Building the Mercado Central: Asset-Based Development and Ethnic Entrepreneurship
(forthcoming 2003)

Summer 2003, Volume 25, Number 1

Thousands of cities and towns across the country have growing populations of immigrants from all over the globe. Many of these communities face the challenge of building bridges between long-term residents and newcomers that enable the newcomers to become a part of the larger community and to maintain and share their rich cultural traditions. The latest workbook in the ABCD Series, “Building the Mercado Central,” tells the story of a Latino community in Minneapolis that believed in its own capacity to transform its collective vision of home and neighborhood into reality. The resulting retail business cooperative and incubator reflects the Latino tradition of a centrally located public marketplace that provides opportunities for meeting and civic engagement, economic activity and entrepreneurship, and cultural expression through the arts and dance.