Message-ID: <9706038679.AA867950128@hudsmtphq.hud.gov> Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 10:38:35 EST From: mailto:Michael_O._Patterson@HUD.GOV Subject: LCN part 1 To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
What would you say about a cheap economic development tool? 400 communities did this during the depression. I welcome any additional tools to my own toolbox. [Shared with permission]
LOCAL CURRENCY NEWS is a quarterly publication of The E. F. Schumacher Society 140 Jug End Rd. Great Barrington, MA 01230 413/528-1737
Editors: Susan Witt, E. F. Schumacher Society and Paul Glover, Ithaca Hours Annual subscription: $25.00 US
The first issue of LOCAL CURRENCY NEWS, a directory of active local currencies in the Americas, follows. Subsequent issues will cover the progress of the local currency movement in general, as well as address specific local currency topics. It will also provide a forum for sharing practical organizational details for those interested in starting new currencies, and those evolving established currencies.
************************************************************ INTRODUCTION:
Dear Friends of Local Currency,
With the rapid globalization of the economy, our financial relations have grown more and more abstract. We collect interest without knowing how or where such profits were made and order by mail from catalogues sent by people we have never met. We no longer know the stories of the things we use in our homes nor assume responsibility for the consequences of our investments. Can we picture the artisan who made our kitchen table or her children who were fed by its purchase? Have we walked the forest which was the source of its wood?
By favoring regionally based economies, local currencies are a tool for bringing a human face and sense of place back into our economic transactions. The use of local currencies by consumers shows their commitment to purchase goods from within the bioregion. Merchants with local scrip will seek increased regional sources for the items in their shops,
leading to new job opportunities for those unemployed and underemployed. Skills forgotten and abandoned will be renewed. Fields, farms, rivers, and forests will be carefully stewarded as their contribution to the human community becomes more directly understood. This interweaving helps bring the community together in all its mutuality-ecological, economic, social, and cultural.
To record and celebrate the growing local currency movement and those pioneers working hard in their hometowns to implement the dream of a stronger, more viable, more equitable regional economy, the E. F. Schumacher Society offers this directory prepared by our resource coordinator, Erika Levasseur. Please support these initiatives if they are in your own area. Use local scrip, volunteer for coordination tasks, offer financial assistance, help the movement grow.
Susan Witt
************************************************************************ DIRECTORY:
***UNITED STATES*** (Alphabetical by State) [Truncated due to size limitations]
[Sample listing]
Ithaca Hours Paul Glover P.O. Box 6578 Ithaca, NY 14851 607/272-4330 mailto:hours@lightlink.com Http://www.publiccom.com/web/ithacahour/ Currency 1st issued: October '91 2000 participants, 300 storefront businesses Outreach: 5000 copies bi-monthly community newspaper, Hour Town, 1500 listings; festivals; personal contacts; media coverage. Background: The original Hour-based scrip developed and maintained by individual activist. Funded by membership fees and small grants; 6,200 Ithaca Hours have been put into circulation, totalling the equivalent of at least $2 million in transactions. Grants of Hours given to 35 community organizations; Hour loans ($50-$1000) made to 12 businesses without charging interest; all political candidates solicit Hours, Chamber of Commerce accepts, Hospital accepts, Department of Social Services distributes to clients, and local credit union offers Hour-denominated accounts. Recently established locally controlled non-profit mutual health financing with flexible payment options (barter, Hours, Time Dollars), with 55 health providers currently enrolled. Paul coordinates an e-mail network of local currency groups using the Hour model and sells a Hometown Money Starter Kit and video ($40 for both, specify Spanish or English video).