Local Economy

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Comment by Kathryn Cholette on January 18, 2011 at 9:28am

Posted by Kathryn Cholette The Length of the work week is a Transition Initative, Bioregional, Heart and Soul, and Local Economy Issue.  The New Economics Foundation (nef) offers a free download of the book listed below: BBC World Tonight explores the shorter working week

In a special authored programme for the BBC's World Tonight on Radio 4, nef's Anna Coote explored the benefits of a UK-wide shift to a shorter working week. Building on the research presented in nef's report 21 Hours, Anna examines the benefits for families, well-being, productivity, the environment and the Big Society. Anna spoke to experts in a range of fields, including Dr Katherine Rake of the Family and Parenting Institute and Professor Tim Jackson of the University of Surrey. >> Listen to the programme >> Read 21 Hours: Why a shorter working week can help us all to flourish in the 21st ...

Comment by Randy Chatterjee on December 7, 2010 at 10:31am

I am a member of Transition Whatcom (northwestern-most county of Washington state). Their equivalent of our Local Economy group is looking at local banking and micro-finance ideas. They have a survey out that may be worth looking at for a VV project.

Below is a message from them, with a link to that survey. We have the capability of doing the same type of survey using our Google Apps account.
-----------------
Transition Whatcom
A message to all members of Transition Whatcom

Greetings Transitioners,

The Personal Finance Workgroup is exploring the potential for investing in Transition-related, local, sustainable businesses. We are conducting
an informal, anonymous survey within Transition Whatcom. Please take 5
minutes and fill out the survey here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEFma2FaeUJtUUVwTX...

Visit Transition Whatcom at: http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Comment by Jordan B on November 13, 2010 at 10:12am

I have just uploaded a more finalised version of the Community Currency Primer (see link in comment below). This document is intended to provide a good knowledge base in the exciting new frontier of community currencies, and will tell you where you can find out more. It also contains a discussion about the possibilites of creating a local currency in the Dunbar neighbourhood, which this group decided last month would be our first pilot project in actually creating a community currency.

If you've already taken a look at the older, less complete version of this Primer that I uploaded to this page a couple of weeks ago, I will summarise the changes as follows:

-Expanded to take into account Michael Linton's new Community Way model for community currency.
-Whole new section describing three candidate models for community currency that may be considered in choosing a design for Dunbar.
-Aesthetic, formatting and text edits, including adding pictures (makes all that text seem less boring!), a cover page, headers, page numbers, etc. Thanks to Frédéric for his very helpful input!

As always, I welcome any and all feedback that will help make this document better. And by better I mean better at getting people excited about the topic and explaining just how community currencies can work.

Thanks!

Comment by Jordan B on November 13, 2010 at 9:53am

Community Currency Primer.pdf

Comment by Jordan B on November 9, 2010 at 9:04pm

On Sunday, Ann, Ross and I met with the executive director of the Dunbar Village Business Association, Janet Morris-Reade. The meeting was very successful; we couldn't ask for a better ally from the business community than Janet! She is highly supportive of the concept of a community currency in Dunbar, and has even offered to use some of her discretionary spending to assist us with incidental costs such as the printing of brochures that we may produce to promote the idea.

On Janet's advice, we have decided that the best approach will be to get people in the community excited and talking about a community currency first, before approaching the business community. There are a few ways we can go about this:

-Public speaking events
-Engaging with the Dunbar Residents Association
-Using the Dunbar listserve to disseminate information
-Circulating a survey designed both to learn more about residents' habits and attitudes with regards to shopping locally and to get people thinking about the possibility of a local currency.

As it happens, Ann and a couple of other Village Vancouver members are already slotted in to speak at the Dunbar Residents Association AGM on Nov. 15th, and Ann plans to use the opportunity to plant the seeds of the idea of a community currency in the attendees' minds. The Dunbar Residents Association is a large and very active group, and could be a very powerful vehicle for promoting a community currency if we can get its members enthused about the possibility.

In addition, you may have noticed that Michael Linton has joined our Local Economy group. Michael, who resides in Comox, is the inventor of the LETS local exchange system that has been copied all over the world, as well as the new Community Way local currency model that has now been implemented in the Comox Valley and Nelson. Michael has graciously offered his support to our group as we embark on this adventure, so we are indeed fortunate to be able to draw on the advice of a local currency pioneer and veteran.

This is when the real - and exciting - work begins! We will have lots to discuss in our next meeting, and there will plenty to do for anyone who wants to help pioneer local currencies in Vancouver.

Comment by Jordan B on October 10, 2010 at 1:48pm

Haven't met Frederic yet, but look forward to meeting him on Thursday!

Comment by Village Vancouver on October 10, 2010 at 12:54pm

Hey Jordan,

Forgot to mention you as well when I referred to wanting hear about local money! Have you and Frederic connected yet? (Think he's coming on Thursday.)

Comment by Jordan B on October 10, 2010 at 12:50pm

I'm extremely interested in the concept of local money! I even wrote my Master's thesis (in Economics) on particular types of local money ("stamp scrip", or money designed to encourage (local) circulation by incurring costs when hoarded). I learned about a lot of different models along the way, and am convinced that thoughtfully designed forms of money can be key to promoting a number of community goals, economic, social and environmental. I am looking forward to discussing this and other things with the rest of you on Thursday!

Comment by Ross Moster on October 9, 2010 at 11:31pm

I'll bring some copies of the Transition publication Local Money. Some interesting ideas.

Comment by Ross Moster on October 9, 2010 at 11:28pm

Based on ideas I've heard from LE members on the old page, I'm interested in hearing about local currencies (Frederic), tool libraries (Chris), and Time Banks (Scott).

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