ICA works with community groups to achieve their goals for economic development.
ICA works to promote human and economic development by developing employee-owned companies and community-based projects that create and save jobs.
ICA’s successful approach is based on strong partnerships with local organizations that share common economic development goals and are linked to neighborhood residents and local resources.
ICA recognizes that each community is unique, and we work with diverse local organizations that bring individual strengths and different levels of internal capacity as community partners.
ICA has the technical expertise and experience to help your organization …
- Collect and analyze local economic data to inform decisions about future Community Economic Development initiatives.
- Develop local businesses that create quality entry-level jobs and provide stable employment opportunities for low-skilled and underemployed residents.
- Assess ongoing Community Economic Development projects and formulate plans to improve their efficiency, redirect their focus or position them for growth.
- Promote local ownership and control of neighborhood businesses.
- Incorporate cooperative principles into managing community-based organizations and projects.
The ICA Group can assist you with:
- Local Business Development
- ICA evaluates the feasibility of business ideas, prepares business plans and assists with all aspects of start-up.
- ICA helps existing businesses improve management systems, explore new markets, plan for future expansion or restructure financing.
- Project Planning
- ICA prepares plans for economic development projects and designs appropriate governance and ownership structures.
- Project Implementation
- ICA helps groups to raise capital, recruit and hire management, form a Board of Directors, secure a site, acquire equipment and coordinate training needed to launch new projects.
- Economic Analysis
- ICA helps identify economic development opportunities and guide strategic planning for neighborhood revitalization.
- Project Evaluation
- ICA evaluates Community Economic Development initiatives to measure impacts and document best practices.
- Financing
- ICA identifies potential funding sources and assists with grant writing to finance project feasibility analysis and planning.
ICA also structures financing and helps raise debt and equity capital for local business start-up or expansion. One potential source of investment capital is ICA’s affiliate, the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF).