There are many opportunities for organizations to benefit themselves, as well as the economies that sustain them, by making minor adjustments to the way that they purchase goods and services. This report outlines strategies and paths that policy-makers, sustainability managers, procurement professionals and others involved in institutional purchasing decisions can pursue to realize this potential.

Across the country, communities are working towards a common vision: to ensure that neighborhoods become places where all families thrive and have access to the supports, services and opportunities they need to ensure their children succeed.

Measuring Community Success and Sustainability: An Interactive Workbook describes a process to help communities learn how to measure the local  or regional impacts of economic and community development processes that enhance rural community sustainability. The principal purpose is to help communities learn how to measure the concrete results of rural community development and conservation efforts.

In this slideshow presentation, Chris Clamp of Southern New Hampshire University, provides an accessible and engaging introduction to community development (CD) and community economic development (CED). The presentation guides viewers through the core concepts of CD/CED and presents a brief history of this movement in the United States.

This report is an outcome of the Natural Assets Project, a collaborative initiative of the Political Economy Research Institute supported by the Ford Foundation. The report draws on papers prepared for the Conference on Natural Assets: Democratizing Environmental Ownership held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in January 2000.