Many planners caught up in the everyday struggle of preparing zoning bylaws, subdivision regulations, and goverment grants-in-aid often wonder what is happening with that dedicated group of what seem to be counter-culturists across town who are attempting to bring increased prosperity to the community through community-based economic development (CED) initiatives. Rarely communicating with them, perceiving them as outside the political mainstream, infrequently helping them, and often treating them with disdain, too many planners see them as little more than the last vestiges of the grassroots movements of the 1960's. That is a mistake for, as Stewart Perry, president of the Institute for New Enterprise Development, informs us, CEDs represent a critical strategy for bringing improved economic opportunity and stronger community cohesion to distressed areas.