Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Theme Introduction: Growing the Next Economy….….…….page 3
Practices…………………………………………………...….….page 7
Rituals…………………………………………………..….……..page 10
Reflection Questions…………………………………..………...page 13
Actions…………………………………..………………………..page 15
Learning Resources………………….……………..………...….page 16
Blogs/Articles
Books
Videos
Podcasts
Organizations
Inspiration………………………………..…………………........page 21
Featured Poem
Featured Music
Featured Artwork
Journal Prompts…….……………………...…………..…............page 27
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Introduction: Growing the Next Economy
"In nature's economy the currency is not money - it is life."
-Vandana Shiva
Welcome to the third month of our second season of the Beloved Community
Journey. This month’s theme is “Growing the Next Economy” and we are engaging
in learning, practices, and actions to support us in creating a just and flourishing
world for all.
As the social and political vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. evolved throughout his
life, he became increasingly focused on the issues of poverty and economic injustice.
He knew that to truly build the Beloved Community we had to transform our
economy, stating that, "The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot
be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power." In the
final months of his life, he was actively working on building a “Poor People’s
Campaign’ that would bring a multiracial coalition to Washington, DC to demand full
employment, guaranteed income and housing for the poor.
Growing the Next Economy is the vital work of creating a just and flourishing
world that works for all of us. It requires the radical shift from an extractive economy
to a regenerative economy, growing new systems that include a wide range of
solutions: worker-owned cooperatives, community wealth & investment models, gift
economics & mutual aid, regenerative agriculture systems & food sovereignty, radical
philanthropy and redistribution, clean energy & biomimicry, blockchain &
decentralized finance, affordable housing and urban renewal, and other eco-just
economic innovations that support the wellbeing of all people and life on our planet.
● What is our personal relationship with money? How were we shaped by our
background and what is our economic worldview today?
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● In what ways, if any, do we benefit from our current economic system? In what
ways, if any, are we hindered and harmed by our current economic system?
● How do we make a just transition to the next economy, one that is based on the
principles of interconnectedness, equity and regeneration?
● Who are the groups and movements growing that we can support and
collaborate with? What are the actions we can take individually and as
communities?
We hope you find many new perspectives, possibilities and a sense of positive power
in the practices, learning resources, and inspiration that follows. Take your time and
return to this many times throughout this month. As always, we’ll be sharing
reminders and highlights each week.
As we work to grow the next economy in our neighborhoods and communities, may
we be nourished by each other and the living world around us.
In partnership,
the Thrive team
"Wealth and power are meant to be shared for our collective good. So much of
the way we've structured our society has been centered on this misconception
that our money is the thing that will keep us safe. Actually it's our deep
relationships and communities that will keep us safe."
-Nwamaka Agbo
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Key Terms & Definitions
Capitalism - an economic system in which private actors own and control property
in accord with their interests, and where supply and demand set prices in markets. The
essential feature of capitalism is the motive to make a profit, often made by a few at
the expense of the many and our planet.
Divestment - “getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethical or
morally ambiguous.” (1)
Just Transition - “is a vision-led, unifying and place-based set of principles, processes
and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive
economy to a regenerative economy.” (1)
Localization - “is about bringing the economy back to a human scale. It is the
process of building economic structures that allow the goods and services a
community needs to be produced locally and regionally whenever possible. This can
strengthen community cohesion and lead to greater human health and material
well-being, all while reducing pollution and degradation of the natural world.” (1)
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Redistribution - “the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property)
from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare,
public services, land reform, monetary policies, or confiscation.” (1)
Reinvestment - moving money into investments, companies and products that are
equitable and ecologically beneficial.
Regenerative Economy - an economy that “values the dignity of work and humanity
and prioritizes community governance and ownership of work and resources, instead
of oppressive systems that devalue people and their labor through violent hoarding by
a few.” (1)
"We need to start to talk about money in ways that dethrone it and make it
subject to human ethics and standards of love and decency." -Joel Solomon
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Practices
“In order to create change in any system, we must first cultivate the capacity
for change within ourselves, and change requires practice.“
- Center for Whole Communities
*Note: This is an anchor practice that we shared last month and that we
encourage you to continue (or begin) practicing this month and the next.
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Practice B: Releasing Feelings of Lack and Scarcity
We often live into and perpetuate the stories and beliefs we hold inside
ourselves. When we lead our lives with a mentality of lack and scarcity, it
shapes both how we feel, the decisions we make and what we create.
There is a special kind of inner power that arises when we shift from
scarcity to an abundance mindset where there is enough for all beings to
thrive.
A gift circle is an open circle where people come to help each other, and
share their needs and services. People share their services and help as a
gift, without expectation of anything in return. The purpose of a gift
circle is to allow people to help each other, to create a sense of
community and to further the gift economy.
