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How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline? Read the challenge brief

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Local Economy, alternative currency

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Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

BerkShares - Local Currency Aims to Strengthen Local Economy

A local currency created in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts encourages residents to invest in local businesses.
In September 2006, a new currency was launched in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts called BerkShares. BerkShares are accepted by hundreds of local stores and promote the development of a strong local economy. Community members an incentivized to use this currency with a 5% discount when making purchases in supporting stores. Because this currency must be used for face to face transactions (vs online transactions), it also helps strengthen relationships among business owners and their customers.

Video - WSJ on BerkShares
Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

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Meena Kadri

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December 05, 2011, 09:29PM
Cheers for the Inspiration, Aileen! Here's a quick tip: we're starting to see a many related inspirations around local cuurency and you might want to connect them to your post using the Build Upon feature. This helps us all join the dots between related posts and will show up on your Collaboration Map for this post. Plus you'll get more DQ points!. Hit the Update button on the right of your post, then scroll down to Build Upon. Search terms like 'currency', 'dollars', etc and drag anything relevant over to your Build Upon field. Keep up the great work!
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Aileen Wu's reply to Meena Kadri's comment

Aileen Wu

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December 05, 2011, 09:37PM
Meena, I appreciate your feedback! I linked this post to the other local currency ones as you suggested.
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Meena Kadri's reply to Meena Kadri's comment

Meena Kadri

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December 05, 2011, 09:38PM
Nice one!
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