Attracting, Retaining and Growing Businesses in the Community

A key theme throughout this book is the interrelationship between community development and economic development. Chapter 1 , “A Framework for Community and Economic Development,” introduces and maps out this interrelationship. Capacity building and the community development process lead to strong social capital and enhance the ability to take action and improve a community (the outcome). This can make a community more development ready with good infrastructure, a skilled labor supply, a high quality of life, and other factors, which make the community more attractive to businesses and other organizations that can create more and better jobs with higher incomes – the essence of economic development.