One in Four Local Banks Has Vanished Since 2008. Why We Should Treat It as a National Crisis
While megabanks make megabucks, local banks are financing businesses that create jobs and improve well-being. So why are they disappearing so rapidly?
Local economies
The U.S. Has Nearly 600 Coal Waste Sites. Why They’ve Got West Virginians Worried
Residents fear that coal-contaminated water is seeping into their wells. But a lack of evidence is stalling action.
Food Stamps Are Worth Double at These Michigan Farmers Markets—Helping Families and Local Businesses
The USDA is putting $31 million behind a program that helps low-income families take home twice the veggies, and local farmers make twice the money.
Big City Living May Help You Slow Down, Stress Less, and Be Happy. Really!
From New York City to Barcelona, cities across the world are turning to “slow living” to make their communities happier and healthier in the face of increasing urbanization.
What Your Town Can Learn From America’s Most Walkable Suburb
It's got great transit, plenty of sidewalks, and values people more than cars.
Alternative Currencies Are Bigger Than Bitcoin: How They’re Building Prosperity From London to Kenya
The Brixton Pound, Koru Kenya, and Mazacoin are all attempting to achieve a common goal: empowering people in a monetarily unequal world, from the bottom up.
Replace the Gospel of Money: An Interview With David Korten
What if we measured wealth in terms of life, and how well we serve it?
Local Food With a Big Twist: Oregon Super-Cooperative Takes Aim at the Corporate Food System
This co-op south of Portland wants to strengthen the local food system by helping local farmers cooperate instead of compete with one another.
Young Adults Love Walking, Biking, and Buses—11 Reasons That’s Good For Everyone
Buses, trains, bikes, and walking represent more than an efficient means of getting from one place to another. They move us toward a brighter future because of the many social and economic benefits they foster.
Forget Venture Capitalists—This Scrappy Composting Co-Op Found Another Way to Get Startup Money
The banking system makes it tough for local businesses to get their hands on startup money. But creative entrepreneurs are finding solutions.
How One Boston Neighborhood Stopped Gentrification in Its Tracks
Community land trusts create housing that is permanently affordable. And they also help new city farmers get land.
Six Ways the US Is Building a People-Powered Economy
Alternative business models such as worker-owned cooperatives are gaining ground, proving that a more just and sustainable future is possible.
This Rust-Belt Town’s Survival Strategy Is All About Giving Workers Control
Reading is one of Pennsylvania’s poorest cities. Can its residents turn things around by building a more democratic economy?
Vermonters Lobby for Public Bank—And Win Millions for Local Investment Instead
Advocates didn’t get the public bank they wanted. But the compromise they reached in the end was still a rare and significant win over Wall Street banks.
Laid-Off Baltimore Workers Beat Disney in Court—And Ask All the Right Questions About Urban Development
By some estimates, the city of Baltimore has sunk more than $1.5 billion into its Inner Harbor. Workers and residents want their share too.
Owning Together Is the New Sharing
Companies and startups are aspiring toward an economy, and an Internet, that is more fully ours with the use of cooperatives, "commons-based peer production," and cryptocurrencies.
Walking: The Secret Ingredient for Health, Wealth, and More Exciting Neighborhoods
It's been called "America's untrendiest trend." The evidence that millions of people are finally walking again is as solid as the ground beneath our feet.
How to Feast Sustainably During the Holidays
Stories in classic literature remind us that for most of our history, end-of-season gatherings celebrated local harvests. Can we find our way back?
Neighbors Helped This Immigrant-Owned Dry Cleaner in Boston Go Nontoxic—and Stay in Business
Organizations that aim to reduce the use of toxic chemicals have long focused on shutting down offending businesses. But this story from Boston shows another way.
8 Main Street Job Creators Who Are Rebooting the Economy—Starting with Those Who Need It Most
From the Deep South to the West Coast, these entrepreneurs are making sure jobs and dollars grow—and stay—in places hardest hit by hurricanes, poverty, and gentrification.
Land, Co-ops, Compost: A Local Food Economy Emerges in Boston’s Poorest Neighborhoods
From kitchens that buy and sell locally grown food, to a waste co-op that will return compost to the land, new enterprises are building an integrated food network. It's about local people keeping the wealth of their land at home.
New Factories Have Jobs You’d Really Want—and These Chicago Kids Are Skilling Up to Get Them
Manufacturing jobs are returning to the U.S., but to fill them we’ll have to train a new generation of workers. That’s what this school is doing in a struggling neighborhood that once hosted the country’s biggest candy empires, as factories return.
LA School District Uses Its Spending Power to Support Local Farms, Workers’ Rights, and Kids’ Nutrition
Local economies can be strengthened through the large purchasing power of local institutions. Here’s how the nation's second largest school district is doing it.
Investing in Renewables Can Relieve Our Planet—While Reviving Our Economy
Carbon reduction alone cannot solve our climate crisis, because it is continuously fed by our economic crisis. But renewables can be a critical driver in building a healthier economic system, free of the fossil fuel industry.
Beating Climate Change by Retooling the Economy—The Story Begins in Navajo Country
A proposed community-owned solar project on an abandoned coal mine in Arizona illustrates how cooperative economomics make it possible to stop extracting fossil fuels—without leaving workers behind.
Help Fund Powerful Stories to Light the Way Forward
Donate to YES! today.