Inequality has been an increasingly visible issue for local governments across the country. In September of 2014, the Democracy Collaborative released Policies for Community Wealth Building, a report of best practices in state and local-level community wealth building since 2005. The report highlights the “low-hanging fruit”—tested policies with proven track records in multiple jurisdictions—as well as more promising aspirational experiments. Examples of local government-focused actions are summarized below:

Transforming Business Ownership and Economic Development

• Support worker cooperatives as an economic development strategy. Local governments support democratically-owned, one-vote businesses aimed at helping low-income communities. The results have been better employment practices, greater longevity. Most have been primarily led by private non-profits; however local government officials in the city of Cleveland’s economic development agency and New York City provided key early financing and outreach support.

Leveraging Anchor Institutions

• Build capacity to channel anchor procurement to the local economy. Local governments can establish the connections and capacity to facilitate rerouting of the $1 trillion+ that universities, hospitals, and other anchor institutions spend annually to local firms. The city and county government in Chicago have partnered with leading anchors and non-profits to form Chicago Anchors for a Strong Economy, which collates anchor purchasing opportunities in the metro area to have local vendors fill their needs. Programs in New York City, Baltimore, and Philadelphia also use anchor procurement to accelerate small, local businesses, as well as supporting entrepreneurship through providing access to affordable work space, business support, and loans.
• Connecting public health to community wealth via community health needs assessments. Municipalities can support non-profit medical institutions in efforts to connect public health and community wealth through opportunities highlighted by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The ACA mandates non-profit medical institutions to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to maintain tax-exempt status; so leading non-profit medical systems, like Dignity Health in CA, NV, and AZ, can align their economic resources with community wealth-building efforts.

Banking that Works for Communities

• Develop “Bank On” Initiatives. Over 75 cities, counties, and states have begun “Bank On” programs to bring un- and under-banked individuals into the mainstream financial system through negotiating needs of consumers and financial service providers. The first program was started in San Francisco in 2005.
• Implement responsible banking ordinances. Local governments have implemented responsible banking ordinances that leverage city deposits to encourage local financial institutions to increase responsible lending, investments, and financial services in underserved areas. Cleveland was the first city to adopt a responsible banking ordinance in 1991, and since then at least 10 cities have passed such policies.

Vacant Property and Affordable Housing

• Create city land banks. Land banks exist to return vacant properties presenting an issue to many urban jurisdictions to “productive use.” Land banks offer many benefits including promoting public welfare, helping public entities navigate legal and administrative barriers to acquisition, encouraging development in blighted areas, assembling parcels of land that are not marketable for affordable housing, generating revenue from taxes, and offering greater discretion in long-term planning.

Investing in Communities

• Promote community investment funds. While offering large public funds for investment in communities can be difficult for local governments, local governments can encourage transformative investments from anchor institutions, like hospitals or universities, through loan guarantees and similar policies.

Check out the full report to read about other strategies for building community wealth, many undertaken by states; however some with transferability and critical lessons for local governments to use. Continue the conversation and check out more resources on the Knowledge Network’s Community Development topic page.