The time is right for economy’s next big change. Innovator Gar Alperovitz, political economist, co-founder of Democracy Collaborative & The Next System Project.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT & CONVERSATION
- Do you patronize any consumer cooperatives that you know of? If so, what is your experience of them?
- The Cleveland Evergreen Model brings community economic development and the purchasing power of anchor institutions like hospitals and universities together into a single coordinated strategy to build democratized wealth and cooperative business ownership in low-income neighborhoods. Cleveland Community Foundation was instrumental in making Evergreen Cooperatives a reality. Please discuss and explore the possibility of having that happen in your community.
- ESOPs, Worker Cooperatives, Community Development Financial Institutions, Social Enterprises, and Municipal Ownership as in Austin and Boulder are examples of the New Economy. Please share your knowledge, experiences and thoughts about these initiatives.
- What is a community land trust? How do they work to keep housing permanently affordable in the face of gentrification-fueled displacement? Find out here.
- Read and discuss: Democracy Collaborative;s “Broad Based Ownership Models” for job creation and community development for low and moderate income individuals and communities
- Excellent article in Tikkun Daily November 2016 on “What Would An Economy For the Common Good Look Like?”
- Gar mentions several global movements that came out of citizens’ pain to change the world for the better. What are your thoughts concerning the New Economy becoming a reality?
ACTIONS
- Invite friends, colleagues or community members to view this video with you and host a conversation.
- Gar Alperovitz, Gus Speth and other innovative thinkers and doers in the New Economy are involved in the Next Systems Project is a multi-year initiative aimed at what is required to deal with the systemic challenges the United States faces now and in coming decades. It publishes papers that build on innovative thinking and practical experience with new economic institutions and approaches being developed in communities across the country. Learn about the possibilities and proposals and discuss.
ABOUT GAR
Gar Alperovitz is the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, and Co-Founder of The Democracy Collaborative. He is a former Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard and King’s College of Cambridge University. He has served as a Legislative Director in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and as a Special Assistant in the Department of State. Earlier he was President of the Center for Community Economic Development, Co-Director of The Cambridge Institute, and President of the Center for the Study of Public Policy. His numerous articles have appeared in publications ranging from The New York Times and The Washington Post to The Journal of Economic Issues, Foreign Policy, Diplomatic History, and other academic and popular journals. He is author ofmany books including America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty and Our Democracy 2011, and What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution.