This brief critically examines eight assumptions that underpin place-based programs:

• Distressed communities adversely affect the lives of their residents.
• One-size-fits-all solutions do not work given neighborhood heterogeneity.
• Local voice and accountability are moral imperatives.
• Solutions to local distress do not lie in a single outcome domain, approach, actor, or policy.
• A local organization can coordinate community revitalization.
• Efforts can overcome global, national, and regional challenges.
• Neighborhoods have tipping points.
• Residents stay in place long enough to benefit from revitalization; place-based efforts do not lead to substantial displacement.