E-Newsletter | September 2005
Dear Colleague,
Welcome to our fourth monthly edition of our Community-Wealth.org
e-newsletter. Once again, we have added more links, documents, and
other materials to our site. Look for this symbol *NEW*
to find our most recent additions.
We especially call attention to our newest website section: C-W
Cities. We intend to use this section of our website to highlight
regions where you can find a wide variety of community wealth-building
institutions.
This month, we highlight Oakland, California,
a city that is home to numerous innovative community wealth-building
efforts, including community development corporations, credit unions,
employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) companies, co-ops, community
land trusts, and related wealth-building efforts.
If you believe your city or region should be featured in one of
our future issues, please let us know. And please continue to send
us material to post. This enables us to continue expanding this
web site and to better link community wealth-builders.
 Ted
Howard
Executive Director, The Democracy Collaborative
Interview
on Community Wealth Building
 A
frog on the cover declares, “Kiss Me, I'm the Nonprofit
Economy.” Is a prince waiting to emerge? In this issue
of Nonprofit Quarterly, editors interview Gar Alperovitz, the Lionel
R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland
and a founding principal of The Democracy Collaborative. A considerable
part of the conversation concerns the grave peril that the decline
in America's social fabric poses to low and moderate-income
Americans. Into this crisis, Alperovitz contends, have stepped a growing
number of community wealth-building institutions, which have had considerable
success in rural and urban communities across the country.
Fastener
Industries Celebrates 25 Years (PDF 2MB)
Fastener Industries, a worthy example of how employee ownership
can promote good paying jobs and community economic stability in
a global economy, celebrated its 25th anniversary of employee-ownership
this summer. Headquartered in Berea, Ohio, Fastener's 200
employee-owners produce high-quality weld fasteners, levelers, replacement
parts for industrial lift trucks, and rivets. The Ohio Employee
Ownership Center's summer 2005 edition of Owners at Work features
the company in a cover article.
 Examining
Community Engagement's Roots (PDF 62KB)
Today, efforts are under way at a number of universities to promote
community engagement. In developing these efforts, current activists
would do well to learn from the experiences of a previous generation
of similarly minded scholars at Antioch University in Ohio. Edited
by Richard Couto, a founding member of Antioch's Ph.D. “Leadership
of Change” program, Courses in Courage includes essays by
six Antioch professors who, starting in the McCarthy years of the
1950s, helped make Antioch College a national center of an activist
scholarship deeply rooted in social goals and values.
New
York City Council approves health care benefits bill (PDF 79KB)
The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed a measure in August
requiring large grocery stores to provide a minimum level of health
care coverage for their workers. The council's action follow similar
efforts around the country, including one in Maryland. Legislators
in New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington State and San Francisco are
considering similar bills. The movement is driven by concern over
the expansion of big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and “gourmet
grocery chains” such as Whole Foods, which typically provide
fewer health care benefits than unionized grocery stores.
Report
from Aspen Institute questions foundations' investment strategy
(PDF 311KB)
According to federal law, foundations must pay out a minimum of
5% of their assets in grants (or other qualified expenditures) each
year. For many, as author Thomas Billitteri notes, the minimum is
often the de facto maximum, with the remaining 95% of assets placed
in market-rate investments with little or no regard to the foundation's
mission. In this study, Billitteri contends that trustees would
better meet their own foundations' long-term mission and needs
through a more integrated social investment strategy that leverages
foundation assets to promote social change.
An
Employee-Owned Community Development Bank (PDF 63KB)
When the founders of Neighorhood National opened their doors to
the public in 1997, they expected the community development bank
to act as a catalyst for economic development in its southeast San
Diego neighborhood. Now, with the assistance of the Beyster Institute,
employee-owners invest through their workplace in a group that in
turn invests in their own communities.
Eastern
Worker Co-op Conference Highlights Growth (PDF 54KB)
East Coast worker cooperatives held their third and largest-ever
annual conference this July in Manchester, New Hampshire, hosted
by Southern New Hampshire University's School of Community
Development. More than 100 worker-owners gathered to attend "nuts
and bolts" education workshops on management, finance, marketing
and movement-building topics.
Car
Repair as Social Enterprise Strategy
 At
first glance, the car repair shop of Dakota Area Resources and Transportation
for Seniors, better known as Darts, seems rather ordinary. But when
general manager Gary Dalton talks about his work and describes himself
as a "social worker/mechanic," it becomes very clear this
is not a typical garage. The Chronicle of Philanthropy profiles
this unusual company.
Tax
Refunds Help Low-Income Households Build Savings (PDF 33KB)
Tax time is often the best time for low-income households to set
up savings accounts. In 2007, the IRS will allow refund recipients
to split their refund, to encourage filers to dedicate a portion
of that refund to savings. But as Jennifer Tescher of the Center
for Financial Services Innovation explains, the time for banks and
nonprofits to begin to prepare for this is now. The Center is a
partnership between the Ford Foundation and Shorebank Community
Development Bank.
Apollo
Alliance
 In
July, governors from across the nation wrote an open letter to President
Bush, urging him to lead a national project to achieve energy independence
within a decade in an open letter to the White House. The Apollo
Alliance, a joint project of the Institute for America's Future
and the Center on Wisconsin Strategies, is dedicated to making clean
energy, freedom from foreign oil, and new energy sector jobs a reality
in America.
www.apolloalliance.org
Lenders for Community
Development
 Based
in San Jose, CA, Lenders for Community Development promotes community
development through many means, including individual development
accounts and loans for small business development, affordable housing,
and community facility construction.
www.l4cd.com
Asset Policy
Initiative of California
 The
Asset Policy Initiative of California conducts research and advocacy
work on predatory lending, asset-building savings programs, and
affordable housing issues. The organization is a statewide network
of stakeholders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors
who are committed to increasing savings and wealth-building opportunities
for working families.
www.assetpolicy-ca.org
Institute
for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
 The
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues based at the
University of Kentucky reports on a broad range of rural community
development issues, using the skills and resources from a variety
of disciplines, institutions, and states. Their website aims to
help non-metropolitan journalists set the public agenda for their
communities, grasp the local impact of regional and national issues,
and interpret rural issues for national media.
www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/IRJCI
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