La construction de richesse communautaire est une approche de développement de la richesse locale qui vise à garantir aux communautés le contrôle et la propriété de leur avenir.

At its core, community wealth building asks three questions:

• Who owns?
• Who benefits?
• And where does the wealth go?

Community wealth building is a practical approach to economic development that focuses on a simple idea: the wealth created in a community should benefit the people who live there. Instead of depending mainly on outside investors, large corporations, or the hope that growth will “trickle down,” community wealth building works to keep more money, jobs, assets, and decision-making power rooted locally. It is an economic development model based on democratic community ownership and control of assets in place, with the aim of producing broader prosperity, greater fairness, and more sustainable local economies.

Le développement de la richesse communautaire repose sur 5 piliers principaux.

In many local economies, wealth is constantly extracted: profits go to distant shareholders, procurement spending leaves the region, land values rise without local benefit, and workers have limited control over the assets they help create.

Community wealth building tries to reverse that pattern by strengthening local ownership, local supply chains, fairer work, and community control over land, finance, and institutions.

1. Inclusive and democratic enterprise – This means supporting business models that spread ownership and benefits more broadly, such as cooperatives, social enterprises, employee-owned firms, community enterprises, and municipal enterprises. The goal is not just more business activity, but more shared ownership of productive assets.
2. Locally rooted finance and community investment – This pillar focuses on making money work for local places through tools such as credit unions, community finance, public banks, pension investment, and community investment vehicles. Instead of capital flowing out of the community, it is redirected to support local enterprise and development.
3. Fair work and pathways into employment – Community wealth building is concerned not only with the number of jobs, but also with their quality. Fair work means decent wages, good working conditions, greater worker voice, and pathways into secure employment.
4. Socially productive use of land and property – Land and buildings are major sources of wealth. This pillar focuses on using them in ways that benefit communities: reducing speculation and displacement, strengthening community control, and ensuring that land and property create long-term local value.
5. Progressive procurement and local supply chains – Procurement is simply the process of buying goods and services. Progressive procurement means using the purchasing power of governments and anchor institutions to support local businesses, local multipliers, and wider community benefit rather than treating purchasing only as a search for the lowest short-term price.

A key part of the approach is the role of “anchor institutions”. This term simply means large organizations that are rooted in place and unlikely to move away, such as municipalities, hospitals, universities, colleges, school systems, housing providers, and other major public or nonprofit institutions. Because they employ many people, buy large volumes of goods and services, and control land, buildings, and sometimes investment funds, they have the power to shape local economies in lasting ways.

5 key sectors in Atlantic Canada

Community Wealth Building can be said to happen across 5 key sectors. There are areas that have to remain local, and so are important sectors to focus on.

Économie des soins, systèmes alimentaires et pêche, production culturelle, logement et construction, et infrastructures halieutiques

Multiplier Effect

One helpful term is multiplier effect. This means that when money is spent with locally rooted businesses, more of it tends to circulate again in the local economy through wages, local suppliers, and further local spending. That is one reason community wealth building puts so much emphasis on local ownership and local procurement.

In Atlantic Canada, this matters a great deal. The Centre for Local Prosperity found that the region had an overall economic leakage rate of 40%, meaning four out of every ten dollars spent leave the regional economy. In a study of public institutions, two mid-sized post-secondary institutions had an out-of-province leakage rate of 59%, while two mid-sized municipalities had a rate of 25%. Even a modest shift in procurement could generate millions of dollars in new local economic activity.

In plain language, community wealth building is about building economies that are more local, more democratic, more resilient, and more fair. It is not just about growing the economy. It is about making sure that the wealth created by economic activity stays closer to home and works better for local people.

40%, meaning four out of every ten dollars spent leave the regional economy. Even a modest shift in procurement could generate millions of dollars in new local economic activity.

Community wealth building History:

The modern community wealth building movement is usually traced to Cleveland, Ohio, where around 2008 a mix of locally focused institutional spending and employee-owned cooperatives became known as the Cleveland Model. The idea then gained wider attention in Preston, England, where a similar strategy helped increase the share of spending retained locally. Since then, the approach has spread widely, with Scotland emerging as a major leader through a national commitment to community wealth building. Interest has also grown in places such as Chicago, Sydney, and across Canada.