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Here's Where Wealth Comes From 
     *From Paul Glover

Regions make themselves rich and powerful primarily by recycling their wealth, to magnify it. That means retaining talents, skills, and money of local people in the community as much as possible, networking the community to take care of itself to the maximum extent practical.

As local wealth increases through these programs, there is more money available for producing goods and services that feed the transition from dependence to strength. It's important to note that local and regional self-reliance do not isolate communities. They give them added capability to reach to each other, with ecological export industry and travel. The examples on this list, again, are among the hundreds of types of programs that give citizens genuine democratic power-- in the marketplace-- where it counts.

Here are some of the ways this is done:

  • Business Incubators are buildings containing equipment shared by small new businesses, to reduce start-up costs.
     
  • Materials Re-use Centers disassemble and stockpile components of discards, for resale and re-manufacturing. New buildings are constructed ecologically, using non-rainforest woods.
     
  • Community Development Corporations are citizen groups with power of government, to initiate programs for business, housing, transit, etc.
     
  • Buy-Local Campaigns promote social and economic benefits of shopping for locally-produced goods, at locally-owned stores.
     
  • Eco-Industrial Parks exemplify manufacturing of basic useful goods with recycled materials and zero pollution.
     
  • Farmer's Markets enable farmers and craftspeople to sell directly to local people.
     
  • Farmland Retention groups advocate public policy that promotes and protects local farming.
     
  • Flexible Manufacturing Networks combine the skills and tools of several local manufacturers to enable them jointly to get a manufacturing contract.
     
  • Food and Fuel Co-ops coordinate bulk buying of food, fuels, solar equipment, windmills and insulation by neighbors, to reduce unit costs and gain policy leverage.
     
  • Health Funds are locally-controlled nonprofit health financing co-ops.
     
  • Barter Exchanges enable the public to trade without cash.
     
  • Co-Housing provides shared community spaces for child care, gardens, cooking, recreation, to make life friendlier and easier.
     
  • Community Development Credit Unions, like Alternatives Federal Credit Union are member-owned banks that invest most money back to the neighborhoods from where deposits came.
     
  • Community Foundations make grants to local groups.
     
  • Community Insulation Initiatives bulk buy energy-efficient equipment.
     
  • Community Reinvestment Agencies are local groups which make sure local banks invest locally, without racial bias.
     
  • Community-Supported Agriculture brings cityfolk to work on farms in exchange for fresh, low-cost food.
     
  • Eco-Indicators are relied on to measure whether the local economy is improving for all, or merely enriching an elite.
     
  • Housing Co-ops remove housing from the speculative market, enabling occupants to resell their units with specified limits to profit.
     
  • Import Replacement Programs connect regional businesses and individuals to supply each other, rather than depending on imports.
     
  • Industrial Retention Initiatives are carrot-and-stick programs seeking to keep industry from closing or moving away.
     
  • Land Trusts purchase local land to protect it, usually from suburbanization. They buy housing to remove it from the profit system.
     
  • Local Currencies are local paper money which adds to local money supply, raises minimum wage, promotes job creation, friendly trade, local business.
     
  • Local Insurance Companies are locally-owned insurers which invest all premiums regionally. Includes locally-controlled nonprofit health financing co-ops.
     
  • Local Pension Funds are locally-originated and controlled, much of whose capital is dedicated to local investment.
     
  • Local Stock Exchanges gather capital of all kinds for ecodevelopment.
     
  • Local Tax Credits reduce local fees on organic farms, solar and wind energy, realizing that tax reductions will be returned via high sales tax revenues.
     
  • Microlending makes small loans at low interest, in order to help new small businesses form.
     
  • Military-to-Domestic Conversions retrofit vacated military bases or weapons factories for non-military jobs and production.
     
  • Revolving Loan Funds make money available at zero- or low-interest for specified purposes when prior loans are repaid.
     
  • Smart Growth is land use planning that restrains sprawl and relies on regional business rather than chains. Government invents new rules to facilitate this shift. Corporations are evaluated for their commitment to the environment and fair pay.
     
  • Socially Responsible Investing is the practice of selecting stocks and bonds according to their environmental and/or social effects.
     
  • Trading Posts are storefronts which enable the public to trade without cash.
     
  • Worker Ownership Networks support conversion of business ownership to employees.
     

Citizens for a Clean Curwensville is not affiliated, endorsed or supported in any way by Curwensville Borough Council or Curwensville Economic Development or any local or regional government entity or agency.  The content of this site is open source and free to all.  Copyrights and ownerships are retained by those contributing the material as may be expressed by those parties.