Shared Ownership and Wealth Control For Rural Communities

* Report: Keeping Wealth Local: Shared Ownership and Wealth Control For Rural Communities. By Marjorie Kelly, Tellus Institute. With Shanna Ratner, Yellow Wood Associates. A report for the Wealth Creation in Rural America project of the Ford Foundation.

URL = http://www.marjoriekelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Keeping-Wealth-Local.pdf

Description

'This report is part of the Wealth Creation in Rural America initiative, funded by the Ford Foundation. The aim of the initiative is to help low-wealth rural areas overcome their isolation and integrate into regional economies in ways that increase their ownership and influence over various kinds of wealth. The initiative has produced nine previous papers, which can be found at http://www.yellowwood.org/wealthcreation. aspx. The goal of this report is to advance the initiative’s broad aim of creating a comprehensive framework of community ownership and wealth control models that enhance the social, ecological, and economic well-being of rural areas."

About the Authors

Marjorie Kelly (MKelly@Tellus.org) is a business journalist and consultant in alternative enterprise design at Tellus Institute in Boston. She is co-founder of Corporation 20/20, an initiative to explore enterprise designs that integrate social, environmental, and financial aims. She was co-founder and for 20 years president of the company publishing Business Ethics magazine. Kelly is a long-time Director of Great Neighborhoods! Development Corp. and for many years was President of the Board of Williamson Street Grocery Cooperative. She is author of The Divine Right of Capital (Berrett-Koehler, 2001), and is at work on a new book on alternative enterprise design.

Shanna Ratner (Shanna@Yellowwood.org)is the Principal of Yellow Wood Associates, Inc., a consulting firm located in St. Albans, Vermont, specializing in rural community economic development. She has over 24 years experience managing research initiatives and analyzing rural economic development opportunities. She is working with Wayne Fawbush of the Ford Foundation to integrate the Wealth Creation in Rural America initiative. Ratner sponsored and edited this report, contributing many of its key insights."

More Information

• The initiative has produced nine

previous papers, which can be found at http://www.yellowwood.org/wealthcreation.