PPAM 6310: COMMUNITY AND

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
University of Texas at Brownsville Office: Somewhere in the MO building
Fall 2013 Office hours: M 6:00-7:00pm, TTh 12:00-
Mondays 7:15–10:00p.m. 1:30pm, Th 3:00-4:00pm, and by apt.
Eidman 201 Phone: 956-882-8877
Professor Mark J. Kaswan, Ph.D. e-mail: Mark.Kaswan@utb.edu

SYLLABUS

Course description: The notion of community and economic development incorporates two
concepts: community development and economic development. For some, community development
involves literally developing communities—that is, building housing. For others, community
development means strengthening existing communities. By the same token, economic
development can mean importing economic activity by bringing in established businesses to
provide employment, or it can mean working with existing businesses in the community in order to
increase their capacity and strengthen them. When we talk about community and economic
development together, we are talking about the relationship between these two notions. The most
common assumption is that economic development supports community development, but some
people turn it around and argue that economic development will come through the strengthening of
the community. Traditional approaches to community economic development generally fall under
this first category, along with a relatively new approach known as community wealth-building. The
second approach might better be referred to as community empowerment (or community
organizing). The one point that all of these approaches would agree on is that community
development and economic development are closely linked. We will explore this dynamic linkage,
as well as the different approaches, in this course.

Learning objectives: The objective of the course is to give students an understanding of the range
of approaches to economic and community development, and to recognize that CED is not "one size
fits all." Students will also gain valuable tools to enable them to critically assess CED proposals.

Required materials: The following books will be used for the course:
In the bookstore:
James DeFilippis and Susan Saegert, eds (2012) . The Community Development Reader. 2nd ed.
Routledge Press. ISBN 978-0-415-50776-9. This is available from the bookstore.

Aaron Schutz and Marie G. Sandy (2011). Collective Action for Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan.
ISBN 978-0-230-11125-7. Available from the bookstore.

Order on-line:
Gar Alperovitz (2011). America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming our Wealth, our Liberty, and our
Democracy. 2nd ed. Democracy Collaborative Press and Dollars & Sense. ISBN: 978-0-
9847857-0-4. $16.95. Order on-line from Dollars and Sense. Note: Be sure to get the 2011
edition, not the earlier 2005 edition.
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Democracy Collaborative (2005). Building Wealth: The New Asset-Based Approach to Solving Social
and Economic Problems. Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute. ISBN: 0-89843-434-3. This
book is only available (for $15) directly from the Aspen Institute.

Emily Kawano, Thomas Neal Masterson & Jonathan Teller-Elsbert (2009). Solidarity Economy I:
Building Alternatives for People and Planet. Papers and Reports from the 2009 U.S. Forum on
the Solidarity Economy. Amherst, MA: Center for Popular Economics. ISBN: 978-0-557-
47239. The book can only be ordered ($25) from Lulu Press via this link. Note: There is an
older book, also called Solidarity Economy, edited by Carl Davidson. That is an entirely
different book.

Additional assigned readings will be made available on-line through Blackboard.

Grading and Course Requirements: As this is a graduate course, students are expected to take
greater “ownership” of the course than they would for an undergraduate course, albeit under the
leadership and direction of the instructor. The class will be conducted as a seminar, which means
that class meetings will rely on students’ readiness and willingness to engage in discussion. Regular
attendance, completion of assigned readings and participation in class discussions are all
fundamental requirements for success. Grades will be based on the following:

1. In-class presentations: Each class will begin with a critical summary of the reading, in the
form of a 10-15 minute presentation by a student. 15% of the grade.
2. Weekly reading summaries: Each week, write a brief analytical summary of the week’s
reading, in 500-700 words (2-3 double-spaced pages). This is due at class-time each
Monday. These will be evaluated on a check/check-minus basis and comments will only be
returned if there are significant problems. You can miss up to five of these without it
affecting your grade, but after that, points will be deducted. 15% of the grade.
3. Take-home midterm: There will be a (relatively) short essay exam on some of the central
ideas discussed in the readings. 6-8 pages; 20% of the grade.*
4. Final paper: Using local sources and your own experience, identify some of the key
problems in the local community and/or economy. Based on the readings we have done for
the course, discuss potential ways of addressing some of those problems. [Note: This is
where those weekly reading summaries come in handy: Feel free to draw on them in your
discussion.] The last week of class will be set aside for presentation and discussion of
papers. 20-25 pages; 50% of the grade. Due at 5pm on the first day of Finals Week.*
5. Attendance and participation: The quality of the course depends heavily on the students,
so failure to come to class, well-prepared and ready to participate, will detract significantly
from its value for all involved.

* Both the mid-term and the final paper must be turned in both on-line via SafeAssign through
Blackboard, and in hard-copy.

Note: I take the rules of academic conduct very seriously. Violations of academic integrity such
as plagiarism will result in significant penalties and reporting to the Dean of Students per university
policy. If you are unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, visit www.plagiarism.org.

ASSIGNED READINGS
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The schedule of readings is not fixed in stone, but is intended as a starting point. Based on students’
interests, adjustments may be made along the way.

