California’s community development field is in a state of perpetual evolution. Since we opened our shop, we’ve had the good fortune to work with grassroots leaders designing practices tailored to the needs of their communities. This includes people creating community development ecosystems in areas of California without them, developing advocacy strategies that work alongside capital strategies, and building models for community ownership.

In this paper, we unpack the differences between conventional community development and community-led development. We also look at the practice of community investment as a way to understand the contradictions and tensions embedded in the financial arm of the field.