Community Identification for Enterprise Development

Businesses are powerful tools for increasing the local pool of skills, experience, and influence. By interconnecting the expertise, interests, perspective, and resources of the entrepreneur with those of the community, people get a stronger grip on the future of their town, neighborhood, or region. Here are some specific projects and processes we help communities with:

• Co-operatives and Social Enterprises: businesses that aim to make a profit in the course of achieving specific social or environmental benefits for the community. It offers workshops on the following topics: "Introduction to Social Enterprise," "Assessing Readiness," and "Getting Started in Social Enterprise.
• Building an Enterprise Development Strategy: the system that community-based organizations use to identify, select, and act on business opportunities, as supporters, partners, or owners. \
• Joint Ventures: special partnerships that communities can use to gain a real say and long-term benefits from local industrial development.