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Chokwe Lumumba was an unlikely candidate for high office in Mississippi. But last June, the former Black Nationalist and one-time attorney to Tupac Shakur was elected Mayor of Jackson. He鈥檚 now in hot pursuit, not of big box stores or the next silver bullet solution to what ails the state鈥檚 capital city. He wants to create worker-owned cooperatives and small-scale green businesses and to invest in training and infrastructure. It鈥檚 the program of change he ran on in the election: local self-reliance.

Jackson鈥檚 population is 80 percent black, 18 percent white, and the rest largely immigrant, with heavy concentrations of Indians, Nigerians, and Brazilians.

鈥淲ithout question, the ideas of economic democracy that we want to propose come from the Southern context,鈥� says Kali Akuno, a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and a coordinator of special projects for the Lumumba administration.

That Lumumba won the election came as a surprise to some, but not to Akuno: 鈥淭here exists an audience in the black community that is way more willing than others to experiment with distribution.鈥�

Self-reliance 鈥渋s in our history. It鈥檚 had to be,鈥� he continues. 鈥淧eople know about Fannie Lou Hamer organizing black voters to fight segregation, but do they know she also helped to start cooperatives with retail distribution across Mississippi that are still around today?鈥�

Far from Mississippi, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, indigenous entrepreneur Mark Tilsen has just begun the process of turning ownership of his local food products company over to his workers. Tilsen founded Native American Natural Foods with his partner Karlene Hunter in 2006. Five years later, they won a Social Innovation Award from the Social Venture Network. Today, they鈥檙e innovating again: joining a cohort of Native American leaders in a program to strengthen the local economy by democratizing wealth and ownership. The program has been developed by the Democracy Collaborative and the Northwest Area Foundation.

Tilsen and I talked via cellphone in August, as a hailstorm pelted down on the reservation. For many years, Pine Ridge has ranked as this nation’s poorest place according to the U.S. Census. Eighty percent of the residents are unemployed; 49 percent live below the poverty line. In 2007, life expectancy was estimated at 48 for men and 52 for women. 鈥淲hy co-ops?鈥� I asked.

鈥淭he goal of our company is wealth creation and self-determination on the Pine Ridge Reservation, so we want our employees to own the wealth they鈥檙e creating. We didn鈥檛 make this company to sell or flip it,鈥� answered Tilsen.聽鈥淚n tribal communities, traditional methods of production were based on 鈥榯iospaye鈥欌�攖he Oglala word for extended family structures,鈥� Tilsen explained.聽 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how we survived and how we took care of one another, organizing points of production in a cooperative way. It鈥檚 nothing foreign.鈥�

Tilsen hopes to have Native American Natural Foods in employee hands by June, 2014.

Commonomics

Commonomics will focus on the gatherers, those who are working to foster economic growth from within. We鈥檒l be asking what鈥檚 working, what isn鈥檛, and by what standard are our local economies to be judged?

Welcome to 鈥淐ommonomics,鈥� a new collaboration between YES! Magazine and GRITtv. Starting this month, we鈥檒l be traveling the country asking the question: what makes for a strong local economy? It’s not a question that produces easy answers.

Farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry defines economy this way: 鈥淚 mean not economics but economy, the making of the human household upon the earth; the arts of adapting kindly the many, many human households to the earth鈥檚 many eco-systems and human neighborhoods.鈥�

By now, we know the signs of a “household” that鈥檚 been hollowed out. We鈥檝e seen the food deserts and the chronically vacant homes, the ghostly downtown storefronts and the municipalities in hock to the last sweet-talking corporation to suck up public subsidies and then run away. We鈥檙e familiar with the tension in a city where the only thing the rich and poor districts have in common is a subway line.聽 We know what it鈥檚 like to be close, everywhere, to the same chain coffee shop and two hours away from the 鈥渓ocal鈥� hospital. We鈥檝e seen the sprawl that ate the woodlands and the floodwaters that steadily rose.

In Commonomics we鈥檙e going to look at communities that have had enough of all that; places where, by choice or by crisis, people are trying to figure out how to transform what they鈥檝e known into something better for all.

