Wealth Creation
A New Framework for Rural Economic and Community Development

A new approach to rural development is emerging. Instead of being about attracting companies that might create jobs over which communities have no control, the emerging paradigm is about connecting the unique underutilized assets of place with market opportunity to grow assets that are owned and controlled by and for the benefit of low-wealth people and places. But asset development is about more than bricks and mortar or narrowly defined financial assets. There are many kinds of assets that communities require to thrive ? such as social capital, natural capital, political capital, and intellectual capital. The emerging new approach to rural development is, then about broadening the definition of "wealth," engaging underutilized assets, and a key third element: harnessing the power of the market ? rather than relying solely on philanthropy and government. Wealth Creation provides a conceptual guide with practical examples for policymakers, practitioners of economic and community development, community organizers, environmentalists, funders, investors, and corporations seeking a values-based framework for identifying self-interests across sectors that can lead to opportunities to transform existing systems for the collective good.

Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. Introduction 2. What is Wealth? 3. What is a Wealth Creation Value Chain? 4. How Do Ownership and Control Change The Game? 5. What Does It Mean to Be Demand-Driven? 6. How Do We Connect with Investors? 7. Where Does Technology Fit Into Wealth Creation Value Chains? 8. Rethinking Measures of Economic Impact 9. The Roles of Wealth Creation Value Chain Coordinators and Coaches 10. Taking a Wealth Creation Approach to Scale Index.

Shanna E. Ratner is the founder and principal of Yellow Wood Associates, a firm specializing in rural economic and community development since 1985. She was selected by the Ford Foundation to conceptualize and support implementation of a new approach to rural economic development that became WealthWorks. Ms. Ratner was trained in systems thinking as a member of the first class of Donella Meadows Fellows and has been a Mel King Fellow at MIT, and a member of the Aspen Institute’s Learning Cluster on Rural Community Capacity Building. She holds a MS degree in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University and a BA in Value Systems from New College in Sarasota, Florida, and lives in rural Vermont.