Videos tagged as 'economic development'

Filmed at the Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College, Steve Bosserman describes the basic concept of a Community Investment Portfolio (CIP). A CIP provides a tool that enables a community to identify, connect, and grow assets to support a stronger and more resilient local economy. Steve draws a distinction between the global economy, in which many basic needs are supplied in areas far distant from us, and outlines the opportunity space that localization of food, energy, and other basic needs provides. A CIP can be utilized as a tool for individuals, businesses, institutions, or agencies to collectively invest assets in support of local economies. Assets include not just financial assets, but time, physical resources, and political and social capital.

Filmed at the Environemntal Studies Center at Oberlin College, Steve Bosserman and Tiberius Brastaviceanu discuss the use of value-networks in creating a more open and collaborative environment for growing economies. Value networks can also provide an effective tool for facilitating collaboration among businesses, individuals, institutions, and agencies that are working to grow more sustainable local food systems.

Collaboration designer and author Jack Ricchiuto presents the concept of rhizomic growth, based on the growth of plants like ginger that send out underground stems or rhizomes that grow other stems. In a social setting, rhizomic growth refers to a more collaborative system, in which gardens grow other gardens or businesses grow other businesses. In this time of economic struggle, this model presents a new approch to growing organizations, communities, and economies that are more dynamic, more innovative, and more collaborative. Rather than looking at individual farms or restaurants as compeitors with each other, can they become collaborators, helping to support and grow each other and over time grow an overall local food economy?

Michael Shuman, Project Director for the Northeast Ohio Local Food System Assessment and Plan, discusses the need to develop a blueprint for a NEO Food Authority as a way to raise some initial capital to finance a variety of key local food meta-businesses. Solving the capital problem, he contends, will unleash a variety of businesses and activities in local food systems and support future growth. He envisions the eventual creation of multiple food authorities to support and capitalize efforts across the NEO region, but emphasizes the need to start with one model organization. The NEO Food Authority would provide a new type of organization that supports more self-sustaining efforts that facilitate a stronger local food economies, from business to business matching to local currencies or consumer mobilization.