In this episode of ComCap The Podcast, we revisit the 2016 ComCap conference session “How to Make the Shift From Buy Local to Invest Local”.  Led by Michael Shuman, this panel of entrepreneurs discuss strategies they employ to help change the community mindset around investing.  Helping communities differentiate the impact of local investment can lead to greater capitalization of entrepreneurs as well as more stable local economies.

Provocateur Michael Shuman, The Local Economy Solution Guests

Michael Scotto Di Carlo, Supportland

Michael Scotto di Carlo is co-founder of Supportland. Supportland launched in 2010 as an experiment in Portland, Oregon. Could independent businesses band together to collaborate at this scale? Would folks respond and shift to spending local? The resounding answer has been “Yes!” With this success in hand, we are inviting other communities into the Supportland family.

Jon Underwood, Cpay

Social Impact Entrepreneur focused on Sustainable Finance & Community Capitalization. We have so much capital globally, yet so many under-capitalized people, under-utilized talents and capacities, we need to find a new way forward that complements our current system, because we're coming up short.

Wendy Siporen, Thrive

Wendy Siporen has been the Executive Director of Thrive since 2001. She launched the Rogue Flavor campaign in 2005. After starting her career as a Congressional staffer, she returned to Southern Oregon and worked as a reporter for the Oregonian, the Mail Tribune and as News Editor for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Wendy's Southern Oregon roots are deep, running back to her great-grandparents who lived and farmed in Lakeview, Oregon. She holds a Masters degree in Nonprofit Management from Southern Oregon University and a BA in Political Science from Whitman College.

Stephen Michael, Main Street Alliance

Founded in 2005, the Main Street Alliance is a national network of small business coalitions working in 16 states to build a new voice for small businesses on health care, financial reform, and other national and local issues.

Christina Oatfield, Sustainable Economies Law Center

Christina Oatfield, Policy Director at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, works with a diverse array of stakeholders to propose and advocate for laws that enable more sustainable, local, and just economies. She has played leadership roles in support of the California legislation to advance homemade food, urban agriculture, worker cooperatives, and affordable housing land trusts and cooperatives. Christina contributes to the law center's publications and educational events related to food law and financing small businesses. She also consults community groups around the nation on policy advocacy. Christina is pursuing an attorney license as part of the Law Office Study Program of the State Bar of California, which is an alternative to law school for aspiring attorneys seeking experiential learning.

In this episode you’ll learn

• Different approaches to investor education and community outreach.
• Research and experiences from panel entrepreneurs on community investment.
• How payments and access to capital play a role in community behavior.
• How local investment enables money to stay in your local economy longer.
• Strategies on cultivating local investment in your community.

Links to Resources Mentioned

Hatch Innovation

Supportland

Cpay

Sustainable Economies Law Center

Main Street Alliance

Quotes

“People are undercapitalized who have capacities, that is permanently lost productivity, we need to capitalize those people to capture that productivity, which is increasing the standard of wealth“