Investing in Main Street and the Local Economy to Create Jobs & Lasting Wealth

2 thoughts on “Investing in Main Street and the Local Economy to Create Jobs & Lasting Wealth”

1. Dalina December 12, 2015 at 11:28 pm

   In your reporting, did you find evidence that communities that invested locally were more resilient during the recession?

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   • localist Post authorApril 22, 2016 at 4:41 am

     Yes. In an interview with FastCompany, author Amy Cortese mentions local investing helps community resist the effects of recessions.

     Yes, absolutely. One of the best examples is Hardwick, Vermont, where community investing has been unfolding for a decade. It started when the area’s new generation of farmers and entrepreneurs began getting together to help each other work through business issues. Many of them, such as Tom Stearns of High Mowing Seeds and Pete Johnson of Pete’s Greens, were experiencing rapid growth and would run into cash flow problems, so they began lending money to each other to get through lean times. Around 2005, Stearns raised $1.1 million from a group of (accredited) local investors, all within 50 miles. Other community investments followed. Claire’s Restaurant, which showcases food grown or raised by the area’s farmers, sold prepaid “food coupons” to 50 residents for $1,000 apiece, which entitled them to $25 off a meal once a month for four years. It’s sort of modern day barn raising. All of this mutual support and reinforcement has attracted more entrepreneurs to Hardwick, like the Vermont Food Venture Center, a shared use facility for food producers and startups, which has relocated to Hardwick from Burlington to be part of the action. In the last three years, while most of the country was struggling with unemployment, Hardwick created 100 food and agriculture-related jobs, increasing local jobs by 25 percent.

     Read the full interview here.

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