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Practice D (a group practice): Mutual Aid
Networks
The term mutual aid refers to the voluntary exchange of resources and
services between community members to provide support for those who
need it. Mutual aid groups generally seek to address community
challenges and needs through peer relationships with an eye toward
transformative social change. They seek to operate by the principle of
“solidarity, not charity.”
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Rituals
"Any ritual is an opportunity for transformation. To do a ritual, you must be
willing to be transformed in some way. The inner willingness is what makes
the ritual come alive and have power." - Starhawk
We invite you to engage with the power and intention of ritual throughout the
Beloved Community Journey. This can be done with the specific ritual suggestions we
offer each month, with the reflection questions for each theme, and with the Journal
Prompts at the end of each packet. Make it your own personal and special experience.
Be flexible and creative. Allow your inner wisdom and Spirit to guide you. Listen
deeply. Write about what’s unearthing itself and coming to the surface. Allow it to
inform your process so that you can bless and release it through this Journey and the
power of practice.
If you haven’t already done so, consider building a simple or intricate altar that you
can engage with throughout the Beloved Community Journey. Create a space that
allows you to step into your own healing and transformation. Make it meaningful and
sacred of your own accord. Your inner wisdom will guide you on how to do that.
Listen deeply. Take time to journal what you’re sensing and hearing. Make it a part of
your regular practice. Gather sacred and meaningful objects that ignite the spark
within you, such as a picture of a Buddha, Goddess or someone you revere; stones,
crystals or precious objects; beautiful cloths; pieces from your cultural traditions;
some of your ancestors’ things that you treasure; writings and readings; affirmations
and declarations; candles, sage, incense, water; reminders of what you have buried or
forgotten. Bring it. Be it. Allow it to rise and surface, heal you, and reveal to you that
which is ready to emerge. Allow your deepest inner knowing to guide this process.
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Ritual Suggestions for our month of “Growing the Next
Economy”
The following ritual suggestions are offered for you to consider engaging in over the
month ahead. Feel free to adapt these and create your own that are unique to who you
are and your experience. There is no one way or right way to incorporate ritual into
your practice.
Find a comfortable and quiet spot. Relax and settle inside of yourself. Begin to reflect
on the ways that the feelings of scarcity show up in your thoughts and life. In what
ways do you feel blocked and limited? How do feelings of “not enough-ness” shape
your sense of self and what is possible? Honor the experiences and challenges you’ve
faced that have given rise to these feelings, and extend your love and compassion to
the parts of you that have been impacted by them. Now feel a sense of appreciation
for all the ways you have grown and prevailed, even when faced with hardship and
shortcomings. Connect with your gratitude for all that you are blessed with in your
life. Bring your attention to the parts of your life where you’ve had strength and
success. Feel your gratefulness toward the people that have positively influenced you
and the meaningful experiences that have shaped you. Imagine the possibility that you
have everything you need to meet your needs and to realize your fullest potential, and
that our world has the capacity to support everyone in realizing their dreams. Envision
a world that is not perfect but where there is enough for everyone to be happy, healthy
and to have their core needs and dreams met. Allow a deep inner sense of sufficiency
to buoy you, affirming who you are and all that is possible for living in this world.
Listen deeply and allow your inner knowing and power to unfold.
"My vision is that we turn this world from the war zone it has become into a
garden." -Vandana Shiva
"Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest time possible,
through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the
disadvantage of anyone." -Buckminster Fuller
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Reflection Questions
"Sometimes one question can change the course of your entire life."
-Michael Tyrrell
The following questions are intended to be used as inquiry prompts for individuals,
dyads, or small groups to explore together. These are also included as part of the
“Journaling Prompts” at the end of this packet with additional questions for personal
reflection.
Consider taking these reflection questions into your ritual space and/or creating an
intentional window of time to engage with them. Go slowly and let them speak to
you, revealing what you are needing to hear.
What is your relationship with money? How has wealth or poverty been passed
down through the generations in your family? Where are you in that inherited
pattern, and what are you doing with it today?
In what ways, if any, do you benefit from our current economic system? In
what ways, if any, are you hindered and harmed by our current economic
system?
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What is your vision for the next economy? In what areas are you called to learn
more and/or to deepen in?
How can you help redistribute wealth and help close wealth disparity?
What other actions can you take individually and collectively to help grow the
next economy?
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Actions
Consider taking action in some of the following ways this month and going forward:
● Divest (i.e. divest from big banks, chain stores, exploitative industries, etc.)
● Take a product that you use and see if you can trace its entire supply chain
journey from the raw material all the way to where it eventually ends up.
