Bring Your Money Home
July 2009 Update
ROP’s People’s Economy is moving ahead toward people-centered economies and we are building a popular movement of community minded savvy folks to lead the way!
By the end of July we’ll have started moving this campaign in 15 communities around Oregon, from Baker City to Stayton and Cave Junction to Astoria. ROP friends and allies are moving their money out of Bailout Banks and into community banks; they are digging to find out who owns the resources of their communities; & you all are investigating which organizations might switch to local banking, moving some significant cash into the local economy. Because, when the rubber hits the road, we can't make many improvements without bringing money back into our counties. And what better money to bring back than our own!
What we are discovering won’t surprise you. Rural Oregonians are incredibly invested in their local communities and economies! ROP members are ahead of the curve when it comes to local banking, sustainable development & community involvement.
Join ROP's statewide "PEPP Squad"
and be a People's Economy Point Person for your Community!
The People’s Economy requires strategic action, savvy thinkers & a simple willingness to take the ideas to the masses! If you are an activist in your community, if you are already working to build a world of people over profit, if you are willing to take action when action is needed --- Join us as a People’s Economy Point Person.
Collaborate with ROP as a People’s Economy Point Person to weave smart rural innovations with the statewide capacity of a multi-issue justice organization. There is a great ‘job description’ so you’ll know exactly what excitement you’re in for.
Join the PEPP squad to be a part of our statewide conference call on July 30th to share local updates about the People’s Economy & strategize on some next steps for the statewide effort. Email economy@rop.org to join.
Economists on Tour: Get one for your town
ROP is organizing touring economists to come visit your town to talk about how we got into this crisis and some smart ideas for getting us out of this mess. Are you interested in hosting a Visiting Economist (credentials and all)? You would set them up with a few different stops in your town at the Rotary, the Soroptimists, the local radio program or wherever the people gather. Contact marcy@rop.org to get your dates on the calendar!
ROP’s Peoples’ Economy Campaign 2009 – 2010 In 2009, our economy is in a freefall. We’ve seen things that we never thought possible: unemployment rates that have doubled and tripled since last year, over 15% in 8 rural Oregon counties, while Goliath corporations like General Motors and major sectors of the finance industry have become bankrupt, insolvent, and are surviving only with public life support. In short, we have reached the natural breaking point for an economy that has spun out of control by placing growth at any cost at the center with private corporations as the main protagonists and the government as the conductor of the choir. And we, the people are the ones suffering the consequences as we lose our jobs, our homes, our healthcare and retirement, if we were lucky enough to have them in the first place. So far, our solutions have been to use public tax dollars to prop up private corporations and scramble to get our economy back to the way it was. The way it was?!? Back to an ever-increasing income gap between the superrich and the scrapers-by? Back to thousands of Oregonians with no access to health care? Back to an economy fundamentally based upon the idea that human greed is the motivator of a healthy economy? Do we want to get back to business as usual? Or do we want a new system that gives us control over our lives, our homes, our health, our education, our resources, and our dignity?
The opportunity is there. We're at a rare crossroads where, with enough smart organizing and big-picture thinking, grassroots communities have an enormous opportunity to tell the truth about the economic crisis and start envisioning a new economy. Now is our chance to join forces statewide to build a Peoples’ Economy, an economy that values and protects the real wealth of our communities: our health, our environment, our education, and each and every one of us. Education: Living Room Conversations to Envision a People’s Economy Through dozens of Living Room Conversations in rural communities across the state, ROP will facilitate dialogue that brings concrete information about the economic crisis and how we got here into focus alongside our own personal stories and experiences surviving these tough times. This is a chance for the community to come together in an informal setting of trust and respect, and begin to form the vision and organizing plans that will build our new economy. ROP will also coordinate a Speakers’ Tour to bring some of the best minds in progressive economics to rural communities, and will begin training community leaders in how to take their own stories and expertise on the road as part of a Speakers’ Bureau. Action: Local Investment to Fund our People’s Economy We all have control over a small fraction of the wealth in our communities. Are we using this power to extract wealth from our community or to support infrastructure that will put our community first? There are many ways to invest in local wealth: by volunteering at a local service organization, growing a community garden, or advocating for the inclusion of all in our democracy. One concrete way to invest in local is to do just that, put our money where our mouth is and bring our money home. This year, ROP will coordinate a statewide campaign to develop organizing leaders to move individuals and organizations’ money to our local banks and credit unions, and shift the balance of power away from Wall Street and towards people in our communities that we know and can hold accountable. Grassroots Advocacy: Policy Changes that Support our People’s Economy We know that many grassroots values are beginning to get traction at the statewide and national level. From an Oregon Budget that increases revenue by raising the corporate minimum and creating a higher tax bracket for families who earn more than $250,000 a year, to the federal stop-and-go of creating universal healthcare, there are signs that we’re being heard – but also that we must be LOUDER! Part of ROP’s Peoples’ Economy campaign will inform and mobilize our base to take timely action on these issues along with new ideas, like Taxing the TARP Subsidy to Oregon corporations and creating an Oregon State Bank.
Download Campaign Materials to use in your community today!
- What is the People's Economy Campaign (campaign one-pager)
- People's Economy Action Cards
- Questionairre for Credit Union/Community Bank research
- PEPP Squad Job Description (for People's Economy Point People)
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