Community economic development affects people and places and in turn is affected by specific political and economic circumstances. Part One of this book contains three chapters that craft the all-important backdrop for economic and jobs development in minority communities. This is nothing less but the social, economic, policy, and physical landscape of urban America. Evelyn Blumenberg’s chapter documents the considerable changes experienced by U.S. cities over the last couple of decades. Population diversity has increased with the rise in the number of Latino and Asian immigrants, who have partially offset the decline due to white flight from the urban core....

The image of blighted central-city neighborhoods surrounded by white, affluent suburbs is one that continues to dominate the literature on urban poverty and community development. While this image has merit, recent changes in the composition and spatial structure of U.S. metropolitan areas suggest that it is also overly simplistic. The structure of metropolitan areas has become increasingly complex, defying most generalizations across U.S. metropolitan areas and defying simple dichotomous central city—suburban characterizations as well.

Metropolitan areas are diverse. They differ with respect to population and employment dynamics, ethnic and racial composition, the extent of central-city decline and the concentration...

Poor urban neighborhoods changed substantially in the 1990s. One manifestation of this has been a reversal in the concentration of poverty. Although the percentage of the urban poor living in high-poverty areas increased from 1970 to 1990, the last decade witnessed a deconcentration in most metropolitan areas (Jargowsky 1997, 2003). This meant that many poor urban neighborhoods became less poor. The dispersal of poverty has profound implications for community development in minority neighborhoods, which have historically been plagued by disinvestment, declining property values, deteriorated housing, limited business opportunities, insurance redlining, and poor schools (Jaret, Reid, and Adelman 2003; Pettit, Kingsley,...

In recent years, community-based organizations (cbos) have sought to broaden their economic development activities by adding a regional component to theirwork.The fundamental rationale is simple: regional strategies that complement neighborhood-based approaches can help community-based organizations recognize new opportunities, connect to new resources and allies, and affect broad policies that structure the environment for all their activities. In the Delaware Valley around Philadelphia, for example, community leaders developed a regional Reinvestment Fund, which has provided valuable financing for affordable housing, community service, and workforce development programs in the region. In Milwaukee in the late 1990s, labor and community groups developed a...

As shown in the previous three chapters, the lack of meaningful employment is at the core of the economic problem facing low-income minority neighborhoods. Labor market development is arguably the most significant aspect of community economic development because the single largest component of household incomecomes fromemployment.This is even true for low-income neighborhoods. The residents of poor minority communities, however, face a number of hurdles in finding employment that generates enough income to lift them into the middle class. Training the labor force to acquire timely, relevant, and job-appropriate skills is an absolute prerequisite for economic development. Michael Stoll addresses some...

Workforce development policy and programs in the United States have aimed to enhance the employment and earnings of disadvantaged workers, including less-educated workers in low-income minority communities.¹ But most evaluations of these programs have shown mixed to limited success. In these situations, policy attention usually remains focused on efforts to improve the effectiveness of such programs, particularly if the labor market difficulties of less-educated workers remain part of the public policy agenda.

This focus may have attenuated during the economic boom of the 1990s. Over this period, the economic fortunes of the less educated improved on many counts. Poverty declined...

While much of the community economic development field focuses on bringing jobs to disadvantaged minority neighborhoods, the reality is that the majority of residents find work outside their neighborhoods, and often the economic success of these neighborhoods depends largely on job openings beyond their boundaries. Unfortunately, equal access to the larger labor market is often affected by spatially related barriers, especially among minority communities. Urban labor markets have experienced substantial shifts during the past three decades, following the economic stagnation of the early 1970s and the subsequent restructuring of the national economy. While job growth has tended to be concentrated...

Immigrant and contingent workers from Mexico, Central America and elsewhere have taken on increased labor market significance in the United States for several reasons. First, they continue to represent a significant proportion of the population and in recent years have grown in size—Latinos¹ are disproportionately represented in their ranks. Second, the concentration of Latinos and other racial minority groups in segregated and poor communities makes them especially vulnerable to larger macro changes and economic restructuring, both of which impact their employment and wage outcomes. Finally, continued increases in the number of low-skilled Latino immigrants, coupled with diminished labor market...

