COMMUNITIES
Community Wealth-Building 101
Community Wealth-Building 101
A bridge from extraction → shared prosperity
The Big Picture
Our current economy concentrates wealth and risk. Community wealth-building (CWB) flips the script: keep value rooted locally, owned by the people who create it.
Core Building Blocks
1) Cooperatives (Co-ops)
Member-owned businesses that share control and surplus.
- Worker co-ops: employees own & govern.
- Consumer/producer co-ops: buyers or makers own the enterprise.
- Why it works: aligns incentives with community, not distant shareholders.
2) Mutual Credit Systems
Communities issue credit to each other, interest-light or interest-free.
- How it helps: smooths cashflow for small businesses; keeps commerce circulating locally.
- Think: LETS, time banks, business-to-business (B2B) mutual credit networks.
3) Doughnut-Aligned Economies
Meet everyone’s needs within planetary boundaries.
- Inner ring: housing, health, education, income, voice.
- Outer ring: climate, biodiversity, water, clean air.
- Target: thrive between the two — not overshoot nature, not undershoot human dignity.
Why It Matters (Fast Benefits)
- Local resilience: More anchors, fewer fragilities.
- Good jobs: Profits recirculate; quality work replaces churn.
- Lower leakage: Spending stays in town; multipliers rise.
- Inclusive ownership: Wealth built by the many, not the few.
- Climate alignment: Circular design and regenerative practices by default.
️ How Communities Start (6 Steps)
- Map the leaks: Identify where money exits (energy, food, procurement, rent).
- Pick a wedge: Start with one high-leak category (e.g., school meals, transit, retrofits).
- Stand up a co-op: Form a worker/consumer co-op to fill the gap; bake in open books & democratic bylaws.
- Add mutual credit: Launch a small B2B credit circle (e.g., 20–50 local firms) to keep purchases in-network.
- Align to the Doughnut: Set simple social & ecological guardrails for each project.
- Anchor demand: Partner with “eds & meds,” city agencies, and large buyers via local-first procurement.
What to Measure (Simple Dashboard)
- Local multiplier (LM3): $1 spent → $X re-spent locally.
- Ownership share: % of workers/households with equity or patronage rights.
- Leakage ↓: % decline in out-of-town purchasing.
- Living-wage jobs: net new positions meeting local living-wage benchmarks.
- Planet metrics: energy saved, emissions avoided, waste diverted, biodiversity gains.
Myths vs. Facts
- Myth: Co-ops can’t scale.
Fact: They scale via federations, shared services, and anchor contracts. - Myth: Mutual credit is “funny money.”
Fact: It’s a clearing mechanism for real goods/services; reduces cash strain. - Myth: Doughnut economics is anti-growth.
Fact: It favors qualitative growth (health, learning, biodiversity) over resource overshoot.
Quick-Start Use Cases
- Community energy co-op: Finance rooftop solar + heat pumps; repay from bill savings.
- Local food hub co-op: Aggregate farm produce for schools/hospitals; pay via mutual credit netting.
- Retrofit brigade: Worker co-op for building upgrades; city fronts demand via green procurement.
- Care co-op: Member-run home-care with living wages; surplus funds training & benefits.
Governance Cheatsheet
- 1 member = 1 vote (not 1 share = 1 vote).
- Transparent books (monthly dashboards).
- Patronage dividends tied to use/work, not capital alone.
- Conflict of interest rules + community ombudsperson.
- Mission lock: charter guards against extractive buyouts.
Risk & Guardrails
- Capital gaps: Blend community shares, municipal guarantees, CDFIs, mission investors.
- Capability gaps: Shared back-office co-ops (HR, finance, IT) + training academies.
- Capture risks: Term limits, recall votes, participatory budgeting, open meetings.
- Greenwashing: Independent audits against Doughnut indicators.
Glossary (30-second)
- CWB: Strategy to localize wealth and decision-making.
- Co-op: Member-owned enterprise with democratic control.
- Mutual Credit: Reciprocal credit lines within a network; balances settle over time.
- Doughnut: Framework balancing human needs and ecological limits.
- Anchor Institutions: Large, place-based buyers (eds/meds/city) that commit to local procurement.
✳️ Call to Action
- Join/launch a co-op working group (workers, small biz, anchors, city).
