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Are 'ableist' economies depriving themselves of the purple pound?

Mathilda Mallinson

December 20, 2019 |

Pioneers Post |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Indonesia, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta

Although Indonesia is making efforts to improve disability rights, progress is slow. In the meantime, a group called Economic Empowerment for Entrepreneurs with Disability (EEED) was formed in partnership with the British Council’s DICE (Developing Inclusive Creative Economies) program. Participants in the program learn entrepreneurial skills by creating their own social enterprise, supplemented by lessons in things like marketing and management. This helps those in Indonesia with disabilities become socioeconomically independent and able to envision a develop a meaningful vision of the future.

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Seattle program makes homes affordable in a pricey market. Is it a model for Charlotte?

Lauren Lindstrom

December 10, 2019 |

The Charlotte Observer |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

The Homestead Community Land Trust offers affordable home ownership in Seattle and the rest of King County, Washington, ensuring that there is always permanently affordable homes available. This opens up homeowner opportunities for those who have historically been excluded and serves as a stem in the tide of gentrification. This article includes personal testimony from people who live in the housing, and already the program has reduced buyers' costs by 30%.

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A New Kind of Cooperative in Oakland Fights Against Speculative Development

Oscar Perry Abello

December 03, 2019 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Real estate cooperatives are able to raise capital from their members, ensuring re-investment in the communitie they serve. In Oakland, California, the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) finances real estate acquisitions through California’s cooperative ownership model. EB PREC also works with partners from the Sustainable Economies Law Center and the People of Color Housing Network, which provide additional resources and expertise.

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This Program Teaches Arts Organizations How to Scale Wisely

Zoe Sullivan

November 22, 2019 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Coaching in strategic partnership allows arts nonprofits to build their capacity. Based in Minneapolis, Artspace offers its capacity-building workshop program, Immersion, to nonprofits in several cities, in including Detroit and Memphis. The workshops connect local art organizations to specialists in real estate and financing, allowing them to build partnerships or find new space in which to operate.

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Making a More Democratic Economy, One Revolving Loan Fund at a Time

Oscar Perry Abello

November 14, 2019 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Berkeley, California

Advancing the model of worker ownership requires expanding access to loans for cooperative businesses. In California, Berkeley City Council recently adopted changes to its Loan Fund for small businesses, allowing businesses without a CEO to apply for a loan. The City Council and Loan Administration board approved an idea put forth by the Sustainable Economics Law Center (SELC), which will permit coops to appoint a panel of owners to serve as guarantors of a loan, in lieu of a single CEO.

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After cyclone Fani, women in a migrant fishing community start resilience fund

Sahana Ghosh

November 12, 2019 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Penthakatha, Odisha

After an unexpected summer cyclone in the Indian state of Odisha, hundreds of women from slums across the region formed a community fund for disaster preparedness. The women all try to contribute 10 rupees per month to the fund, slowly building their security net in case of another natural disaster.

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In Borneo, healthy people equals healthy forests

Adam Wernick

November 12, 2019 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Indonesia, Borneo

Those who live on the island of Borneo understand that their well-being comes from the Gunung Palung National Park, but logging remained rampant because it was the only way to make money to pay for healthcare. Thus, an organization named "Health in Harmony" was borne through "radically listening" to locals to find out what they needed. This organization accepts creative forms of payment for healthcare and offers incentives to cease logging, including a chainsaw buyback program. As a result, ten years later they saw a 90% drop in logging households and a re-growth of 52,000 acres of forest.

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Free the Floodplains!

Yen Duong

November 11, 2019 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Charlotte, North Carolina

There is a unique, homegrown local flood buyout program in Charlotte, NC that helps homeowners on floodplains relocate safely and with financial security. This came as a result of the city and county of Charlotte forming a joint storm water utility in the 1990's, which generated money by fixing aging pipes and other storm water needs—funding the local “Quick Buy” program. This gets the aid to the homeowners much quicker than FEMA money does and has since relocated 650 families and saved $25 million in losses.

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Changing Lives by Building Credit History — One Microloan at a Time

Farida Jhabvala Romero

November 08, 2019 |

KQED |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

A program through the Mission Asset Fund, based in San Francisco, helps low-income communities get loans and good credit from an unlikely source: each other. The initiative pools together funds from family members and neighbors and distributes the loan to one of the contributors each month; the loans are interest free and allow community members to build credit without the difficulties of breaking into the typical microfinance realm.

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Banks Don't Know What to Do With Their Branches

Allison Prang

November 07, 2019 |

Wall Street Journal |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

With more users than ever use digital resources to access their bank accounts, banking companies with brick-and-mortar locations get creative with how to balance the digital and physical requests from their consumers. Some companies, like Capital One, have steered away from the traditional teller environment and have instead opened cafes and hosted community workshops to help people feel more comfortable in a bank setting.

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