in Mississippi

Regardless of the definition used, economic development is often associated with two objectives:
(1) creation of jobs and wealth and (2) the improvement of the quality of life (International
Economic Development Council n.d.). Objective typically leads to objective two but generally
the focus is on the business aspects of communities. So, the difference between community and
economic development boils down to one approach (community development) focusing on
broader community issues including but broader than jobs and businesses while the other
approach (economic development) focuses mostly on jobs and businesses. Both are processes
taking place in a community or region. To summarize concepts, review table 1.
Table 1. CED Key Concepts & Definitions
Key Concept
Growth
Development
Community
Functions
Institutions
Linkages
Community Development
Economic Development
Community Economic
Development (CED)
Definition
Quantitative increase in size
Quality change aimed at a particular goal
Geographically defined place where people interact
Responsibilities & activities inherent in a community
Rules, including informal norms, and organizations that
coordinate human behavior
Capacity of communities to carry out functions depending on
strength of institutions. These can be vertical and horizontal.
People in defined location planning to change a situation
Process that influences growth to enhance well-being
Process that allows residents to mobilize and build assets to
improve their quality of life in a sustainable way
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES
An interesting saying goes something like “the devil is in the details”. If a community identifies
a specific situation that needs to change through planning and mobilizing resources, the milliondollar
question becomes: how? Over decades of research, the community development literature
has identified multiple approaches. This chapter will cover three of them: technical assistance,
self-help, and conflict. The majority of the material for this section was obtained from (Robinson
and Green 2010).
Technical assistance is broadly speaking a community development approach that relies mostly
on experts to assist the community during a planning phase or implementation phase or
evaluation phase or all of the above. A typical example of technical assistance as a community
development approach plays out when community leaders identify a need – say a feasibility
study or coming up with a strategic plan – and bring somebody to help with it. This approach is
intended to help communities define their problems, needs, and potential solutions through
specific services or programs strengthening a community’s problem-solving capacity.
Several issues exist with this approach however. It is usually top-down. In other words, many
times residents aren’t even aware of the need for technical assistance much less included in the
decision-making. This approach also assumes situations can be analyzed objectively and that the
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