Building the Economy for Our Common Good
by Carrie Durkee & Jim Tarbell
Grassroots Institute's workshops and Study Guide for Building the Economy for the Common Good move with an open heart that takes us from a broad leaning and action approach to a specific collaborative action: a map of your local solidarity economy. They build relationships, community and the future. We often start off singing Melanie Demore’s great system change anthem "Put One Foot in Front of the Other and Lead with Love." We include inspiration, fun, dance, yoga and singing, surprise, joy and happiness as part of this process. We are designing for the future while being in the present.
Defining the Economy for the Common Good in your area is your first task. For that you need to compile a list of systemic problems that need to be addressed in your community, followed by a list of their causes and actions that organizations can take to instigate systemic solutions to those problems. We provide lists that can catalyze this process and help you identify local organizations taking actions leading to systemic change.
We modeled our mapping process on the US Solidarity Economy Network's map of Solidarity Economy enterprises across the country. Their mapping concentrates on mapping co-ops and workerowned businesses. We include non-profits, government agencies, political associations and local businesses that take political, economic, environmental, or social actions to implement systemic change.
The workshops follow a step-by-step process for gathering and organizing data about your local institutions on a spreadsheet, which can be used to construct a map locating each organization, with popup boxes describing how they operate and what economic, environmental, political and social actions they are taking to implement systemic change.
There are many sophisticated mapping programs you can use for this purpose. We used Google Maps because it is easy. You can also use this mapping process to map almost anything in your community from your local food system to consciousness raising organizations dedicated to systemic change.
You can also use this process to move beyond mapping to creating a documentary on systemic change happening in your community now. Your final product can inform your community about what organizations already exist working on systemic change, and what type of help they need from the community to fulfill their mission. You can also use the map to network all
of the organizations on the map together so that they can support each other and collaborate in furthering their efforts toward systemic change.
The exciting thing about this project is that it highlights what systemic change already happens in your community, and presents models of how our systems and relationships can work in the future to create a world that is politically fair, economically beneficial for all, good for the planet and empowering for everyone.
You can also use this process to determine what problems are not being solved by existing local institutions, and then work on creating institutions to help solve systemic problems. This might include starting a community land trust, or pushing for the creation of a public bank. Or you could help people start their own worker-owned businesses or community co-ops.
These workshops teach us how to think strategically about the future, and to take collective action to promote change. It helps everyone celebrate the commons we have and reclaim the commons that are being privatized. It teaches us that systemic change is an ever-evolving, ever-growing process. Use our study guides for free to strengthen systemic change in your
community and let us know if we can help.
It took us over two years to launch our map at a grand gathering that packed our community center. We talked about building co-ops and worker owned enterprises and hosted an intense community discussion about building our economy for the common good of all of us. You can do it too — this guide shows you how.
Grassroots Institute's workshops and Study Guide for Building the Economy for the Common Good move with an open heart that takes us from a broad leaning and action approach to a specific collaborative action: a map of your local solidarity economy. They build relationships, community and the future. We often start off singing Melanie Demore’s great system change anthem "Put One Foot in Front of the Other and Lead with Love." We include inspiration, fun, dance, yoga and singing, surprise, joy and happiness as part of this process. We are designing for the future while being in the present.
Defining the Economy for the Common Good in your area is your first task. For that you need to compile a list of systemic problems that need to be addressed in your community, followed by a list of their causes and actions that organizations can take to instigate systemic solutions to those problems. We provide lists that can catalyze this process and help you identify local organizations taking actions leading to systemic change.
We modeled our mapping process on the US Solidarity Economy Network's map of Solidarity Economy enterprises across the country. Their mapping concentrates on mapping co-ops and workerowned businesses. We include non-profits, government agencies, political associations and local businesses that take political, economic, environmental, or social actions to implement systemic change.
The workshops follow a step-by-step process for gathering and organizing data about your local institutions on a spreadsheet, which can be used to construct a map locating each organization, with popup boxes describing how they operate and what economic, environmental, political and social actions they are taking to implement systemic change.
There are many sophisticated mapping programs you can use for this purpose. We used Google Maps because it is easy. You can also use this mapping process to map almost anything in your community from your local food system to consciousness raising organizations dedicated to systemic change.
You can also use this process to move beyond mapping to creating a documentary on systemic change happening in your community now. Your final product can inform your community about what organizations already exist working on systemic change, and what type of help they need from the community to fulfill their mission. You can also use the map to network all
of the organizations on the map together so that they can support each other and collaborate in furthering their efforts toward systemic change.
The exciting thing about this project is that it highlights what systemic change already happens in your community, and presents models of how our systems and relationships can work in the future to create a world that is politically fair, economically beneficial for all, good for the planet and empowering for everyone.
You can also use this process to determine what problems are not being solved by existing local institutions, and then work on creating institutions to help solve systemic problems. This might include starting a community land trust, or pushing for the creation of a public bank. Or you could help people start their own worker-owned businesses or community co-ops.
These workshops teach us how to think strategically about the future, and to take collective action to promote change. It helps everyone celebrate the commons we have and reclaim the commons that are being privatized. It teaches us that systemic change is an ever-evolving, ever-growing process. Use our study guides for free to strengthen systemic change in your
community and let us know if we can help.
It took us over two years to launch our map at a grand gathering that packed our community center. We talked about building co-ops and worker owned enterprises and hosted an intense community discussion about building our economy for the common good of all of us. You can do it too — this guide shows you how.
