Community Wealth Building

A place-based approach to economic development that aims to transform local economies so communities own, control, and benefit from local wealth. It shifts thinking from scarcity to sustainability by keeping economic value rooted locally and guided by community priorities.

It strengthens communities by increasing  local ownership, local decision-making, and inclusive participation, leading to greater social inclusion, pride, and resilience. It focuses on how wealth is generated, circulated, and retained within local and regional economies rather than extracted.

Inclusive and Democratic Ownership
Supports cooperatives, social enterprises, employee-owned businesses, and community-owned assets.

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Locally Rooted Finance
Encourages local investment mechanisms (e.g., community bonds, land trusts) so financial capital works for community benefit.

Fair Work
Promotes quality jobs, workforce development, equality, and resilient local labour markets.

Just Use of Land and Property
Puts vacant or underused land and buildings to use for social or environmental purposes, led by community priorities.

Progressive Procurement
Uses purchasing power to support local businesses, local jobs, and community ownership.

Local ownership and control of assets such as land, businesses, and infrastructure.

Inclusive and democratic economic decision-making, especially involving people with lived experience.

Economic resilience and sustainability are driven by community priorities.

Place-based impact, recognizing the power of local people and local assets

Call to action

Want to learn more, or have a story to share? Connect with:

Robin Wisener, Director of Community Wealth Building

robin@tamarackcommunity.ca

Join our emerging Community of Practice

Explore the community experience of wealth-building under the five pillars. We will explore the use of community wealth building in the Canadian context while better understanding how this approach is used elsewhere. We will explore what we can do together to make community wealth building help to eliminate poverty in all its forms.

Meet the team

Rochelle Ignacio (she/her) is an equity strategist, facilitator, public speaker and community builder who guides organizations and individuals through meaningful equity and anti-racism journeys. Grounded in an intentional, relational, and care-based framework, she fosters environments where belonging, reconciliation, and transformative change can take root.

Since 2021, she has led Tamarack Institute’s inaugural Equity & Indigenization team, spearheading the Seeds of Transformation, a loving framework for equity, belonging and reconciliation. Rochelle embeds equity into organizational culture by shaping policies, leading training programs, and coaching teams. Rochelle is experienced in developing equity strategies and coaching teams on developing disaggregated employee engagement dashboards.

Beyond consulting, Rochelle advances Black mobility and belonging through social entrepreneurship focused on developing economic opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Book a 15-minute session with Rochelle

How CWB works and the Pathways to Action

Generation: i.e. Community-owned businesses, buildings, or tourism initiatives
Circulation: i.e. Local investment tools that keep money moving locally
Retention: i.e. Community-owned assets that reduce wealth extraction

Initial steps toward Community Wealth Building include:

Collective impact and community convening
Identifying local capital assets of community value
Securing community control or ownership of capital assets
Supporting business and ownership models that benefit the community

In essence, Community Wealth Building is about making places more livable by ensuring wealth created locally stays local and serves the people who live there.