Balancing Social and Economic Objectives: The Case of California's Community Development Corporations

Abstract

Community development practice is primarily concerned with building social and economic development institutions that lead to community self-sufficiency. The community development corporations formed by the federal government and foundations were designed to promote this form of economic and social independence. However, the economic and social goals of self-determination are increasingly in conflict as government resources shrink and public support of social programs dwindles. This paper examines the balancing of these two conflicting types of goals in thirty-four California community development corporations. The results indicate that both social and economic goals suffer from the lack of resources and the lack of skilled practitioners to organize and run the community development corporations.