There鈥檚 no consensus on the meaning of 鈥渓ocal,鈥� let alone agreement on what makes an economy 鈥渟trong.鈥� Ask 25 people with expertise in the topic, and you’ll hear 25 different answers. (I know because that’s what I did.) But there is history here, and a breadth of experience we can draw on if we pay attention, especially to those for whom 鈥渟elf-reliance鈥� is not a lifestyle choice.

Wealthy communities, let鈥檚 face it, aren鈥檛 famous for their embrace of togetherness and sharing.聽 The wealthiest 鈥渓ocal鈥� economies are surrounded by locking gates.聽 In Commonomics, we鈥檙e going to talk with some of the people and groups who, when it comes to sustainability and localism, have often been excluded from the policymaking and the debate, and yet who may have the most rooted and innovative ideas for building strength.

I鈥檓 reminded of the words of J. Bob Alotta, executive director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, referring to the disproportionately low-income LGBT groups she funds: 鈥淭o be unsafe inside your own skin can be isolating but it is also a value proposition鈥�It begets the possibility of building community in ways that may seem old fashioned.鈥�

Nevertheless, even the best community builders need structural support. Policymakers and economic developers typically fall into two camps: 鈥渉unters鈥� and 鈥済atherers.鈥� The former look to tempt big businesses from elsewhere to move to where they are by showering them with tax breaks and benefits that simultaneously siphon money out of a local area. Commonomics will focus on the gatherers, those who are working to foster economic growth from within. We鈥檒l be asking what鈥檚 working, what isn鈥檛, and by what standard are our local economies to be judged? Environmental health, unemployment, social mobility; there are many relevant metrics. We鈥檒l prioritize poverty reduction and quality of life.

Beyond GDP: Measuring What Matters

Aggregate counts of economic activity like gross domestic product, or GDP, give all activity equal value. The cultivating of an urban farm, which may involve little paid work and consume few bought materials, is less 鈥減roductive,鈥� in GDP terms, than paving that farm over.

鈥淲hen grain prices go up, that鈥檚 good for GDP but terrible for hunger,” says Joshua Farley, a professor in community development and applied economics at the University of Vermont.聽“GDP is an excellent measure of cost; a terrible measure of benefit.鈥�

To even start a new conversation, we need new measurements. As the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) puts it, it鈥檚 time to start 鈥渕easuring what matters.鈥�

Farley鈥檚 been involved in studies of Burlington, Vt., using a Genuine Progress Indicator, a version of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare that looks at a community’s overall well-being. There are many variations of these alternative indicators. Though most still equate value with consumption and growth, some include factors that GDP leaves out鈥攍ike the value of unpaid household and volunteer work鈥攁nd factor in the cost of pollution, depletion of resources, and the consequences of uneven distribution of wealth.

We don鈥檛 yet measure the real costs of these problems in the United States, because, for example, we tend to underprice energy, transportation, and education, and pay no tax on environmental pollution.

According to Robert Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, 鈥淎 true tally of all that might reveal the value of being more local.”

What is a local economy, anyway?

“Local” has become a buzzword. There鈥檚 鈥淓co-localism,鈥� local food and local farming, local media movements, and regional, state, and even national ad campaigns urging us to 鈥渆at local,” “buy local,” and “put local first.” Local’s gone global, but what exactly does it mean?

I bought the desk I鈥檓 writing on on eBay. I鈥檝e saved a pretty antique from the dump and spared the environment the cost of a bit of fresh manufacturing. I鈥檝e helped some eBay merchant鈥檚 鈥渓ocal鈥� economy. But compared to the closest furniture factory, is that nice eBay seller in Oklahoma contributing more or less in terms of jobs and taxes? The mind boggles.

Stacy Mitchell, director of independent business and community banking initiatives at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, says 鈥渓ocal鈥� varies by sector of the economy. Retail and banking businesses can be considered local if the owners are within a certain geographic area. But every village is not going to start making its own jet aircraft. 鈥淭alking manufacturing, you may need to be talking regional or statewide,鈥� says Mitchell.

Geography matters less than goals, she continues: 鈥淭he goal is having community-led, community-controlled economies where the decision-making is by those who are feeling the effects of the decisions that are made. [We need] humanly scaled systems both in economics and politics.鈥�

At the American Sustainable Business Council, David Levine talks about the 鈥渢riple bottom line鈥� of social, environmental, and economic impacts.

