Local Economic Development in the Ghetto

There are three common approaches to dealing with ghetto areas, typically located in the center of cities and plagued by problems of substandard housing, chronic poverty and high unemployment: address "bad attitudes", disperse them to other areas of the city, or help them build businesses in their area. Some feel that all three of these approaches miss the point, and that what is really needed is the empowerment and "actual" enfranchisement of the population there.

The largest center in Westman is 50,000 people, so the problems of chronic poverty , bad housing, and high unemployment are already "dispersed", and programs for addressing work attitudes and job creation already exist. As the problems remain, perhaps we have missed the point. Perhaps the problem is systemic, and calls for a different approach.

Attacking the problems of the ghetto which appear in different form in Westman, is one way to increase the economic well being of the region. Links to the pages dealing with each of the four approaches are listed below.

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