Bold New Economy

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Creating a Bold New Economy: An Idea Incubator for Franklin County’s Future will explore new business models that will help us all thrive in Franklin County. The forum will be kicked off by Marjorie Kelly, author of Owning Our Future, and former editor of Business Ethics magazine.  Kelly is also co-founder of Tellus Institute’s Corporation 20/20, which explores creating new ways of doing societal good while building thriving businesses. A panel of local leaders from FRCOG, CDC, Greenfield Cooperative Bank, and the Franklin Community Cooperative will comment on the applicability of Kelly’s ideas to Franklin County. In the afternoon working groups will explore Financing the New Economy; Creating a Living Wage Economy; Food as an Economic Engine; Building an Authentic Cultural Identity; and Thinking Like a Region. Organized by Greening Greenfield and co-sponsored by CDC, FC Chamber of Commerce, FRCOG, Franklin Hampshire Regional Employment Board, PVGrows and others. Saturday, Nov 15, 8:30-3:30 at Greenfield Community College. $25 registration fee includes lunch and refreshments. $15 discounted rate for CDC members, students and low income. For more information and to register go to www.GreeningGreenfield.org and look under “Events” or call 413-773-0228.

 

pvSustain Dinner a Great Success!

judy_wicks_smallThank you to all who came to the Fourth Annual pvSustain Celebration on April 16th in Northampton! The evening was a great success with over 120 people in attendance. The night included engaging lightning talks on a variety of sustainability topics, as well as an award presentation for this year’s Champions of Sustainability, the City of Holyoke and Co-Op Power. The event was capped off with a wonderful talk by Judy Wicks, about her experiences running the White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia, PA and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), which she co-founded. We look forward to seeing you all again next year at our fifth annual event. In the mean time, please consider attending our regular quarterly meetings to say connected.

Mission

The Pioneer Valley Sustainability Network is a formalization of many informal networks of sustainability experts in the area which acts as a vehicle to bridge the gap between practitioners and researchers in the area of sustainable development, with an initial emphasis on sustainable land use and energy use.

Our mission is to be a broad-based Network that builds mutually beneficial partnerships to promote a sustainable, just, regenerative future for our region. We bring our vision into being through collaborative support and action on specific projects in service to our communities in response to their needs.