鈥淲ithin that frame, local by itself is not enough,鈥� he says. Levine does not want people buying 鈥渓ocal first鈥� from a locally owned sweatshop or toxic chemical plant. To avoid that, what鈥檚 important to business owners and consumers alike, he says, is that there be 鈥渢ransparency around values.鈥�

鈥淭he so-called local economy is really best understood as a regional transaction,鈥� says Anthony Flaccavento, a family farmer, community leader, and small-business owner from Abingdon, Va.

鈥淵ou need to think regionally. What does your region support ecologically and where are the markets? The hyper-local focus, within five or 100 miles is foolish.聽 Most goods travel 2,000 miles. If you can build something [to substitute] within 500 miles you鈥檝e made a major impact.鈥�

To Flaccavento, who built a nationally recognized nonprofit, Appalachian Sustainable Development, a critical indicator of a strong local economy is what he calls 鈥渟ynergy鈥濃�攈ow much one positive action ignites another.聽 A few large employers help anchor a community鈥檚 economy, for sure, but when a community is depending on one or two entities to keep a place ticking over, it鈥檚 vulnerable to devastation should that single employer move out.聽 That company may get a better deal somewhere else in tax breaks or community services.

Buying local is not enough鈥攚e have to change the rules

To make the substantial shifts that we need, it鈥檚 going to take more than consumers buying local, says Michael Shuman, research director of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). It鈥檚 going to require tilting the policy landscape toward local businesses. Rather than simply lecturing consumers on buying local, government will have to lead by doing likewise.聽 The government鈥檚 purse is a whole lot more powerful than Joe and Jane Consumer鈥檚. There are many things cities and states already do to benefit business鈥攍ike offering subsidies, grants, and loans.聽 Cities are experimenting with different ways to direct those public benefits to locally owned businesses that benefit the public, and through government contracting and procurement. Some, like Cleveland, award extra points in the contract bidding process to businesses that are locally owned, or green, or pay prevailing wages, or hire local workers, or all of the above. But so far, policymakers have generally been reluctant to cut the multinationals off. Charging discrimination, internationally owned firms have been known to challenge local preference rules under international trade law and the fear of lawsuits puts an effective chill on legislators.

But, says Flaccavento, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e promoting downtown revitalization and supporting small business, you can鈥檛 simultaneously build a big box development on the outskirts of town. One will undermine the other.”

Shuman wants government to move its money鈥攁ll of it, 鈥渋ncluding everything that requires city staff time and energy, from non-local business and refocus it instead鈥攍aser-like鈥攐n local business.鈥�

Who is part of a strong local economy?

Which brings us back to Wendell Berry鈥檚 idea of the 鈥渉ousehold.鈥� There鈥檚 not a lawmaker in America who thinks he has more money than his community needs. Deploying that public purse is all about making choices. How are you going to manage the household?聽 And who鈥檚 seen and heard in your economic 鈥渉ouse鈥�? The human household is a many-faceted thing, not to mention multinational, which can make the language of 鈥渓ocal鈥� contentious. Can disparaging non-local businesses spill over into discriminating against non-local workers? Just whom do we call a 鈥渓ocal鈥� anyway and do they have to speak our language?

Artisanal crafts and local produce are attractive. But if you’re going to serve everybody, scale matters. Wealthy communities can afford to do a lot of sexy things that poor communities cannot because no money is coming in.聽 That鈥檚 why Dan Swinney believes manufacturing needs to be part of the strong local economy too.

A former machinist who established Manufacturing Renaissance in Chicago, Swinney works in communities that have become job-poor due to globalization and the closure of local businesses for lack of next-generation owners and managers. 鈥淎 lot of people ignore the material aspect of things,鈥� he said.

鈥淵ou can have jobs that build people or destroy people but you need an employment base.鈥澛� Swinney would prefer ownership of his company be local and democratic. He’s all for ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) and is in favor of co-ops with worker ownership and worker control. But, he says, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a sequence from lower to higher value.鈥� Swinney鈥檚 first priority is on getting people into jobs.

