In today’s economy, rural community and economic development increasingly go hand in hand. With increased global competition, there is a need for more local decision-making and more locally based economic ventures for a community to be successful. Succeeding at this approach hinges on community commitment. Communities must focus on development not only in the community, but of the community.
In Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty- First Century, authors Kenneth Pigg and Ted Bradshaw, outline a new model of community development, catalytic development. The catalytic development model focuses on mobilizing local talent and leveraging local resources and networks to find local solutions, and ultimately foster development in and of communities.
A catalytic community developer enhances the community commitment by
including many participants in the process. The catalytic community developer
helps many individuals work together in a loosely coupled way. This approach
has the power to increase community involvement, strengthening the community
for the future.
Next week The Agurban will discuss the characteristics
of catalytic community development: Capacity-Building, Empowerment, Collaboration,
Expanded Locus of Activity, Open Access to Information, and Comprehensive,
Not Categorical.
Thanks to the Rural Sociological Society Issue Brief, Catalytic
Community Development, for reporting on this approach to community
and economic development.