Sam Magavern, Tina Meyers, Jen Kaminsky and Sarah Maurer
This report from PUSH Buffalo and The Partnership for the Public Good identifies sources of funding and advocacy strategies to advance green infrastructure social enterprises. Intended for community-based organizations, policy makers, and funders interested in the intersection of sustainability, neighborhood redevelopment, and job creation, the guide offers ten case studies of green infrastructure social enterprises, including an in depth overview of PUSH Blue’s stormwater management projects.
Aspen Institute and Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute
In a new paper, Maureen Conway of the Aspen Institute and Steven Dawson of PHI (Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute) argue for comprehensive workforce development strategies that not only promote mobility for low-wage workers, but that also improve the conditions for those remaining in low-quality jobs. The brief highlights best practices in workforce development and outlines a multipronged approach to improve conditions through advocacy, policy research, job training, and education on workplace standards.
In the latest publication in Great Transition Initiative’s sustainable development series, John Fullerton challenges the preeminence of modern finance. Limiting finance capital and the environmental deterioration and social instability that it encourages, Fullerton writes, requires transforming our economic system. By broadening public ownership of finance, through such means as sovereign wealth funds, public banking, and public utilities, Fullerton contends that nations can limit environmental degradation and manage long-term growth.
Jose Orbaiceta, Bruno Dobrusin, Pierre Patry, Claude Dorion, Arildo Mota Lopes, João Antônio Felício, Léopold Beaulieu, Jean Bergevin, Pierre Laliberté, Marina Monaco, Luca Pastorelli, Rob Witherell and Stirling Smith
With overlapping histories and common goals of democratic organizing, trade unions and worker cooperatives are potentially natural partners in fostering inclusive economies. A recent issue of the International Journal of Labor Research showcases this emerging strategic alliance, providing case studies of joint initiatives in Latin American, East Africa, Canada, and the United States. The authors also consider the challenges of these partnerships and suggest solutions to overcome fractures between the movements.
In a recent study examining minority entrepreneurship opportunities, the Greenlining Institute invited California’s twelve largest banks to share their supplier diversity practices. The authors found that though people of color represent the majority of California’s population, only 7.72 percent of bank contracts go to minority-owned businesses. The Institute offers a series of recommendations to reduce contracting disparities and to foster wealth and job creation in communities of color.
The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) has developed a new guide to help independent business owners, localist advocates, and local officials promote local business and community wealth building. The guide outlines strategies to build successful “Buy Local” campaigns that encourage consumers to shop at locally owned stores. It includes tips and resources for campaign content development, message framing, targeted marketing, and execution.
Brooks, Jennifer, Wiedrich, Kasey, Sims, Lebaron Jr. and Medina, Jennifer
The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) employs its annual Assets and Opportunity Scorecard to assess states’ commitment to reducing financial insecurity. This year’s scorecard measures the pervasiveness and effectiveness of polices that help people learn financial skills, build human capital, increase earnings, create affordable financial products, generate wealth, and protect consumers. CFED ranks states’ outcomes in five issue areas—Financial Assets & Income, Businesses & Jobs, Housing & Homeownership, Health Care, and Education.
In this new guide to community investment, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) identifies finance options and other investment tools to reinvigorate regional economies, create high-quality jobs, and restore the environment. BALLE offers this guide as a resource to help re-shape financial capital flows to support local self-sufficiency and ingenuity.
