Convening, Recruiting, and Connecting People Who Repair Local Economies
Neighborhood Economics is bringing Povertystoplight.org to Washington DC. An innovation created and proven in multiple countries in the Global South as a way to measure poverty and to do something about it, Stoplight gathers detailed information at the household level that is used to create an action plan that helps lift people out of poverty. […]
CategoriesUncategorizedPolitical Will vs Political Won’t Back in 2002, many residents and policy makers in Austin Texas read the book The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. For the first time, those of us who weren’t obvious artists were named as holders of valuable creative fuel that measurably contributed to the economic engine. It felt like Austin […]
CategoriesUncategorizedBiomimicry vs. Biomockery Humans are biological creatures and we do best when we are in alignment with our environments. Ultimately, as noted in an earlier post, this comes down to the question of whether we are creating an egosystem or an ecosystem: An ego-system is structured to satisfy shareholder wants and to privatize decision-making. Financial […]
CategoriesUncategorizedInnovators of neighborhood economics were the lead-in of this year’s social capital (SOCAP) conference. SOCAP is the world’s largest conversation accelerating the alignment of money and meaning as a driving force for positive social and environmental change. Over the years, there’s a key theme they’ve been nurturing within the conference’s menu: local investments … community capital … neighborhood […]
CategoriesUncategorizedImpact Investing Looks Local The case for community capital (CoCap) is so plain, even Stevie Wonder can see it. Show of hands: how many of our readers are investors? Do you happen to own a piece of Dell Technologies? (Its revenue last year was $59B.) Did you buy Yahoo when it was $100/share? (It’s […]
CategoriesUncategorizedCreating an Awe-Full Community I recently returned from a 5-day 2200-mile road trip through Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. In those 5 days I spent lots of time in communities, with even more time observing the landscape between those stops and noting how my spirit rose and the way I engaged with a place […]
CategoriesUncategorizedFrom Ego-System to Ecosystem: Reinstating the Golden Rule of Community No matter what your cultural origins, you probably grew up hearing the importance of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, a truism commonly known as the Golden Rule. Away from the adults, you might have heard another interpretation: he who […]
CategoriesUncategorizedWe live in a noisy world where everyone is competing to be—or create—the next big thing. However, as the old saying goes, ‘mighty oaks from little acorns grow’, and so grows community from the actions large and small of its stakeholders. I learned a lot about the importance of the individual participant to influence the […]
CategoriesUncategorizedCommunity Wealth Activation GO! You don’t have to be a social media maven to be aware of Pokemon GO, the enhanced reality single-player game from Niantic Labs that debuted on July 6th and has captured the imagination (and pocketbook) of the American public. The game brings forward feelings of nostalgia, inclusion and connection to a […]
CategoriesUncategorizedCo-Creating the Community Social Contract I recently had a conversation with a very bright, well educated, intellectually curious Millennial about the importance of the social contract as a tool to enforce accountable engagement in the world. She looked at me blankly, smiled and said, what a great idea, how did you think of that? I […]