Does Your Community Want Its Own Home-Grown Investment Fund?
V.2, N.41
If so, The MSJ is pleased to announce a new webinar series on best practices in community investing with a team of seasoned organizers.
Starting February 21, from 2-3 pm ET, Kevin Jones of Neighborhood Economics and I will host a twice-monthly interview series with community investment fund leaders from around the country. They will help decode the DNA of different designs, enabling you and your community to replicate them. Click here to tune in for each episode—no registration is necessary.
Our first interview features Derek Peebles, one of the leaders of an effort to create a Diversified Community Investment Fund in Cincinnati. Learn more about the series here.
Running the show is Joel Skene, whose Mindful Marketplace is already introducing local investment concepts to thousands of listeners. Co-sponsors include us, Neighborhood Economics, and ImpactAlpha. Data from each show will ultimately feed a public wiki to help you build support for your own community’s fund.
Also, in this issue, you will find:
A short yet compelling argument (by your humble narrator) explaining why local investing is good for you and your community.
A New York Times article about how a Private Equity Company, KKR, has underwritten a new organization, Ownership Works, to promote conversions into worker-owned companies. (Some of our partners are not completely happy with this development, and we will air their criticisms in future issues.)
USDA Rural Development is now promoting local investment cooperatives to boost economic development. (“Investment co-ops” generally are not legal, but an exemption exists for real estate companies, whether privately or cooperatively owned. This exemption is the same loophole that Diversified Community Investment Funds employ.)
After decades of hibernation, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act in Washington, DC, might finally wake up. (The Act allows tenants the right to make a first offer to buy out a building from a private landlord.)
A brief article about how a report from the Community Ownership Commission, affiliated with the Labor Party, is trying to reshape local economic development strategies in the United Kingdom.
Finally, consider getting your dose of local investment news weekly—alternating this free weekly with the MSJ Extra! through a paid subscription. Below, we provide an excerpt of what free subscribers missed in the MSJ Extra! You can subscribe through this handy link.
~ Michael Shuman, Publisher
NEWS
Why Invest Locally?, Hudson Valley Pilot (January 25)
Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, New York Times (January 28)
Engage Your Community with Investment Cooperatives, USDA Rural Development (January 26)
Using the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act to Form a Co-op, Shelterforce (January 26)
Unleashing Community Ownership in England, Co-operative Party (January 16)
MSJ EXTRA! TEASER
Last week, Michael Shuman interviewed Dr. John J. Berger, author of eleven books, including his most recent, Solving the Climate Crisis: Frontline Reports from the Race to Save the Earth (Seven Stories Press, 2023). Berger’s books and articles cover a wide range of problems and solutions, including nuclear power, environmental restoration, and forest ecology.
MS: What's the most inspirational story of a community investing in a climate crisis solution?
JB: I would say it's the story of the island of Samsø, a farming and fishing region in Denmark with twenty-two villages and about 4,000 people. The community today gets 100 percent of its power from the sun, the wind, and the earth, except for the hybrid electric/natural gas ferry to the island (soon to be converted to biofuel) and Samsø's remaining internal combustion vehicles. Local farmers, co-ops, and the municipality installed onshore and offshore wind turbines that generate millions in profits by exporting surplus power to the mainland.
Instead of heating with imported oil, Samsø now uses geothermal heat pumps and heat from local district heating biomass plants fired with local straw and forest wastes. Farmers get paid for the nearly carbon-neutral straw, which burns cleaner than oil, and the ash goes back to farms as fertilizer.
Whereas Americans generate about 15 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, the average citizen of Samsø generates minus 12 metric tons when you account for the carbon its clean energy exports offset. Samsø residents also enjoyed cleaner electricity, local jobs, and 40 percent cheaper electricity.
PARTNER NEWS & VOICES
Cutting Edge Counsel/Capital Announces Rebrand, PathLight Law (February 7)
National Coalition for Community Capital Hosts Economic Recovery Corps Fellow, International Economic Development Council (February 5)
Alternative Ownership Enterprises, Transform Finance in ImpactAlpha (January 22)
Community-Owned Land as a Tool for Equitable Development, Schumacher Center for a New Economics (January 31)
NEW INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES TEASER
Our full list of recently posted investment opportunities has moved to MSJ Extra! As a teaser, here are a few offerings from our list. (Please note that our listing of these opportunities is not an endorsement, and remember that all investments are risky, so click on the hyperlinks and read all the details carefully before investing.)
