Posted by:
Steve Dubb
One-hour special features community-wealth builders
In “Fixing the Future: Now on PBS,” award-winning host David Brancaccio travels across the country, searching for innovative and sustainable approaches to building the new economy. From one coast to the other, he speaks to individuals and groups who are experimenting with new models of job creation and business development. These models include worker cooperatives, social enterprise, green-collar jobs, program-related investments, and other innovations aimed at rooting prosperity to local communities. Michelle Long, Director of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), describes these emerging trends: “What we’re building is a relationship economy—the accountability that comes from the relationship with another person; as opposed to a one-night stand economy, where we don’t have the accountability.”
Worker-owned cooperatives and green jobs are featured prominently in “Fixing the Future” For example, Brancaccio highlights sustainable fishers at Lummi Island Wild Co-op, Yo Mamas Catering Cooperative in Austin, Texas, and the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry in Cleveland, Ohio. The program gives a nod to several training and support organizations, including Third Coast Workers for Cooperation (TCWC), Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC), and The Democracy Collaborative, which help to advise, develop, and sustain democratically-owned enterprises.
Green jobs and sustainable business practices are another important part of building the new economy. In Bellingham, Washington, Brancaccio learns about Sustainable Connections, which provides a local forum for businesses to come together to model a new, more responsible economy. Lummi Island, Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, and Wood Stone Factory, all incorporate green practices into their businesses.
Finally, Brancaccio considers alternative banking solutions, giving special attention to Bremer Bank in Fargo, North Dakota. The Otto Bremer Foundation owns 92 percent of the bank’s holdings, and Bremer employees own the remaining eight percent. Consequently, Bremer functions more like a social enterprise, focusing especially on the needs of its local community, and reinvesting its profits through charitable grants and program-related investments. And in Portland, Maine, the Hour Exchange facilitates “time” banking for local residents--allowing members to exchange knowledge and skills as currency, rather than money.
Many of the strategies and support organization featured on “Fixing the Future” can be found on Community-Wealth.org, along with an array of resources and information related these community wealth-building activities. The PBS NOW special is just part of the growing media attention of alternatives to traditional corporation-controlled economy. NBC Nightly News recently covered the Evergreen Cooperatives [video]; and Utne Reader named Ted Howard as one of the Top 25 Visionaries Who Are Change the World.