Dr. Stephen Gasteyer presents his research in a podcast
July 25, 2022
In this podcast, REI Senior Research Assistant, Matthew Emery, talks with 2022 Student-Led, Faculty-Guided Author, Dr. Stephen Gasteyer, Associate Professor of Sociology at MSU. Gasteyer's 2022 project is entitled "Creating Circular Economic Opportunities through Localizing the Food Cooperative." A summary of the project is seen below. Watch Gasteyer's full presentation at the 2022 Innovate Michigan! Summit on August 18th, 2022.
This applied research study will use the development of a reimagined consumer food cooperative, in coalition with a neighborhood community-based organization, to develop a circular food economy in mid-Michigan that improves the prospects for local food producers and improves the local food access and security. The innovation of this proposal is in the literature on local economic development. Specifically, it will be reviewed: 1) consumer food co-ops, an alternative model that has often prioritized access to high-quality foods for middle-class clientele, be transformed to a model that both supports local agri-food producers and local food access and security; 2) how can this model address the development of a regional circular economy that improves quality of life for local residents, especially in the context of a legacy city, and; 3) what are the opportunities and constraints of supporting local food systems and product economy through building a model that circulates financial capital? 4) what are the assets that will make this model work?
EDA University Center for Regional Economic Innovation was created in 2011 by the Michigan State University Center for Community and Economic Development (CCED) and funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA). Its goal is to work with Michigan's most economically vulnerable communities, turning them into economically-vibrant places that encourage high-growth entrepreneurial development and create well-paid, sustainable new-economy jobs.