Even before the current crisis, working families often did not get a good return on thousands of public dollars invested in economic development.  Such development has usually failed to meet working families’ critical needs for affordable housing and living wage jobs and, often, actually results in low-skill, low-wage jobs that provide neither a career path nor a path out of poverty. With millions in federal stimulus dollars about to pour into local coffers and local plans still moving forward, the East Bay urgently needs enforceable standards to guarantee that government-backed projects will benefit all community members, not just developers and the affluent.

At EBASE, we believe economic development can be a tool for creating prosperity for working families and communities. Development can create economic opportunities and offer tangible community benefits, including access to living wage jobs, affordable housing and critical neighborhood services. But for economic development to lift communities out of poverty, workers and community-based organizations need to have a strong voice in development decisions.

EBASE is paving the way to a new approach to economic development that meets the real needs of communities. As part of the Partnership for Working Families, a nationwide network of organizations creating a movement for community benefits and accountable development, we are working to change the face—and the rules—of development in the East Bay and beyond.

The Community Benefits program:

• Builds coalitions of residents, community and environmental organizations, and labor unions to intervene in projects and win Community Benefits Agreements.
• Passes policies—like living wage and community hiring policies—that set minimum standards for development.
• Changes local development processes to ensure governments consider social and economic impacts of development before giving approvals.
• Conducts research to assess the true costs and benefits of development decisions.