Author: Michael Shuman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603585753
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 250
Get Book Here
Book Description
Reinventing economic development as if small business mattered In cities and towns across the nation, economic development is at a crossroads. A growing body of evidence has proven that its current cornerstone--incentives to attract and retain large, globally mobile businesses--is a dead end. Even those programs that focus on local business, through buy-local initiatives, for example, depend on ongoing support from government or philanthropy. The entire practice of economic development has become ineffective and unaffordable and is in need of a makeover. The Local Economy Solution suggests an alternative approach in which states and cities nurture a new generation of special kinds of businesses that help local businesses grow. These cutting-edge companies, which Shuman calls "pollinator businesses," are creating jobs and the conditions for future economic growth, and doing so in self-financing ways. Pollinator businesses are especially important to communities that are struggling to lift themselves up in a period of economic austerity, when municipal budgets are being slashed. They also promote locally owned businesses that increase local self-reliance and evince high labor and environmental standards. The book includes nearly two dozen case studies of successful pollinator businesses that are creatively facilitating business and neighborhood improvements, entrepreneurship, local purchasing, local investing, and profitable business partnerships. Examples include Main Street Genome (which provides invaluable data to improve local business performance), Supportland (which is developing a powerful loyalty card for local businesses), and Fledge (a business accelerator that finances itself through royalty payments). It also shows how the right kinds of public policy can encourage the spread of pollinator businesses at virtually no cost.
Author: Michael Shuman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603585761
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 250
Get Book Here
Book Description
Reinventing economic development as if small business mattered In cities and towns across the nation, economic development is at a crossroads. A growing body of evidence has proven that its current cornerstone—incentives to attract and retain large, globally mobile businesses—is a dead end. Even those programs that focus on local business, through buy-local initiatives, for example, depend on ongoing support from government or philanthropy. The entire practice of economic development has become ineffective and unaffordable and is in need of a makeover. The Local Economy Solution suggests an alternative approach in which states and cities nurture a new generation of special kinds of businesses that help local businesses grow. These cutting-edge companies, which Shuman calls “pollinator businesses,” are creating jobs and the conditions for future economic growth, and doing so in self-financing ways. Pollinator businesses are especially important to communities that are struggling to lift themselves up in a period of economic austerity, when municipal budgets are being slashed. They also promote locally owned businesses that increase local self-reliance and evince high labor and environmental standards. The book includes nearly two dozen case studies of successful pollinator businesses that are creatively facilitating business and neighborhood improvements, entrepreneurship, local purchasing, local investing, and profitable business partnerships. Examples include Main Street Genome (which provides invaluable data to improve local business performance), Supportland (which is developing a powerful loyalty card for local businesses), and Fledge (a business accelerator that finances itself through royalty payments). It also shows how the right kinds of public policy can encourage the spread of pollinator businesses at virtually no cost.
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 926402896X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Get Book Here
Book Description
This publication highlights principles and factors which are important in supporting integration locally. It includes a comparison of local initiatives implemented in five OECD countries.
Author: James Gustave Speth
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000171264
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 532
Get Book Here
Book Description
The recognition is growing: truly addressing the problems of the 21st century requires going beyond small tweaks and modest reforms to business as usual—it requires "changing the system." But what does this mean? And what would it entail? The New Systems Reader highlights some of the most thoughtful, substantive, and promising answers to these questions, drawing on the work and ideas of some of the world’s key thinkers and activists on systemic change. Amid the failure of traditional politics and policies to address our fundamental challenges, an increasing number of thoughtful proposals and real-world models suggest new possibilities, this book convenes an essential conversation about the future we want.
Author: Judy Wicks
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603584994
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Get Book Here
Book Description
It's not often that someone stumbles into entrepreneurship and ends up reviving a community and starting a national economic-reform movement. But that's what happened when, in 1983, Judy Wicks founded the White Dog Café on the first floor of her house on a row of Victorian brownstones in West Philadelphia. After helping to save her block from demolition, Judy grew what began as a tiny muffin shop into a 200-seat restaurant-one of the first to feature local, organic, and humane food. The restaurant blossomed into a regional hub for community, and a national powerhouse for modeling socially responsible business. Good Morning, Beautiful Business is a memoir about the evolution of an entrepreneur who would not only change her neighborhood, but would also change her world-helping communities far and wide create local living economies that value people and place as much as commerce and that make communities not just interesting and diverse and prosperous, but also resilient. Wicks recounts a girlhood coming of age in the sixties, a stint working in an Alaska Eskimo village in the seventies, her experience cofounding the first Free People store, her accidental entry into the world of restauranteering, the emergence of the celebrated White Dog Café, and her eventual role as an international leader and speaker in the local-living-economies movement. Her memoir traces the roots of her career - exploring what it takes to marry social change and commerce, and do business differently. Passionate, fun, and inspirational, Good Morning, Beautiful Business explores the way women, and men, can follow both mind and heart, do what's right, and do well by doing good.
