Community wealth building is a globally recognized and practical economic development model designed to tackle the complex social, environmental, and economic challenges our communities face. The community wealth building model works to build regenerative, resilient economies by redefining how local wealth is generated, circulated, and distributed.

The Community Wealth Building Toolkit: Build Community Wealth in Place with Social Procurement, Social Enterprise, and Community Benefits in Construction highlights three practical tactics that Buy Social Canada and communities across Canada have successfully implemented to build community wealth. Rather than serving as a step-by-step implementation guide, this document provides an overview of how the tactics of social procurement, social enterprise development, and community benefits in construction connect to, and advance, the community wealth building model.

These connections are illustrated through real-world case studies from Ottawa, Peel, and Saskatoon to demonstrate how communities can leverage social procurement, social enterprise and community benefits in construction as tactics to build resilience. In each case, communities conducted market capacity assessments to better understand the assets and gaps in local infrastructure and identified recommendations to advance these tactics to achieve local socio-economic goals.

By exploring the stories, lessons, and successes of organizations across the country, readers can identify pathways to advance their own local economic strategies. For those ready to act, the document concludes with concrete steps to engage with social enterprises, develop community benefit frameworks, and join the growing movement for equitable economic development.