Building an inclusive economy through community business: the role of social capital and agency in community business formation in deprived communities
The Centre for Local Economic Strategies’ latest report ‘Building an inclusive economy through community business: the role of social capital and agency in community business formation in deprived communities’ , funded by Power to Change, takes a comparative look at the social capital and agency needed to make community business flourish.
The report surveys key stakeholders and community business users, staff and volunteers in three deprived communities – south Liverpool, west Hull and north Smethwick. Assessing the levels of bonding, bridging and linking social capital in each area, the authors benchmark their findings against national and regional datasets.
Finding that an area’s history impacts heavily on the relationships of trust and norms of cooperation and reciprocity that form the basis for agency, the authors give case studies of community businesses making a powerful economic and social impact in each place.