and community assets in places with limited resources. Asset-building strategies can potentially be important in reducing poverty when complemented by the built capacity of the community economic development industry. Individual asset building has become a central focus of community economic development policy in the United States. Typical causes of destabilization include a decrease in the level of property investment, abandonment, and crime. Savings vehicles such as Individual Development Accounts (IDA) can build a modest asset base for marginalized communities to leverage upward mobility. The fact that local governments see a benefit for their taxable revenue and can use the Earned Income Tax Credit along with IDAs and community-based partners to help the working poor speak volumes about our learning how to calibrate community economic development.
