If you have been following the BetterBlog over time, you know of our total commitment to helping build local living economies, especially through the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). As a number of the BetterWorld contingent were in attendance at the BALLE national conference last week in Charleston, SC, and our unified opinion is that BALLE is truly a force to be reckoned with in North America and the world – the conference was truly amazing and all the local and national staff, volunteers and .
The weekend was hosted by Charleston-based BALLE network, Lowcountry Local First, which put on a show second to none, proving the strength of the local living economy movement in Charleston, the Southeast and beyond. We could go on and on about the conference but no one has said it better than Becky Brun, editor of BetterWorld customer and partner, Sustainable Industries – – here’s an excerpt from her blog on the conference, followed by the link to the entire piece:
“This means rethinking the design of individual businesses—their purpose, their measures of success—rethinking capital—to include human capital, community capital and fair returns verses maximum returns—and governance—embedding founders’ values into the fabric of the organization to preserve it over decades.
“It’s our job to develop alternatives and keep them alive,” said Marjorie Kelly, of the Tellus Institute and author of “The Divine Right of Capital.”
BALLE, which has grown to include more than 80 place-based business networks, is part of one of the fastest-growing business movements in North America. Campaigns range from Buy Local to Move Your Money to 10% Shift. But beyond these initiatives, the leaders of the local living economies movement—Korten, Michael Schumann, Judy Wicks, Don Schaffer and more—are working to bring about systemic changes in our country’s financial system.” For the full report, click here.
We are excited to make BALLE and LLEs one of our top social and environmentally sustainable projects at BetterWorld – truly a movement that anyone and everyone can participate in and get behind, making our communities and local businesses stronger. For more information on how you and your community can help, please visit: www.livingeconomies.org – congrats to the BALLE and Lowcountry Local First teams!
In service,
Joe, Gloria and Matt
Posted in: Events Partners Volunteering
