Abstract
This essay reviews foundation reports, Internet list proceedings, and grassroots publications, which show how community-building can enable economic developers to "transcend place"for economic justice. The new federal Empowerment Zones and other "place-targeting" policies put economic development back in the business of fighting poverty but face the "zero-sum dilemma" common to traditional economic development. The popular emergence of a New Community Movement provides lessons for solving the zero-sum problem with an open-sum approach focused on the common good. Community-building can enable the underprivileged to create power through collective action, at the same time enabling the privileged to understand and direct their responsibilities to the whole community. Examples from current Community Economic Development practice illustrate the balancing act required to apply community-building to the economic development of poor places.
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