- Pilot a 90-day mutual credit circle among 25 local suppliers.
- Adopt a Doughnut scorecard for the next city procurement.
- Publish a Local Wealth Dashboard and report quarterly.
MobilizedNews.com — telling the stories that turn community wealth into common practice.
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Sociocracy, consent-based decisions, and open-source governance—explained (and de-mythified)
The Big Picture
Most groups stall not from lack of passion, but from unclear power and slow decisions.
Sociocracy + consent-based decision-making offer a simple upgrade: roles, feedback loops, and “good-enough for now, safe-enough to try” decisions—so teams learn fast without power plays.
⚠️ What People Get Wrong
- “Consent = unanimous agreement.”
Nope. Consent means no reasoned objection—not perfect love. - “Circles are endless meetings.”
Circles are role-based teams with clear aims, meeting agendas, and metrics. - “Open-source governance is chaos.”
It’s transparent rules + documented processes; contribution ≠ control. - “We’ll lose leadership.”
Leadership shifts from bossing to stewarding: set context, enable roles, remove blockers.
How It Works (in 90 seconds)
- Circles: Semi-autonomous teams with a defined aim, domain, and metrics.
- Double-linking: Each circle links up/down via two roles (Lead + Delegate) to keep information flowing.
- Consent decisions: Proposals move unless someone raises a specific, reasoned objection tied to the circle’s aim/safety.
- Driver → Proposal → Integrate: Start from a need, craft a small, testable proposal, integrate feedback, review by date.
- Transparent backlog: Issues, roles, policies, and metrics are visible-by-default (open-source principle).
Facilitator Cheatsheet
Use this script to keep momentum and psychological safety.
- Frame the driver: “The need we’re addressing is… (1 sentence).”
- Offer a tiny proposal: “Good-enough, safe-enough to try for 30 days.”
- Round for clarifying questions (no debates).
- Quick reactions (1 line each).
- Amend & restate proposal.
- Consent round: “Any reasoned objection?” If yes → integrate; if no → adopt and set review date.
- Document the policy/role in the public repo or handbook.
Timebox: 15–25 minutes.
Minimal Roles That Unlock Flow
- Lead Link (Steward): Clarifies priorities, invites proposals, protects scope.
- Facilitator: Runs rounds, surfaces objections, guards time.
- Secretary: Publishes roles/policies; tracks metrics & review dates.
- Rep Link (Delegate): Carries tensions upward; ensures voice of the circle is heard.
What to Track (Simple Metrics)
- Decision cycle time (proposal → adopted).
- % proposals timeboxed with review dates.
- # reasoned objections integrated (learning rate).
- Policy clarity score (team pulse: 1–5).
- Contributor onboarding time (open-source health).
Myths → Facts
- Myth: “Consensus = consent.” → Fact: Consent ≠ everyone loves it; it’s no harm, learn fast.
- Myth: “Flattening kills speed.” → Fact: Clear domains + tiny tests accelerate.
- Myth: “Open = vulnerable.” → Fact: Documented rules reduce shadow power and single points of failure.
30-Day Starter Plan (Bridge to the Future)
Week 1: Pick one team → define aim, domain, metrics. Publish in a shared doc/repo.
Week 2: Train a facilitator + secretary. Pilot consent rounds on small decisions only.
Week 3: Write two policies (e.g., “Publishing Checklist,” “PR Review”). Timebox each to 60–90 days.
Week 4: Add double-link to adjacent team; run a retrospective; prune/renew roles.
Always: Document in the open; prefer tiny reversible bets over big arguments.
Open-Source Governance Essentials
- Visible backlog + issues (anyone can raise, few can merge).
- CODEOWNERS / reviewers by domain.
- Decision log with dates, rationale, and sunset/renewal.
- Contributor ladder: clear steps from newcomer → maintainer.
Facilitation Prompts (steal these)
- “What’s the smallest test that would teach us the most?”
- “Is this a reasoned objection or a preference?”
- “What review date makes this safe enough to try?”
- “Where should this policy live so it’s obvious next time?”
Takeaway
- Sociocracy + consent + open-source governance aren’t ideology—they’re operating systems for trust and speed.
- Ship small, learn quickly, write it down, and let structure carry the load, not personalities.
