1 Community Wealth Building: The Path towards a Democratic and Reparative Political Economic System By Thomas M. Hanna and Marjorie Kelly January 2021 Author Information Thomas M. Hanna is Research Director at The Democracy Collaborative and Vice President of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives. Contact info: tmhanna@democracycollaborative.org Marjorie Kelly is Executive Vice President at The Democracy Collaborative Contact info: mkelly@democracycollaborative.org Conflict of Interest Statement The authors are both employed by The Democracy Collaborative, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that has an interest in the subject matter discussed in this manuscript. Specifically, The Democracy Collaborative works to advance the concept and practice of community wealth building and systemic change with policymakers, journalists, activists, academics and others. TDC is funded to do this work through philanthropic grants and consulting contracts. Abstract After a year of chaos and turmoil related to the Covid-19 pandemic and its social, economic, and political effects, we find ourselves faced with the question of what comes next. Down one path lies the notion of returning to business as usual, which in truth is a dangerous and impossible fantasy. Further shocks are inevitably coming, and an economic system bent on profit maximization, “free markets,” and endless economic growth cannot cope with them. Indeed, such a system is unlikely to survive them. There is another path, one that leads to a political economic system that might enable us all to live well and to do so within planetary boundaries. In embryo, this alternative already exists. It is being tested and proven in the many innovative models of the “social economy,” the “solidarity economy,” or what we term the “democratic and reparative economy.” It is time to recognize these models as the seedbed of the future, the next system our world now urgently requires. How we get to this next system begins at the local level through “community wealth building” (CWB), a term that was first coined by The Democracy Collaborative in the mid- 2000s. It refers to a bottom-up approach to community economic development that works to produce broadly shared economic prosperity, racial equity, and ecological sustainability through the reconfiguration of institutions and local economies on the basis of greater democratic ownership, participation, and control. CWB is more than just a new approach to economic development, poverty alleviation, or individual wealth accumulation; it goes far beyond isolated projects and institutions; and it should not be confused with “community building.” It is a full system approach that focuses on developing alternative economic institutions, approaches, and relationships and connecting them to each other; creating interventions at various scales throughout the system; and