Community Economic Development

Although women have long been members of the labour force, the proportion of domestic, caring, and community work they provide compared to men or the state has yet to decrease substantially. Beyond Caring Labour to Provisioning Work offers a powerful new framework for understanding women's work in a holistic sense, acknowledging both their responsibilities in supporting others as well as their employment duties.Beyond Caring Labour to Provisioning Work is based on a four-year, multi-site study of women who are members of contemporary community organizations.

What do community organizations and organizers do, and what should they do? For the past thirty years politicians, academics, advocates, and activists have heralded community as a site and strategy for social change. In contrast, Contesting Community paints a more critical picture of community work which, according to the authors--in both theory and practice--has amounted to less than the sum of its parts. Their comparative study of efforts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada describes and analyzes the limits and potential of this work.Covering dozens of groups, including ACORN, Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue Committee, and the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal, and discussing alternative models, this book is at once historical and contemporary, global and local.

This book explains and demonstrates how indigenous communities – built on traditional knowledge, culture and language – can be extended and strengthened by (1) the new, integrated methodology of Lifelong Action Learning (LAL), and (2) new approaches to learning and development as exemplified by the system of GULL (Global University for Lifelong Learning). The GULL system harnesses the potential of people to bring about positive change together, characterized by self-reliance, financial independence, and cascading learning and benefits to others. It is a self-directed and self-sustainable process of learning and growth. The case studies in this book provide evidence that over time economically very poor communities can achieve transformations that bring with them many benefits personally, professionally and for the community.

Centuries-old community planning practices in Indigenous communities in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia have, in modern times, been eclipsed by ill-suited western approaches, mostly derived from colonial and neo-colonial traditions. Since planning outcomes have failed to reflect the rights and interests of Indigenous people, attempts to reclaim planning have become a priority for many Indigenous nations throughout the world.