As you’ve seen here on the Post, and in numerous media outlets including KABC-7, the Ventura County Star and Pacific Coast Business Times, The Ojai Economy Group is moving forward on initiatives to strengthen the local economy, including a community currency (aka Ojai Bucks) and The Ojai Forum (Sept 25-27).
I encourage you to join us for the interactive conversation, learn about the “New Economy”, ask good questions, and roll up your sleeves to help us enact initiatives that are designed to aid all of us.
www.OjaiForum.com – register for the Ojai Forum.
www.OjaiEconomy.com – bookmark the main site.
OEG on Facebook – become a Fan!
OEG on Twitter – follow us.
OEG on YouTube – Subscribe to the channel.
Read on for a detailed open letter to the community from former Ojai mayor Ellen Hall, a member of the Ojai Economy Group and co-organizer of the Ojai Forum.
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The Ojai Forum on the New Economy will be held on the weekend of September 25 to 27. The Ojai Economy Group invites the community to join together to explore new economic models that will create a flourishing local economy, one that supports the needs of all of its citizens. The Forum starts downtown Friday evening at the Ojai Theatre for an interactive conversation with Hazel Henderson by video feed followed by a walk to the Art Center patio for dinner and conversation. The dinner will feature locally grown foods and be catered by the Green Coalition’s Culinary Club.
Economist, Hazel Henderson is the author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy (2006), a consultant on sustainable development in over 30 countries and a syndicated columnist. She is an advocate for socially responsible business and investment. As the founder of Ethical Markets Media, she also produces a public television series.
The Ojai Forum on the New Economy will continue through the weekend at Meditation Mount from 9:00 to 5:00 each day. The confirmed presenters range from a representative of the Federal Reserve, Ojai women’s businesses, to the Pacific Coast Business Times presenting the “The Green Coast Innovation Zone.” Participants will be encouraged to dialogue with presenters to invite new levels of thinking, creativity and innovation.
The Saturday morning panel will present local initiatives for Ojai, including energy alternatives, the logic of a complimentary currency, an equine anaerobic digester, why local food production, an on-line bartering system, and the value of a local community bank. The afternoon session will ask, “What are the regional and national opportunities for change that this current economic downturn is presenting.”
As Hazel Henderson says, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”
Saturday evening, Susan Davis will lead a group interactive process called KINS. Susan is founder of Capital Missions Company, a networking organization which trains investors, business leaders and philanthropists to catalyze local sustainable economies.
Sunday is looking to be very lively. In the tradition of TED talks, the Ojai Forum will present a wide reaching variety of entrepreneurs and local initiatives based on the new economy principles. The afternoon will be spent in a call to action, determining which proposals to act upon, by whom, and how to follow up from the conference.
The goal of the Ojai Forum on the New Economy is to move toward a compassionate, environmentally responsible and abundant future for Ojai. The non-profits in Ojai that support the arts, the environment, the well being of our youth and our elders, the spiritual centers and the educational institutions are seeing revenues shrink dramatically. These organizations are what provide much of the quality of life we treasure here. Local businesses are struggling. And yet a thriving local business community is essential to the health of our community. Can we find economic models that encourage an economy of nourishment and mutual support? Can we meet the challenges presented by the current global downturn with good will toward each other and care for the environment?
The Ojai Economy Group is offering a venue for people to explore some answers to these questions together. With the creativity of our extraordinary residents we should be able to bring considerable focus onto how to meet this challenge.
The Ojai Forum on a New Economy will not be a conference where a few experts talk to the rest of us. The forum organizers have gathered 30 presenters and panelists to dialogue with each other and the attendees. Speaking to new local initiatives will be Thayne Whipple who has developed and managed payment systems in 120 countries, Stuart Valentine bringing models from another city, Michael Lind from REC Solar, Dulanie Ellis filmmaker from Ag Futures Alliance and chair of the Food and Agriculture Committee of the Green Coalition, Bill O’Brien, engineer from Hawks & Assoc. proposing the Equine Organic Waste Digester, Tyler Suchman from the DennisonWolf proposing and on-line bartering system, and David Brubaker President of Ojai Community Bank.
For the panel on regional and national opportunities that support a collaborative, compassionate and environmentally sound economy, the conference will host Lena Robinson from the Federal Reserve Bank, Tim Gallagher past publisher of Ventura County Star, Stephan Nellis of Pacific Coast Business Times, Josh Addison from the Bell Arts Factory, Bruce Stenslie with the Economic Development Collaborative, Mary Anne Rooney an international business trainer for Global Entrepreneur Training in Trade and Dave Smith from United Way.
Among the select group of local innovators and entrepreneurs gathered to inspire are Cynthia Grier from Ecologic Life, inventor Todd Metlen with a shower head timer, Zhena Muzyka of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, Tim Hall’s agro forestry business Eco Ranchos, David Hedman of Thermapure, a heat eradication of pests and Ted Moore with the innovative ICEL Battery.
The Ojai Economy Group is a recently formed group of concerned citizens you can meet at ojaieconomy.com. The mission of the Ojai Economy Group is to support economic sustainability in the Ojai Valley. The four spokes of their effort are the exploration and development of a local currency, an online barter system, an infrastructure for giving to non-profits, and ways of investing in our local community. The website of The Ojai Economy Group provides a collection of articles with background information and models from other communities. For additional information, a complete list of presenters, Friday night’s dinner menu and REGISTRATION go to ojaiforum.com.
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Regrettably, I’ll be out of town, but I’d really like to attend. I’m curious how other tourist towns have solved the problem of serving locals. Aside from gasoline, groceries and an occasional restaurant or bar visit (rarer every month), I don’t spend a dime in Ojai. Perhaps I’m an exception because I don’t shop recreationally, but I do wonder what, if anything, locals buy here. Good luck with the conference.