ARTICLE REVIEW #1 1
Article Review #1
Miguel Hunt
Liberty University
PADM 530: Politics, Strategies, and Initiatives of Community Economic Development
Dr. Ronald McDaniel
August 24, 2025
Clay Jr. and Jones (2009) published an article titled “A Brief History of Community
Economic Development,” which focuses on local community economic development (CED). CED
has been described as a strategy that includes a wide range of economic activities and programs
for developing low-income communities, such as affordable housing and small business
development, from creation and expansion of neighborhood businesses to larger commercial
and retail services (Clay Jr. & Jones, 2009). This strategy came into existence in the 1960s by
activists in response to low-income communities. Clay Jr. and Jones (2009) looked at the
contributions to CED by Booker T. Washington and W.E. B. DuBois, during the pre-civil rights era,
and argued that black advancement would be created through programs of industrial training
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and entrepreneurship, along with pragmatic political views of the existing legal and social order
of the day he advocated the importance of hard work, industry, thrift, and property ownership.
These contributions established a backbone for CED by instituting vocational skills training, the
National Business League, and promoting black-owned small businesses.
The movement of CED continued to expand into the Civil Rights Era. Two major
contributions during this time were the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) and the Community
Action Program (CAP), which focused on "education, health, job training, housing, social
services, and economic development programs” (Clay Jr. & Jones, 2009) in poverty-stricken
areas. The concept of the American corporation also emerged as a tool for states to invest in
economic development initiatives (Deller, 2025). Supported primarily by the federal government
and the Ford Foundation, the movement expanded in the 1970s to address further
deterioration of urban and rural communities (Clay Jr. & Jones, 2009). This concept and
approach to CED is still seen to this day through business recruitment, often through financial
incentives such as those seen at Amazon, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Foxconn (Deller, 2025).
Clay Jr. and Jones (2009) further stated that housing became a major focus of community
development corporations (CDCs) in the late 1980s with the advent of the Low-Income Housing
Tax Credit and the Community Reinvestment Act. They continued to speak on the impacts that
the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations had on antipoverty programs and low-income
communities.
This article provides a good perspective on the fundamentals of CED and how different
approaches came to be. It showed the impact that political parties had on economic relief and
how each administration tackled the issue of poverty in the U.S. The history of CED is the history
of social movements. At the same time, it has matured into an "industry" complete with internal
supports in the form of CDCs; funding intermediaries; and federal, state, and local agencies (Clay
Jr. & Jones, 2009). Social movements such as gentrification are not the answer to the issues of
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poverty and racial inequalities in these areas. CED programs need to address more areas to
provide aid to these communities, and that starts at the local and state levels.
Poverty and economic relief are topics that will be around for many years to come. You
shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for
this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake
(Deuteronomy 15:10, ESV). We need to do the most to provide for those who cannot provide for
themselves. Even a little help can go a long way.
References
Clay Jr., R., & Jones, S. (2009). A Brief History of Community Economic Development. Journal of
Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, 18(3), 257–267. A Brief History of
Community Economic Development - ProQuest
Deller, S. (2025). Are We at an Inflection Point in Community Economic Development? The
4 th Wave. Economic Development Quarterly.
https://doi.org/10.1177/08912424251339139
Holy Bible, ESV
