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

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Switch to a local currency: Ithaca hours

Ithaca hours are a local currency traded in the town of Ithaca, New York. One Ithaca Hour is roughly equivalent to 10$ or the average wage. Local currencies promote local economies and trade, and cement community relationships.
From the website: 

"We printed our own money because we watched Federal dollars come to town, shake a few hands, then leave to buy rainforest lumber and fight wars. Ithaca's HOURS, by contrast, stay in our region to help us hire each other. While dollars make us increasingly dependent on transnational corporations and bankers, HOURS reinforce community trading and expand commerce which is more accountable to our concerns for ecology and social justice."
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Meena Kadri

Meena's profile photo delete comment
November 09, 2011, 11:36PM
Interesting, Amy! Has anyone else got other examples of community-currencies, resource-matching and time-banking systems? Particularly ones that they can share experiences on? You might like to also check out this post on Collaborative Consumption: http://www.openideo.com/open/vibrant-cities/inspiration/collaborative-consumption/
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