08/06/98

Thread City Bread

Move over Ithaca Hours and make way for Thread City Bread. Ever since Paul Glover made national headlines when the local money system he developed in Ithaca, New York, grew from a few hundred participants trading their homemade currency (Ithaca Hours) to several thousand trading over a million dollars worth, curiosity about alternative currencies has grown apace. Glover has received hundreds of requests about Ithaca Hours, including one from a village chief in South Africa who needed a way to help his people market their skills and wares.

Closer to home, several people from Windham County, CT have formed a grass roots group to develop a local money system as a way to promote local spending and create jobs. They call their money Thread City Bread in honor of the area's textile industry history. Many of the group's members belong to the Willimantic Food Co-op where essential commodities are bought and sold, an important anchoring principle for attracting community commitment to such a venture. Launched in July, 1997, after over a year of planning, about 100 businesses and individuals have signed up to trade Bread money for goods and services.

Creating local money was common during the 1930's Depression when many skilled men and women sat idle. Local banks or community groups printed money to establish a unit of exchange for people to provide each other with goods and services at a fair price, uninflated by advertising or transportation costs. The Windham County group is responding to similar economic stresses caused by high unemployment and greater outflow than inflow of money and talent from their towns. A local currency, usually based on the value of average area wages, helps employ local people and makes their goods and services more affordable. One hour of "bread" will equal $10.00, which is considered a fair, livable wage in Windham County.

The Windham County group's planning meetings were a shining example of true democracy at work. Everyone contributed to the agenda and the discussion; decisions were made by consensus. The night I attended, the group was developing a design for their scrip (paper money), a two color bill printed in two denominations with the bilingual slogans "In Community We Trust" and "Keeping Our Wealth Local."

One Main Street businesses in Willimantic, With a Wink and Smile Toy Store, serve as "Bread Banks" where people can buy or return currency or subscribe for listing in the Thread City Bread Directory. A one year subscription costs $5 and includes 3 Hours of Thread City Bread (worth $30) and a Directory, which lists goods and services offered and requested.

The Thread City Bread project has not gone unnoticed. The New York Times, Hartford Courant, local and national TV networks and Voice of America have picked up the story. One of the founders, Donna Nicolino, told me, "All the publicity helps a lot with name recognition, but of course we still have to do a lot of footwork to actually sign people up. We're exploring ways of using Thread City Bread in the Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, perhaps having landlords accept it as rent."

Knead more dough to put fresh bread on your table? For more information about Thread City Bread, you can contact Donna by email: donnarie@neca.com or by phone: (860) 456-9213.

For listings of local currency projects in other parts of the US or Canada, go to:http://www.olywa.net/vision/links.html

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.