The National Center for
Economic & Security Alternatives

The National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives is an independent, politically progressive, nonprofit institute providing research, education and consultation on innovative solutions to problems facing America and the global political-economy. Since its establishment in 1977, the National Center has undertaken research and policy development projects for foundations, federal agencies, state governments and nongovernmental organizations.

At the core of the National Center's work are projects and initiatives designed to promote better understanding of the need for a coherent "system-wide" strategy which emphasizes community building, enhanced democratic participation, community-based asset development and environmental sustainability.

Since 1992, the National Center has given increasing emphasis to the relationship of affirmed values to system-wide problems. It is currently engaged in a multiyear integrated initiative which aims to help catalyze a long-range process of "rethinking" and effective action that can contribute to the re-energizing of positive social and political change. The overall effort focuses on: (1) institutional innovation; (2) new policy directions; (3) valued-based political/economic theory; and (4) long-term vision.

Earlier activities of the National Center included directing a $2 million evaluation of Title VII community development corporations, and intense involvement with the attempt to establish a worker-owned steel plant in Youngstown, Ohio. More recently, a number of the National Center's reports -- including A Third Way: Innovations in Community-Owned Enterprises and The Index of Environmental Trends -- have broken new ground in offering fresh approaches to economic and environmental challenges. The National Center's most recent publication is What Comes Next: Proposals for a Different Society.

Apart from academic writing, the results of various research findings have received wide-spread attention in articles in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, MIT's Technology Review, Sojourners, Social Policy, Foreign Policy, and other publications. Major television exposure has occurred on all national networks (including numerous evening news reports), and such programs as Meet the Press, the MacNeil Lehrer Report, and Wall Street Week. Television specials have been undertaken in cooperation with ABC, the BBC and other networks in the U.S. and abroad.

In addition to conducting a series of research projects aimed at identifying on-the-ground alternatives in economic development, environmental innovation, and other facets of community life (both nationally and internationally), the National Center is currently completing a book describing the nature of an alternative political-economic system capable of maximizing values of liberty, equality, community, democracy and ecological sustainability.