I have been asked by several of my FB friends and others, how did I get started in the Community Economic Development field of work. My response could have been a mystical one, in that I could speak about the supernatural pulls, the call on ones life or various kinds of inspirations. Or I could be less transcendental and philosophical and focus on some applied lessons. I think what I will do here for starters is give a little of both. Because if I were to leave off the spiritual, transcendental and philosophical, I would do the reader a great disservice because these are the aspects of the journey that has helped the most when identifying and affirming my call to this field of work. But I also must bring the practical aspects to the reader as well because those are the experiences, the trials, challenges, failures and triumphs. These too have been affirming and clarifying to my journey. So let's begin.
First it was around 1984 when I purchased my first home at the age of 25. It was a risky move and I was advised not to do it for several reasons. One, I was moving into the neighborhood that I grew up in and it had declined from the days of my youth. Two, I didn't have a great deal of money and this was not in the traditional wisdom, to purchase a house without a surplus for repairs and maintenance. But there were some great lessons to be learned and this home purchase set the stage for the work ahead in many ways. First, I purchased this house on faith. Yes, faith that my poor credit would not hinder the purchase, faith that my age would not deter the lenders from giving me favorable consideration and faith that once I moved in, I would be able to make the repairs and handle the upkeep on the home.
I also, felt a strong desire to go back into the community to make a difference. While all of my friends were choosing to move into the suburbs, I decided that it would be good to go back and fix up the house and try to inspire other young people to do the same. I moved into a neighborhood where community development was becoming a reality and a neighborhood bank decided to stay rather than move downtown to try to anchor the community and make small business loans to potential entrepreneurs. This also was compelling to me that their was a spirit of "Can Do" occurring in my neighborhood and I wanted to be a part of that.
So here we begin to move into the inspiration aspect of my work. I think anything that we do in life, especially as it relates to making social or economic change, requires some form of inspiration. My recent trip to Washington DC to hear President Barack Obama inauguration speech was inspiration, going to Tuskegee to visit the Tuskegee Airman museum and to see the great work of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, was inspirational. All along the way I have received inspiration to help me clarify and affirm my work.
Traveling was also very important to my work in community development. You see, perspectives change from state to state, regionally and even urban and rural. It is important to grasp as many different perspectives as possible to sort through them and create your own unique perspective on the work you are about to undertake.
I am going to stop here for now and in my next blog I am going to go into more detail about the inspiration and the perspective for doing community economic development.
For a definition of what Community Economic Development (CED) is, please check out this excellent web site that covers many important aspects of CED.
North Carolina Community Development Initiative
Keeping the fire for a bold and courageous life burning.