Local arts …
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to do the right kind of asset mapping,鈥� says Sam Miller, director of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Communities with robust local economies create environments where artists can thrive and work. Artists 鈥渉ire workers, rent space, make stuff, sell it,鈥� says Miller. Good arts policy is good development policy, and vice versa. Don鈥檛 fetishize artists, fund them: 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e defining a economic cluster, do you include artists in the same way you鈥檇 include web developers?鈥�

… and local media.
The strongest local communities have local independent media鈥攖hink Berkeley, Boulder, Tampa (all are community-radio rich). 鈥淧eople need to be well informed about what鈥檚 happening where they live and how it relates to what鈥檚 going on around them. People need to get to know each other and be shown a way to respond to the challenges they face,鈥� says Jo Ellen Kaiser, executive director of The 无码视频 Consortium, a collaborative organization of independent media outlets (both GRITtv and YES! are members).聽 Put an independent media center in your downtown development district and you give it voice.

Getting institutions on board

What鈥檚 exciting about getting people engaged in local community-building is getting people engaged in how their community works. But if and when people want to change that, 鈥渓ocals鈥� need not just local shops and arts, but institutions that influence policy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is, at last, no longer the only business group at most negotiating tables. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fair to say there鈥檚 a blossoming of alternative economic development models and business associations,鈥� says Greg LeRoy, of Good Jobs First, a group that debunks what it calls the business lobby鈥檚 鈥減seudo-science鈥� around what鈥檚 good for the 鈥渂usiness climate.”聽 There’s also鈥攁mong many others鈥擝ALLE, the Independent Business Alliance, the Main Street Alliance, and the American Sustainable Business Council.

鈥淭here鈥檚 much broader thinking now, more rooted in the local community, that鈥檚 able to weigh in on development debates such that the Chamber doesn鈥檛 have a monopoly any more,鈥� LeRoy says.

On the worker side, 鈥渁 strong local economy would have to have collective organizing of workers in order to be fully democratic,鈥� says Michael Lighty, policy director of National Nurses United, based in Oakland, Calif.聽 鈥淯nions are the key institutions that give individuals collective power.鈥�

Still, 鈥淭he new economy for us is not simply about peppering the landscape with groovy models, but is part of broader economic justice organizing and political action,鈥� says Sarah Ludwig, founder and co-director of the New Economy Project in New York. Unless there’s broad institutional change鈥攂reaking up big banks, effecting some semblance of corporate accountability, getting money out of politics, “you know, just for starters,” Ludwig says鈥�”The creation of model institutions will take us only so far.”

The most participatory local budgeting process isn鈥檛 going to stop the crisis in public schools as long as the budget the community鈥檚 participating in is an austerity budget. Which brings us to the question of power.

So how do ordinary people get power in this economy?

From Mississippi to Pine Ridge, allies abound for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and those who want to build strong local economies. But how do those potential allies build power enough to have an influence?

On the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Saket Soni works with guest workers. Arriving in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he saw firsthand the decimation of an entire local economy and the eradication of local control鈥攁nd he watched, up close, the consequences.

鈥淭he logic of the corporate model after Katrina was to create a predatory community that could funnel local people into low-wage work with a revolving door to deportation or prison without creating a single stable job or career path for the most vulnerable,” says Soni. Guest workers from other countries were brought in on temporary visas with virtually no rights in a labor supply chain that left local workers out. Antagonism between groups grew just as plans for the area鈥檚 reconstruction were being decided, and low-income communities suffered as a result. Over time, immigrant and local reconstruction workers organized together, and started demanding of Congress that the labor abuses be stopped. After some of their demands were met and fines were levied by government, some of those same organizations got involved in housing and local development planning too.

鈥淭he other side [of the crisis],” Soni says, “was that at the center of the ruin, a core of resilient people, who were in crisis long before the recession, had the vision and relationships to make a set of economic demands and organize to win them.鈥�

What holds people back from doing more themselves is need, he adds. The low-wage workers he organizes don鈥檛 plan their lives more than a week or two in advance. They鈥檙e not allowed to by the economy. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know their next shift, their next job, even the industry they鈥檒l be working in next week.鈥�

In Soni鈥檚 world, the measure of a strong and rooted local economy lies in families’ and communities’ ability to imagine, and plan for, their future. That affects everything, including organizing, he says.

鈥淣o one wants a sustainable future and a shareable economy more than the low-wage workers we organize.鈥�

You鈥檒l be seeing more reports, from Jackson, New Orleans, Pine Ridge, and other frontlines of the 鈥渟trong local economy鈥� movement right here in Commonomics.