Community Ownership in Action: How ERC Hosts Are Modeling a Transformative Economy

In today’s economic climate, where federal resources are tightening and conventional systems often fail to meet local needs, a quiet revolution is taking shape. Economic Recovery Corps (ERC) Hosts are not just responding to these gaps, they’re charting new paths that show what a more resilient and locally rooted economy can look like. Their work offers living examples of what many have hoped for but rarely seen: community-driven economic models that are equitable, regenerative, and replicable.

This article spotlights two ERC Hosts, Chris Miller of the National Coalition for Community Capital (NC3) and Dr. Lomax R. Campbell of Third Eye Network, who are reframing investment itself as a tool for shared prosperity. From rural Michigan to post-industrial Rochester, they are helping communities take control of their financial futures and reimagine who owns the local economy.

A Different Kind of Investment

Community capital is not just about raising money. It’s about building systems where capital flows through communities, not past them. It’s about shifting decision-making power from institutions to neighbors and entrepreneurs. It’s about ownership.

Chris Miller sees community capital as local people investing in local businesses, with returns that stay local. Through his ERC-supported initiative, NC3 is piloting the Community Capital Accelerator, a series of training modules that help entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) guide small businesses to raise money from community investors.

“Our goal is to see a community investment fund in every community in the country,” Miller says. “When the investment comes from the people who live there, the benefits stay there too.”

In Rochester, New York, Dr. Lomax R. Campbell is taking a systems-level approach rooted in equity and access.  Through Third Eye Network, where he serves as President, the agency helped a local economic development organization pursue certification for becoming a Community Development Financial Institution to unlock new financing options for historically excluded entrepreneurs. His team is also working with a developer to test shared ownership models, where local residents can co-invest in commercial properties and neighborhood assets—a direct challenge to decades of disinvestment.

“Traditional developers don’t usually open the door for residents to co-own assets,” Campbell says. “But shared ownership offers real equity and real income for neighborhoods that have been left out.”

ERC’s Role: Demonstrating New Possibilities

The ERC initiative was created to strengthen the capacity of local and regional economic ecosystems, especially in places that have been excluded from traditional funding, policymaking, and investment strategies. But more than that, ERC is surfacing new ideas for how economic development can be done differently.

By embedding Fellows in 65 communities across the country, ERC is helping uncover and elevate economic models that reflect local priorities, lived experiences, and long-term community benefit. These aren’t just programs; they’re prototypes of what a transformative economy can look like when designed by and for the communities they serve.

Why It Matters Now

For years, top-down approaches to economic growth have overlooked the potential of local capital and community control. But that’s changing. Miller and Campbell’s work provides compelling evidence that locally led, people-centered investment systems are not only possible, they’re essential.

According to the 2024 Crowdfund Capital Advisors Annual Report, 80% of businesses funded through community investment models are still operating after five years, far exceeding the national average. And the value goes beyond financial sustainability. These models build social cohesion, unlock intergenerational wealth, and strengthen resilience from the inside out.

What a Transformative Economy Looks Like In Practice

What sets these ERC Hosts apart is how they are designing for structural change, not just project outcomes.

• Miller is partnering with the healthcare sector to examine whether growing community wealth can also improve community health. “We’re piloting investment funds in four cities,” he says, “and we expect to see measurable improvements in people’s well-being.”
• Campbell is enabling passive income streams through community ownership, which helps residents qualify for mortgages or business loans. “That access creates a ripple effect that lifts the entire neighborhood,” he says.

These are hallmarks of a transformative economy in action: new metrics of success, new mechanisms of ownership, and new models of regeneration, not extraction.

Breaking Down Barriers

That said, shifting systems means confronting barriers, both cultural and structural.

Miller notes that many first-time investors are hesitant. “We’re asking people to make their first-ever investment,” he says. “Their parents didn’t invest. It’s a mindset shift, not just a financial decision.”

Campbell faces similar challenges in Rochester, compounded by digital inequities. “When you use FinTech to crowdsource investments, folks without computer access or digital literacy can get left behind,” he says.

That’s why both leaders are investing in education, trust-building, and outreach. Their ERC-supported work is not just identifying gaps, it’s actively closing them.

Lessons That Travel: Takeaways for Other Communities

Through their efforts, Miller and Campbell offer a set of principles that other communities can use to begin transforming their own economies:

• Start small. Micro-investments and pilot projects can shift mindsets and build momentum.
• Collaborate across sectors. Lasting change happens through partnerships—between ESOs, governments, investors, and residents.
• Center education. Financial literacy, digital access, and community trust are foundational.
• Design for the long term. Sustainable wealth and ownership take time—but the return is lasting.

Investing in the Next Generation

Real change is generational. Both ERC Hosts are building in pathways for youth engagement.

Miller works directly with university students to help them learn how to become impact investors. “Young people are eager to use their money to do good,” he says.

Campbell encourages intergenerational participation. “If a parent brings their child into the process, they’re modeling a different relationship to money, wealth, and ownership,” he says. “That’s how you shift culture.”

A Glimpse of What’s Possible

In a time of economic uncertainty and political polarization, ERC Hosts like Chris Miller and Dr. Lomax R. Campbell are doing more than launching projects. They are demonstrating what it looks like to build an economy rooted in community, accountability, and possibility.

Their work helps answer the question at the heart of this series: What does a transformative economy actually look like?

The answer is emerging. In co-owned commercial buildings, in first-time local investors, in reimagined financial systems designed to keep wealth in place and power in the hands of the people.

These aren’t just stories. They’re blueprints for what’s next.