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)

1. Map the leaks: Identify where money exits (energy, food, procurement, rent).
2. Pick a wedge: Start with one high-leak category (e.g., school meals, transit, retrofits).
3. Stand up a co-op: Form a worker/consumer co-op to fill the gap; bake in open books & democratic bylaws.
4. Add mutual credit: Launch a small B2B credit circle (e.g., 20–50 local firms) to keep purchases in-network.
5. Align to the Doughnut: Set simple social & ecological guardrails for each project.
6. 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.

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