● Participate in a buy nothing groups and engage in the 3 R's - reduce, reuse,
recycle - rather than buying new and throwing things away
● Share your what you have - time, money, resources - with those who need it
"Hope calls for action. Hope is an axe you break down doors with in an
emergency; because hope should shove you out the door, because it will take
everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the
annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and
marginal." -Rebecca Solnit
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Learning Resources
"Education...is the practice of freedom, the means by which people deal
critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the
transformation of their world." -Paulo Freire
Articles/Blogs/Publications
Centering Blackness: The Path to Economic Liberation for All by Anne Price, Jhumpa
Bhattacharya and Dorian Warren
From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring: A Strategic Framework for a Just
Transition by Movement Generation
From Grocery Stores to Labor Unions, Cooperatives Were The Answer by Araz
Hachadourian & Liz Pleasant
System Change: A Basic Primer to the Solidarity Economy by Emily Kawano & Julie
Mattheei
The Power of Local Money for a Thriving Local Economy by Jackie Brown
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Books
A Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life by Hunter Loves, Stewart Willis,
Anders Wiljkman, John Fullerton Kate Raworth
Ancient Futures: Lessons From Ladakh for a Globalizing World by Helena Norberg-Hodge
Creating Wealth: Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies by Gwendolyn Hallsmith
and Bernard Lietaer
How to Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow's World Today by John Thackara
Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a
Better One by Majora Carter
The B Corp Handbook: How You Can Use Business As A Force For Good by Ryan
Honeyman
The Clean Money Revolution: Reinventing Power, Purpose & Capitalism by Joel Solomon
The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative, Self-Financing "Pollinator" Enterprises Can Grow
Jobs and Prosperity by Michael Shuman
The New Systems Reader: Alternatives to a Failed Economy edited by James Gustave Speth
and Cathlene Courrier
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Guides/Toolkits
Videos
Podcasts
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Organizations
B Lab
Civil Eats
Greenlining Institute
LIFT Economy
Local Futures
Movement Generation
Runway
Restore Oakland
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Shareable
"We want to build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.
We want to create green pathways out of poverty and into great careers. We
want this "green wave" to lift all boats. We can save the polar bears and poor
kids too." -Van Jones
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Inspiration
Featured Poetry
Featured Music
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Featured Artwork from “We Can Thrive Together: Visioning
Economic Justice For All”
by Alex Albadree
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by Rommy Torrico
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by Alex Albadree
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by Alex Albadree
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by Rommy Torrico
“We believe that ending poverty is within our reach, and that we have both the power
and responsibility to do so. In order to help organizers and teachers vision an
economically just society for everyone, the Opportunity Agenda and Amplifier
created an original campaign to spark more expansive conversations around the
intersection between economic justice and systemic racism, housing insecurity, income
inequality, and other major issues. The campaign features four original artworks as
well as brand new, hands on K-12 lesson plans about workers rights, the wage gap,
and more.”
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Journal Prompts
The following journal prompts are provided as an opportunity for deeper reflection,
awareness, practice and change. Feel free to add in your own. A downloadable Word
document version is available at: https://bit.ly/marchjournalprompts
How has wealth or poverty been passed down through the generations in your
family? Where are you in that inherited pattern, and what have you done with
that?
Are there areas in the financial or material realm, where you feel you have more
than your fair share? What about in the worldwide context, especially
reflecting on the Global South?
When you think about the resource extraction basis of our current day
economic systems, what are some ways you’d like to or already practice the
opposite of that–a system that regenerates instead?
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What does being a “conscious consumer” mean to you? Can there even be
such a thing? If so, what does that look like in practice? If not, why not?
We all need a way to exchange goods and services. Can you imagine some
ways that can happen outside of extractive capitalism models?
When you think of the terms “globalization” and “localization”, where do your
personal thoughts lie for an ideal economic model? How does either support
or hinder the vision of a next economy?
Where do you get your food and can you trace its origins throughout the
supply chain? What impacts your choices around what food you choose to buy
and consume? If you could make some different choices, what would they be?
In what ways are you or can you help redistribute wealth, and help close wealth
disparity?
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What does investing in your local community look like?
What ‘next economy’ issues and movements am I called to learn more about
and engage with?
"How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world."
-Vicki Robin
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"Regeneration means putting life at the center of every action and decision."
-Paul Hawken
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Cover Illustration Description (by @arte_maiz)
An economy, at its core, is more than the exchange of money. An economy is born
out of and reliant upon the fundamental abundance of the earth and the willingness to
share that abundance with others in your community and beyond who may be lacking.
Therefore, there is a spiritual and emotional dimension to economy that is often
overlooked, one that is severely hurting us in this day and age, when money has
become the intermediary between the exchange of goods and services. The focus on
MONEY, and not the EXCHANGE of goods and services has caused many people
to hoard wealth for themselves, instead of allowing the abundance to flow where it is
most needed. This has caused us to become one of the most polarized nations in the
world, and the nation with the highest wealth inequality of all G7 nations, which
include the UK, Japan, Italy, Canada, Germany, and France (OECD). The wealth
inequality of this country has led to the richest 5% controlling the government and
imposing their own aristocracy that funds electoral candidates and pays lobbyists in
order to keep control of their ever increasing wealth, which they earn on the backs of
working class people everywhere. We need a change, and this change must recognize
the true meaning of economy if it is ever going to allow for fair use of resources the
world over.
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