Equal Exchange (West Bridgewater, MA), CrowdFund Mainstreet
Peaceful Bend Vineyard (Steelville, MO), Honeycomb
Vestaboard (San Francisco, CA), StartEngine
NOTABLE NEW RESOURCES
Michael Shuman on Local Investing and Neighborhood Economics, The Mindful Marketplace (February 5)
Put Your Money Where Your Life Is: The Power Of Local Economies, Nathalie Nahai (January 28)
Black Cooperatives Throughout History, New Economy Roundup (February 1)
Planet Local Voices, Local Futures (February 5)
Rewiring Local Economies: Community Wealth Building for a Just Transition, Future Economy Scotland (January 31)
Banking and Climate Data Added to Black Wealth Indicators, Black Wealth Data Center (January 30)
EVENTS
SuperCrowdHour: Meet the CfPA - Virtual Event. February 21, at 1 pm ET. Register here.
Cincinnati Diversified Community Investment Fund - Virtual Event. February 21, at 2 pm ET. Link to join the event here.
Remaking the Economy: Building Regional Solidarity Economies - Virtual Event. February 21, at 2 pm ET. Register here.
Neighborhood Economics - In-Person Event (San Antonio, TX). February 26-28. Register here.
Chinatown Land Trusts in Action: A Path to Community Resilience - Virtual Event. February 28, at 1 pm ET. Register here.
Moving Minds & Money to Transform Arts & Culture Investment - In-Person Event (Philadelphia, PA). March 8. Register here.
Community Investment Funds - Virtual Event. March 14, at 2 pm ET. Register here.
SuperCrowdBaltimore - In-Person Event (Baltimore, MD). March 21. Register here.
Works For All: Cincinnati's Co-op Economy - Virtual Event. March 29-31. Register here.
Move Your Money Month - April 1 - 30. Sign-on here.
ICYMI
Race and Gender Wealth Equity and the Role of Employee Share Ownership, Aspen Institute
Small is Beautiful Revisited: 50 Years On, Schumacher Center for a New Economics
JOBS BOARD
Black Farmer Fund is hiring a Development & Investor Relations Director.
Just Futures is hiring a Coalitions & Worker Power Manager.
Mission Driven Finance is hiring a Senior Data and Analytics Engineer.
US Federation of Worker Cooperatives is hiring a Development Director.
FREE SHORT VIDEOS ON LOCAL INVESTMENT
If you want short answers to your most pressing questions about local investment, we have prepared a series of 5-10-minute videos. Find them posted on our website under the “Local Investing Videos” page. Or click on the links below to be directed to videos based on the topic:
IF YOU LIKE THE MAIN STREET JOURNAL…
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BECOME A MAIN STREET CHAMPION
Have you always wanted to start a local investment club? A website of local investment offerings in your community? A local investment study group?
Whatever your interest or ambition, we invite you to “go public” to help others in your region find you, scheme with you, and start a local investment movement in your community. We aim to identify dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of Main Street Champions like you in every corner of the globe. Together, we can move our hard-earned savings from Wall Street to Main Street into our own communities. Fill out the intake survey below to join this growing cohort!
CHAMPIONS BY STATE
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SOME OF MSJ’s VINTAGE ISSUES
About The Main Street Journal
The Main Street Journal aims to catalyze the movement of $50 trillion from Wall Street to Main Street to facilitate economic development and economic justice. It’s sponsored by the National Coalition for Community Capital, with grants from the Heron Foundation, Wallace Global Foundation, and the Bondi Foundation. We welcome feedback about everything, from our design to content. Also, we welcome suggestions of other groups to involve as partners and additional information to include. Please send ideas to Jen Risley at jen@main-street-journal.com.
Our Team:
Michael Shuman – Publisher
Jen Risley - Editor
Jessica Landman - Strategic Advisor
PARTNERS
Abrams+Angell | American Independent Business Alliance | Candide Group | Community-Vision Solutions | Council Fire | Crowdfund Better | Crowdfund Capital Advisors | Democracy Collaborative | Exit to Community Collective | Fair Food Network | Impact Finance Center | ImpactPHL | Initiative for Local Capital | Institute for Local Self-Reliance | The Kassan Group | Mission Driven Finance | National Coalition for Community Capital | Natural Investments | Neighborhood Associates | Neighborhood Economics | New Majority Capital | Next Egg | Nonprofit Quarterly | Ownership America | Ownership Matters | Partnership for Southern Equity | PathLight Law | Project Equity | Project for Public Spaces | Prospera Partners | Raise Green | Revalue | Schumacher Center for a New Economics | Shelterforce | Slow Money | SOCAP | Sun Valley Institute for Resilience | The Super Crowd Inc. | Transform Finance | Uwharrie Bank | Village Well | Zebras Unite
We welcome any nonprofit or for-profit committed to local investment as a partner. If your organization is interested, please contact Jen Risley at jen@main-street-journal.com.