An initiative has begun in Cincinnati to identify and support a more compassionate economy for the city. It holds a vision of a local economy that works for all. A local economy that serves, and is measured by, the well-being of all of its citizens. Also a local economy that is kind to the planet.
We have a mission to engage the public in conversation about creating this compassionate economy. We are creating opportunities for citizens to actively participate in and promote local examples of a sustainable economy that focuses on neighborhoods, cooperation, worker justice and solidarity among diverse people.
Every one of us is concerned about the well-being of each of our citizens. We grieve at the amount of violence and suffering around us. There is too much of it. Especially in our urban centers. We know intuitively that the root cause of much of the violence is poverty. This has to do with the poverty of possibility and imagination as well as the number of people and neighborhoods that live on the economic margin. Our purpose, in the face of this, is to raise our economic consciousness. This calls for all of us to realize that the way we interpret the economy as competitive, individualistic and acquisitive is just one way of interpreting capitalism. We have a choice to construct an economy that is co-operative, communal and generous. This is the shift in thinking. We are calling it a compassionate economy.
Neighborhood Economics is an idea committed to accelerating the flow of capital into resident driven entrepreneurial enterprise. It calls us to shift how we think about ending poverty. It brings the world of social investors, community builders, community philanthropists, residents and local neighborhood leaders into the same conversations. This is what a systems approach to economic and racial justice is going to require.