The Other Economies Are Possible Track will bring together a diverse array of people and groups who are working to create and sustain democratic, grassroots economic alternatives. Through a series of panels, presentations, round-table discussions and participatory workshops, we will share experiences, make connections, build strategies, and envision new possibilities for creating vibrant examples of economic cooperation and solidarity.
The goals of the track are:

1) To make more visible, accessible and irresistible the diversity of grassroots, democratic and life-centered (instead of profit-centered) economic practices and initiatives that already exist in our midst.

2) To provide clear, introductory events and workshops for people and groups who are new to discussions and practices of various alternative economic initiatives.

3) To strengthen movements for global and local justice, ecology and democracy with positive examples, proposals and visions for alternative economies.

4) To foster connections, mutual-learning and strategy-building between a diverse array of people and groups who are working to create and sustain grassroots economic initiatives.

5) To engage and inspire local/regional policy-makers and citizens to creating public policy that supports the implementation of the economic alternatives discussed at the Forum.

Track Program:

I. Plenary - Gar Alperovitz (National Center for Economic Alternatives) and Julie Graham (Community Economies Collective and UMass Amherst)

II. Panels

- “Financing Our Cooperative Economy” (Ethan Mitchell- Green Mountain Mutual Aid; Catherine Austin Fitts- Solari, Inc; others TBA)

- “Grassroots Tools for Exchanging” (E.F. Schumacher Society; Earth and Sky Exchange Collective; others TBA)

- “Participatory Economics: A Vision for Life After Capitalism” (Michael Albert and others)

- Grassroots Solutions I: Food Systems (participants TBA)

- Grassroots Solutions II: Healthcare (participants TBA)

- Grassroots Solutions III: Education (participants TBA)

- Grassroots Solutions IV: Transportation (participants TBA)

- Grassroots Solutions V: Energy (participants TBA)

- “Rethinking Economy” (Community Economies Collective-- Julie Graham, Stephen Healy, Anasuya Weil)

- “Worker Cooperatives” (Omar Freilla- Green Cooperatives; members of WORC-N; Stacey Cordeiro-Cooperative Development Institute)

- “Dirty Money: Corporate/Governmental Organized Crime and How to Stop It” (Lucy Komisar, Catherine Austin Fitts, and one other TBA)

- “Towards a Solidarity Economy: Making Links, Building Movments” (Len Krimerman- GEO Newsletter; Noemi Gizspenc- Ownership Associates; others TBA)

- “Policy for Community Stability and Democracy” (Thad Wiliamson-Harvard; James DeFillips- CUNY; Jessica Gordon Nembhard-University of Maryland)

- “The Importance of an Alternative Economic Press” (Dollars and Sense and others)

III. Workshops

- “Re-engineering Our Community Economies: Taking Back Our Wealth” Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Inc. (Washington D.C.)

- “The Boundaries of Participation: Creating Real Democracy in Cooperatives” Ethan Mitchell, Green Mountain Mutual Aid (VT)

- “The E2M Model” Michael Garjian, Valley Community Development Corporation/E2M Project (Amherst, MA)

- “How to Create and Sustain a Worker-Owned Cooperative” WORC-N (Worker Owned and Run Cooperative Network of Boston)

- “How to Create a Local Currency” E.F. Schumacher Society

- “Intentional Communites and Ecovillages” Charles Uchu, Gaia Host Collective (Shutesbury, MA)

- “Islamic Banking” Aamir Rehman, Harvard Business School

- “Creating a Barter Network” Earth & Sky Exchange Collective (Amherst, MA)

IV. Other Events

- A “Making Connections” Gathering --A creative, facilitated networking event to help practitioners and organizers of economic alternatives meet each other, make new linkages and generate new possibilities for collaborative effort.

V. Installations and Displays

- Tables for organizations in the Other Economies Track to display materials

- An interactive GIS station at which people will participate in mapping New England’s alternative economy (*materials needed: a PC computer with Windows 2000 or higher, and with Microsoft Access installed... no internet access is necessary)

- “Celebrating Our Economic Diversity Quilt”- A participatory art area in which we will generate a collective quilt that represents our diverse alternative economic initiatives/projects/ experiences (*materials needed: a table for art supplies, floor space to create and assemble the quilt, and a place to display the quilt)

- Ongoing video showings about cooperative economics (*materials needed: TV and VCR)

- “Other Economies Are Possible” Reader. A printed/copied and bound collection of articles and resources submitted by track participants that provides a “toolkit” for organizing economic alternatives in New England. Will be distributed widely at the Forum.

VI. Beyond the Forum

- www.othereconomies.org will act as a clearinghouse for documents presented at the Forum and for ongoing connections afterwards.