Third-Sector Development

Nonprofit corporations, cooperatives, and credit unions constitute an alternative avenue of hope and action for communities that have come up short in the normal operation of the market economy. These organizations comprise the third sector, which accounts for approximately 10 percent of U.S. economic activity. As part of the fastest growing sector in the economy, these dynamic organizations play an increasing role in strengthening local economies. In the United States, they help to compensate for a state that is, in Gunns view, relatively disengaged from meeting basic human needs. Profiles more than two dozen organizations ranging from child-care cooperatives to retirement communities, from co-housing villages to financial institutions. He also investigates public-policy changes that could strengthen this alternative sectors contribution to economic development. [publisher web site].