Author: Diana Ayton-Shenker
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538106035
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Get Book Here
Book Description
A New Global Agenda: Priorities, Practices, and Pathways of the International Community explores the most compelling issues of our time, highlighting key strategies, initiatives, and calls to action. Taking up where the former annual series, A Global Agenda: Issues Before the U.N., left off, this book sets the work of the U.N. in the context of cross-sectoral perspectives and multi-stakeholder partnerships. To catalyze regenerative solutions for People, Society, and Planet, A New Global Agenda engages visionary thought leaders, advocates, and innovators spanning international policy, academia, private sector, and civil society. This is a must-read for scholars, students, practitioners and global citizens shaping our world today. A New Global Agenda is edited by Diana Ayton-Shenker, editor and author of A Global Agenda: Current Issues Before the General Assembly of the United Nations (published with the United Nations Association; Rowman & Littlefield, 2002, and 2001 Editions). Ayton-Shenker is the Global Catalyst Senior Fellow at The New School, and CEO of Global Momenta. Contributions by: T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Laurie Adams, Karen J. Alter, Gina Bria, Gillian Christie, Michael A. Cohen , Peter Dietrich, Hall Gardner, Russ Gaskin, Pape Amadou Gaye, Eban Goodstein, Jensine Larsen, L. Hunter Lovins, Alynna Lyon, Lars Fogh Mortensen, Alex Neve, Karen Lund Petersen, Courtney C. Radsch, Harpinder Sandhu, Lena Simet, Joel Simon, Ramesh Thakur, Gracey Vaughn , Mary R. Watson , Derek Yach, and Andrew Zolli.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Small Business. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy, and Trade
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 60
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Michael H. Shuman
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1523088915
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Get Book Here
Book Description
“As so many Americans feel powerless to confront a financial system designed to serve the few, Shuman offers us real choices: tools that align our lives with our values. That's power. I love this highly readable, timely, surprising book.” —Frances Moore Lappé, author of Daring Democracy and Diet for a Small Planet Americans agree on very little these days, but red state conservatives and blue state progressives can agree on one critical point: Wall Street can no longer be trusted. Yet most of us continue to invest our money in the stocks and bonds of Fortune 500 companies, transferring our capital far from where we live and work. Local investing expert Michael Shuman offers another alternative. He shows how we can use two well-established—but rarely used—investment tools to keep our money close and get a return as good as or better than what we'd get investing in distant, indifferent corporations. Shuman explains the nuts and bolts of self-directed IRAs and solo 401(k)s and how they can be combined with other recently legalized local investing tools. He details how to set these accounts up, identify and evaluate a whole range of local investment opportunities, and make sure account holders stay on the right side of the law. While the book is written for people without a lot of investment experience—Shuman explains concepts like “liquidity” and “diversification” in simple terms—even if you're as experienced as Warren Buffett, this book will make you rethink everything you know about investing. With Shuman's expert advice, you can strengthen your investment portfolio and your community, neighborhoods, and schools at the same time!
Author: Norman Walzer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000391930
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book analyses community-owned businesses in countries around the world to show successful approaches and important strategies to improve access to essential services in vastly different economic contexts. Through eleven chapters, authors from various countries use case studies and analyse findings in ways which can be applied to new development initiatives, including rural grocery store retention in Kansas, socially responsible community cooperatives in Italy, preserving pubs and shops in England and Wales, serving residents with special needs in Canada, and financing basic goods and services for aging populations in Taiwan, plus other examples. The chapters explore practices and approaches used in various locations to address concerns about loss of access to essential services, making clear that this approach to financing is useful in different scenarios. The chapters provide key insights suggesting that these approaches will be even more prevalent in the future and will be of interest to students, scholars, and community-development practitioners around the world.
Author: Ken Meter
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1642831476
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Get Book Here
Book Description
Our current food system has decimated rural communities and confined the choices of urban consumers. Even while America continues to ramp up farm production to astounding levels, net farm income is now lower than at the onset of the Great Depression, and one out of every eight Americans faces hunger. But a healthier and more equitable food system is possible. In Building Community Food Webs, Ken Meter shows how grassroots food and farming leaders across the U.S. are tackling these challenges by constructing civic networks. Overturning extractive economic structures, these inspired leaders are engaging low-income residents, farmers, and local organizations in their quest to build stronger communities. Community food webs strive to build health, wealth, capacity, and connection. Their essential element is building greater respect and mutual trust, so community members can more effectively empower themselves and address local challenges. Farmers and researchers may convene to improve farming practices collaboratively. Health clinics help clients grow food for themselves and attain better health. Food banks engage their customers to challenge the root causes of poverty. Municipalities invest large sums to protect farmland from development. Developers forge links among local businesses to strengthen economic trade. Leaders in communities marginalized by our current food system are charting a new path forward. Building Community Food Webs captures the essence of these efforts, underway in diverse places including Montana, Hawai‘i, Vermont, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, and Minnesota. Addressing challenges as well as opportunities, Meter offers pragmatic insights for community food leaders and other grassroots activists alike.
