At Shorefast, we have anchored our approach to Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) on Fogo Island around a series of guiding questions.
- What do we have?
- What do we know?
- What do we love?
- What do we miss?
And most importantly: What can we do about it?
Our answer to that last question is E – for Economy.
Our Shorefast model builds on John McKnight’s seminal work at the Asset Based Community Development Institute. With 15 years of experience building and growing an economy in service of Fogo Island, we have launched the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies.
As a part of the Shorefast Institute’s work, we are creating a Toolkit and Curriculum Guide to support communities across Canada and beyond as they take charge of their economies. Grounded in nearly two decades of place-based work on Fogo Island and enriched by insights from community leaders coast to coast, the Toolkit will offer frameworks, tools, and curriculum materials that are both practical and accessible, as well as methodologies that can be applied in different contexts and places.
Here’s what to expect from the Shorefast Guide to ABCDE:
- The Shorefast approach to Place-Based Economic Development
Place-based communities are rich with economic assets—skills, traditions, infrastructures, and institutions—that often go unnoticed. This section will walk users through the basics of how Shorefast views community economic development with a series of stories and activities focused on showing how to move from assets to businesses by building place-specific products and markets. Our goal is to ensure that investment in local economies contributes to the true development of the cultural and natural assets of the place.
- A Guide for Community Business
This module will introduce the concept of community business—enterprises designed to serve the long-term wellbeing of their home. It will offer practical guidance on how to start, structure, and sustain businesses that reinvest in community assets. Whether launching a new venture or rethinking an existing one, this guide will help clarify the path toward regenerative local enterprise. - Beyond Buy Local: Getting Started with Economic Nutrition
The Shorefast Economic Nutrition Certification Mark is a trademarked tool that shows where the money goes. This module will teach the principles and practices of Economic Nutrition to build trust, shape purchasing choices, and communicate economic impact. It will include sample labels, accounting guides, and procurement resources.
Coming This Summer
This Toolkit and Curriculum Guide will be an invitation to reimagine local economies and place-based economic development as a path to strong regional and national economies. Later this year, we will generate additional economic mapping tools to make the economy more visible. Through templates, exercises, and place studies, we will show how to identify and connect assets to spark new forms of economic activity. By putting the economy at the centre of community development, and putting communities at the centre of economic development, we will build a national economy that serves more people and more places. As we work to strengthen Canada’s economy, there is enormous opportunity in optimizing for sector development and community development at the same time.
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