The first two sections have documented the nature and magnitude of the poor employment outcomes for many residents of minority communities and offered a set of recommendations to overcome multiple barriers. Clearly, there is a need to bridge the geographic divide between place of residency and the ‘‘outlying’’ jobs. Increasing access to opportunities throughout the region, however, is just one approach. The alternative is to bring jobs into the neighborhood by bringing in businesses. The traditional approach has been to attract mainstream firms through tax credits, subsidies, and the provision of infrastructure. Unfortunately, these carrots either have been ineffective in...

Over the last three decades, central cities have been burdened by high rates of unemployment, significant population losses, and concentrated poverty. The economic expansion of the 1990s moderated this burden to some extent, reducing by 24 percent (to 2.5 million) the number of people living in neighborhoods where the poverty rate was 40 percent or more (Jargowsky 2003). Still, by the turn of the new millennium 67 cities had poverty rates of 20 percent or higher (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2000). Central-city unemployment and poverty are concentrated heavily in the low-income Black inner-city communities. These neighborhoods have...

The incorporation experiences and outcomes of Asian immigrants in the urban economy are a study in contrasts, and these contrasts are reflected in the socioeconomic disparities within the Asian immigrant population. The economic success that is exemplified by high rates of Asian immigrant self-employment is counterbalanced by the persistence of working poverty and labor exploitation in garment and restaurant sweatshops. Problematic though they may be, Asian immigrant economies are now integral to the economic landscape of many gateway cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Small immigrant-owned businesses have helped revitalize numerous local neighborhoods, transforming some into ethnic enclaves...

American Indians constitute an indigenous people who have been repeatedly robbed of their land and resources by western encroachment and U.S. federal policies of removal and assimilation. Tribal peoples have endured centuries of racism and colonialism and today remain one of the most economically disadvantaged minority groups in the United States. Of the 1.8 million American Indians, over a quarter live below the poverty level, over twice the proportion for the total population and three times the proportion for non-Hispanic whites.²

American Indians share many of the same economic barriers with other people of color; consequently, they would also benefit...

Much of the traditional thinking in economic development for minority communities focuses on the economic isolation of residents and on the lack of employment and business opportunities. While addressing these problems is paramount, it is equally important to understand that labor market and business development efforts are not sufficient in themselves to address the multiple issues facing the residents of minority communities. Even the best programs to overcome spatial mismatch, increase human capital, and promote entrepreneurship cannot operate in a vacuum. This last part of the book gives a closer look at some of the complementary components of community economic...

The bonds among individuals and between individuals and communities have gained renewed attention as a wealth of scholars have emphasized the importance of social networks and social capital for employment and other important outcomes, from neighborhood security and public health, to the nurturing of children, to the successful integration of immigrant populations, to upward socioeconomic mobility. There is indeed a growing consensus that strong social networks and social capital constitute an important dimension of individual and community economic development. Local community is viewed as an ongoing system of social networks, some of which are internal to the l ocality or...

The high cost of housing has become a permanent financial hardship for people who earn low wages. The other chapters in this book rightfully stress the importance of increasing employment opportunities and improving human capital to increase earned income. Unfortunately, the gains are often marginal, and the small economic advancements can be eroded by escalating housing cost. Unless they receive subsidies, poor and working poor are paying 30 to more than 50 percent of their income on rent. They are primarily people of color, women, single parents, and immigrants who fill the increasing need for low-wage labor in restaurants and...

There is wide agreement among scholars that economic and welfare state restructuring at multiple spatial scales (metropolitan, regional, national, international) has had devastating impacts on low-wage, low-skilled workers and those seeking work. While the sources and particular impacts of restructuring have been widely debated, what is clear is that the combination of decreasing union membership and activity, vertical and horizontal disintegration of firms, declining manufacturing, and rising service sector employment—along with the retraction of welfare programs, changing eligibility requirements for income maintenance, and time limits on welfare program use—have drastically reduced the economic resources available to low-income communities...