The Economics of Happiness
The Evergreen Cooperative Initiative, in Cleveland, Ohio, is an inspiring example of community-based economic revitalization in action. Their overarching purpose is to reduce poverty and inequality by building community wealth, democratizing ownership, and creating local green jobs for residents of one of the city’s high-unemployment, low-income neighborhoods. To learn more, visit the Evergreen Cooperatives’ website.
Fair Tax Town was formed by small business owners from a little town called Crickhowell in Wales. Fed up with the fact that a giant multinational corporation like Amazon pays less in taxes than a small local bookshop, the business owners of Crickhowell banded together to create a “corporation” that could take advantage of the same tax loopholes big multinationals regularly use. Their goal was to shed light on injustice, shame the corporate tax avoiders, and take back some power for the little guys. Read Fair Tax Town’s full story on Medium.
FarmWorks, incorporated in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2011, is an association whose members annually purchase shares in a diverse portfolio of local food and farming businesses. So far, members have invested more than CA$2.7 million in 95 local enterprises, and have received provincial tax credits for keeping their money close to home. Learn more on their website.
In opposition to a proposed highway through poor neighborhoods, residents of Lewiston, Maine instead developed a Peoples’ Downtown Master Plan that laid the groundwork for a renaissance of cooperative development and refugee solidarity. Today the city is home to a number of community organizations and cooperatives, including New Roots, Maine’s first immigrant-owned cooperative farm; the Healthy Neighborhoods Coalition, which promotes affordable housing and green space; the Good Food Council, which promotes healthy food systems; the Raise-Op Housing Cooperative; and six other cooperatives that provide childcare, herbal medicine, compost pickup, and food. Read the full story of Lewiston’s transformation here.
Localise West Midlands is a non-profit think tank, campaign group, and consultancy working towards “local supply chains, money flow, ownership and decision-making for a more just and sustainable economy.” From their headquarters in Birmingham, they work in many ways to catalyze systemic change in the West Midlands Region — from creating a local currency, to promoting the decentralization of democratic power, to supporting local businesses and farms. To learn more, visit http://www.localisewestmidlands.org.uk.
Photo by Robert Linsdell (CC BY 2.0)
This credit union provides a range of loans exclusively for local farms and food businesses, financed through savings accounts and CDs. The idea emerged from the group Slow Money Maine in 2011, and was further developed over eight years of meetings with farmers, small business owners, existing credit unions, and other stakeholders and advisors. Today, it is the only federally-chartered, government-guaranteed financial institution dedicated to growing local food systems in Maine. Learn more on their website.
The first Local Investing Opportunities Network (LION) was started in Port Townsend, Washington in 2006, as a way to create connections between investors and local enterprises needing capital. Its members have collectively invested more than US$7 million in local businesses. The Economic Development Council of Jefferson County reviews opportunities submitted by local entrepreneurs, and circulates them to the group. Interested investors then meet with the entrepreneur and individually negotiate the terms. Often, the decision to support a business through a LION is based not just on a solid business plan and product, but also on trust and friendship that comes from years of living as neighbors. Today, LIONs exist throughout the USA. Read the story of the Port Townsend LION here.
Rizoma Cooperative is a multi-sector community grocery store in Lisbon, Portugal, working to create a cooperative local economy.
The Carrot Project works with family farms that use sustainable growing methods, as well as food businesses that sell their products locally and regionally — the kinds of endeavors that often have trouble finding startup capital and securing loans from conventional banks. They help these farmers and businesses to understand their financial picture, and, when appropriate, work with agricultural land trusts and others to apply for and manage financial capital. To learn more, visit The Carrot Project’s website.
Photo by Nick Harris (CC BY-ND 2.0)
The Catalan Integral Cooperative is a financial co-op, a food pantry, a legal-aid desk, an open-source tool workshop, a local currency (the “eco”) and a bed-and-breakfast for tourists in a medieval watchtower, all rolled into one. Its goal is to create an ecosystem of alternative “post-capitalist” economic projects in Catalonia, to replace the dominant system. To learn more, visit their website (in Catalan) or read the P2P Foundation’s full report and summary of the cooperative’s structure and activities (in English).