Week 1 (8/26): Introduction

Mahler, Jonathan. “Now That the Factories Are Closed, It’s Tee Time in Benton Harbor, Mich.,” in
The New York Times (Dec. 15, 2011).
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/magazine/benton-
harbor.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
DeFilippis and Saegert: Preface

Week 2 (9/2): Labor Day, no class

Week 3 (9/9): On the notions of “community” and “development”

Little, Adrian. “Community and radical democracy,” in Journal of Political Ideologies (2002), 7(3),
369-382.
Yeo, Eileen and Stephen Yeo. “On the Uses of ‘Community’: From Owenism to the Present,” in New
Views of Co-operation, Stephen Yeo, ed. (London: Routledge, 1988).
DeFilippis and Saegert: Chapters 13, 27, 36, 37, 39

Week 4 (9/16): Community Economic Development and Community Organizing: Introduction

DeFilippis and Saegert, Community Development chapters 1–4.
Schutz and Sandy, Collective Action chapters 1–2

Week 5 (9/23): Traditional models of CED

DeFilippis and Saegert, Community Development chapters 5, 6 & 11.
This week: Meet with me to discuss paper topic

Week 6 (9/30): Community Organizing (with special guest Jason Lowry)

Schutz and Sandy, Collective Action chapters 3, 4 & 6
Take-home midterm assigned; due Oct 7

Week 7 (10/7): The theory behind community wealth building

Alperovitz, pp. ix–xlix and pp 1–62 (in other words, the introductory material through chapter 4)

Week 8 (10/14): Solidarity economy

Solidarity Economy, chapters 1 & 2
This week: One-page paper proposal due

Week 9 (10/21): Building social wealth

Building Wealth, pp. 41-97, covering Community Development Finance, ESOPs, Community Land
Trusts, Cooperatives and Municipal Enterprise

Week 10 (10/29): Cooperatives Overview, pt. 1

Zeuli, Kimberly and Cropp, Robert (n.d.). “Cooperatives: Principles and Practices in the 21st
Century”, pp. 1-51. University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Deller, Steven, et al. (2009). “Research on the Economic Impact of Cooperatives”, pp 1-15.
University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
International Cooperative Alliance: What is a Co-op? and Cooperative Principles and Values (from
ICA website, www.ica.coop).
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This week: Thesis statement and outline for your paper

Week 11 (11/4): Cooperatives Overview, pt. 2

Brown, Leslie H. (1997). “Organizations for the 21st Century? Co-operatives and “New” Forms of
Organization” in Canadian Journal of Sociology, 22: 1, pp. 65–93.
Levi, Yair and Marie Louise Pellegrin-Rescia (1997). “A New Look at the Embeddedness/
Disembeddedness Issue: Cooperatives as Terms of Reference” in Journal of Socio-Economics,
26: 2, pp. 159–79.
Majee, Wilson and Ann Hoyt (2011). “Cooperatives and Community Development: A Perspective on
the Use of Cooperatives in Development” in Journal of Community Practice, 19: 1, pp. 48–61.

Week 12 (11/11): Consumer and producer cooperatives

Hoyt, Ann (2004). “Consumer Ownership in Capitalist Economies: Application of Theory to
Consumer Cooperation,” in Cooperatives and Local Development: Theory and Applications for
the 21st Century, Christopher D. Merrett and Norman Walzer, eds. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Nadeau, E.G. and David J. Thompson (1996). Cooperation Works!, chapter 3: “Consumer Co-ops”.
Rochester, MN: Lone Oak Press.
Warbasse, J.P. (1936). Cooperative Democracy through Voluntary Association of the People as
Consumers, Preface, and pp. 19-25

Week 13 (11/18): Worker cooperatives (with special guest: Carlos Perez de Alejo from
CooperationTexas)
Northcountry Cooperative Foundation (2006). Worker Cooperative Toolbox, pp. 1-45
Mondragon Corporacion Cooperativa (2006). “The History of an Experience”
Nadeau and Thompson, Cooperation Works!, excerpt from chapter 4: “Enterprising Businesses
Owned by their Employees”

Week 14 (11/19): Challenges and issues for the cooperative movement

Shaviro, Sol (1982). “A Critique of Consumer Cooperation: ‘Cheap Cheese’ or the Heavenly Kingdom
as the Issue that Divides Practical Cooperators from Utopians” in American Journal of
Economics and Sociology, 41.1 (January), pp. 29-42.
Egerstrom, Lee (2004). “Obstacles to Cooperation” from Cooperatives and Local Development.
Somerville, Peter (2007). “Co-operative Identity” in Journal of Co-operative Studies, 40.1, pp. 5-17.
Levi, Yair and Peter Davis (2008). “Cooperatives as the “enfants terribles”of economics: Some
implications for the social economy” in The Journal of Socio-Economics, 37, pp. 2178–88.
This week: Annotated bibliography for your paper due

Week 15: Tuesday: Community panel (local officials from Brownsville)

Finals week: Student presentation of papers (in lieu of a final exam)