Sustainable Economic and Community Development

The Conversation Research -Sustainable Economic and Community Development
Student Name
American Public University
COURSE####:Course Title
Instructor Name
Due Date
Sustainable Economic and Community Development
In community economic development (CED), there is more emphasis on involving the communities and achieving sustainability. However, it should be noted that involving the community and local population is essential to long-term sustainable development. As part of community economic development, there is a focus on social profitability and sustainability (Krawchenko, 2017). The holistic approach to community economic development considers economic, environmental, social, political, and community needs. The CED model of development in Canada is an alternative to the dominant capitalist production where there is more focus on community development, especially the disadvantaged communities. Although, CED's social and economic system focuses on economic growth and development like other economic development, it also emphasizes poverty reduction and overcoming inequalities.
Social and Solidarity Economics
The social and solidarity economy (SSE) seeks to reconcile economic activity and social utility. There is a greater emphasis on sustainable development, local governance, solidarity, and ethical decision-making to achieve a fairer and more equitable economic development. The development model allows strengthening cooperative systems, strengthening and improving access to the local markets, and promoting the exchange of knowledge and techniques combined with consolidating regional networks (Barrake et al., 2019). Thus, there is greater support for disfranchised and marginalized communities with poor access to capital to promote local and sustainable development considering the local contexts and transform the communities.
There has been growing interest in solidarity economic practices to improve the people's well-being and go beyond profit-making. Self-determination is one of the top priorities in indigenous social enterprise to meet the community's needs and interests (Pinto & Blue, 2017). One of the concerns in solidarity economics is addressing the deteriorating living conditions as the poor become poorer.
Profits are necessary for businesses to thrive, but not to the extent of endless exploitation of human and social capital. Local economic development requires planning and meeting the local demands. The development strategies are aligned with what the communities need. The people are at the center of the economic system and not capital, as is the case with the dominant capitalist system (Villalba-Eguiluz et al., 2020). Community members are involved in determining the basis of their future development as they participate in economic development.
Environmental degradation is another concern that affects humanity. It is partly linked to economic activities of the economic model of extraction that ignore the impact of extraction on the environment and the local communities.
It is no surprise that community economic initiatives increasingly focus on alternatives to deal with the problems associated with the dominant economic models that focus on only profit-making, production, and consumptio...