On September 5th, in The Glade, an amazing outdoor venue behind Schumacher College, our community gathered to support five solutionary local business projects – The Living Projects, Montreal Style Bagels, CommonFlora, BrewHaHa, and Mend Assembly.  Over 143 offers were made, including money and in-kind business services, worth over £11,500. And some investments were offers of introductions, knowledge, volunteering, Tweeting, applying plaster, bottling, deliveries, and even childcare. There was a lot of love and care in the woods that afternoon. What better way to build back? 

‘Build Back Better’ has been a common cry over this strange year and a half in lockdown. Many people noted the positives coming from this experience, including the opportunity to set our economy on a better course toward meeting everyone’s needs, while cutting carbon emissions in half and protecting biodiversity. This kind of change only comes from everyone participating, doing what they can – not just talking about it, not just being a ‘switched on’ consumer, but actually investing one’s self in something juicy, something wonderful, something transformative. And this is just what happened at the 9th Local Entrepreneur Forum & Community of Dragons event in The Glade, earlier this autumn. 

There was also a bit of a festival feeling. Food was served by The Kitchen Table and Montreal Style Bagels. On tap was kombucha from BrewHaHa, craft beer from Barnaby’s Brewhouse and cider from Dartington Cider. Izzi Bard, of Kuki and the Bard, played guitar.  

There were three focused sessions for changemakers, too. The one on Local Responses to Climate Change outlined plans for a Climate Emergency Response Centre to be located in the centre of town, and for the updated Transition Streets programme. The session on Prosperity for Young People brought many together to hear about innovative projects like Crazy Beautiful World and New Futures Academy. And finally the Build Local Food Resilience session bright food producers and activists together to explore opportunities to build a regenerative food network, Devon Food Partnership.

If indeed we’re to bounce back after pandemic and Brexit, and really do what’s needed to do our part in South Devon to transform our local economy, build food security and resilience, take care of our young people and more, it will take more of this kind of thing. There will be more events like this, of course – maybe this spring! And there are plenty of other ways we can come together to collaborate, cooperate, connect for the common good. This builds ‘community’ and amplifies the positive feelings we already have living in this amazing place. 

There – that’s the invitation. See you at the next Local Entrepreneur Forum & Community of Dragons!

by Alex Green of Green-Measures Media.

Workshop: September 19^th 10am to 1pm

Love it or hate, social media is a necessary tool for businesses that want to be found online.

The past decade has seen social media evolve from being something that was considered useful to do, to being pretty much essential for most businesses to reach out to their audience.

We’re all using it personally now, if not professionally. It’s how we get our daily news, or communicate with friends, family, customers and clients and we’re all spending increasing amounts of time using it on our mobile screens.

It taps into a basic human need for storytelling and to share these stories with the people in our tribe. As technology evolves, this need for storytelling remains constant and social media is simply the latest tool for sharing them.

The problem for many businesses is that it’s hard to keep up, as the social media landscape is constantly changing. While you’re busy doing what you love, social media becomes a chore and it may feel like it’s a lot of effort for not much return on the time invested.

If this sounds like you and your business, an introductory workshop at the REconomy Centre on September 19^th will help you get to grips with the world of social media. As a communications professional for tourism and heritage organisations, I’ll be sharing some of the knowledge and skills I’ve gained working in this field over the past 20 years to help local businesses use social media more efficiently and effectively.

The workshop begins by looking at the social media landscape and all the different platforms that are available. We then consider where to start your social media journey, what not to do and how to tell your story with authenticity.

Once you’ve found your story-telling voice, we’ll look at curating a good mix of content for your social media channels and how to manage it effectively by planning ahead, monitoring conversations and engaging with your audience online.

Finally, thought will be given to measuring success and how to optimise your content to get results.

Find out more and book at https://www.facebook.com/events/3048024785215516 or email alex@green-measures.co.uk

Join us for a stimulating evening with two of the leading thinkers in the commons movement, Silke Helfrich and David Bollier, as they discuss the ideas in their new book, ‘Free, Fair and Alive – the insurgent power of the commons.’ (New Society Publishers)

 

 

 

by Tom Quayle

This year, we ran the 8^th annual Community of Dragons in Totnes and helped pull off the first ever Local Entrepreneur Forum, including the Community of Dragons, in Torbay. These are exciting and important events helping build a more socially just and environmentally friendly economy.

In Totnes, on May 16^th, the ballroom of the Royal Seven Stars was absolutely packed with people from the community looking to invest their time, money and skills with four local entrepreneurs who were pitching for support.

We had Chris Smith from New Futures Academy, aiming to give local young people the skills for a sustainable future through a range of short courses and full time further education. Rachel Phillips and Mark O’Connell from the Apricot Centre were hoping to get support in enabling them to better provide wellbeing services in their woodland for children and families experiencing difficulties. Melissa Milne was hoping to go full time with her business Melbee Artworks providing upcycling workshops and artistic services for the local area. Last but not least Dan Mifsud from the Dartington Mill was aiming to be part of a local food revolution, taking wheat in from local farmers and producing flour for local bakers. The latter is a promising legacy of the Grown in Totnes project.

Continue reading Community Turns Out to Support Local Entrepreneurs

If you’re involved in the ‘new economy’ movement, grass roots organising, or would like to be, you’re probably aware of many of the tools of the trade and various economic models that aim to shift the balance of power away from destructive corporates and toward healthier, regenerative local and regional economies.

Now, our good friends at Stir Magazine, have just published 15 mini toolkits to help you undertake new projects, build capacity for you and your colleagues, and be part of spreading the innovations that work.  Interested in running your own Local Entrepreneur Forum or Local Economic Blueprint? How about starting a multi-stakeholder coop? Or how about some guidance on how to run open space events?  It’s all here.

 

 

 

March 31, noon-2pm at the REconomy Centre.

Undertaking or growing your own enterprise is exciting and inspiring, but can also bring you up against self doubts, overwhelm or anxiety.  Sometimes you might struggle to get stuff done and make the most of opportunities.

In this two hour workshop we’ll be exploring the understanding that takes you back into the flow of inspiration to navigate life’s ups and downs with more resilience and grace.  We’ll look at how we create our human experience and appreciate the natural resilience and well-being we naturally have.

Erica Lewis is an experienced coach, trainer and facilitator with a background in the social enterprise, housing and not for profit sector.  Erica is committed to freeing people up to make the most of their loves and gifts in contributing to a better world.

See more at www.inspiringaction.co.uk.

Cost: Pay what you feel
Bring your lunch.
To book please e-mail Erica on erica@inspiringaction.co.uk