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This article was produced in partnership with the New Economy Coalition as part of the 2014 . Each day this week, èßäÉçÇø! will publish articles responding to different topic prompts.

Prompt 5: The New Economy is close to home.

Our current economy is undermining our aspirations for a democratic society and it seems unlikely that national governments are going to turn it around any time soon. But there are many examples of bold action emerging from local and regional contexts. From Richmond, Calif., to Jackson, Miss., people are organizing to build local power and are seeing major victories that could point the way to a new economy. How do we support and encourage work on the local level?

Our feature articles provide some insight:

• After Years Without a Grocery Store, Greensboro Neighbors Are Building One Themselves—And They’ll Own It
• LA School District Uses Purchasing Power to Support Local Farms, Workers’ Rights, and Kids’ Nutrition
  

For more perspectives, visit the

Want more? Here are some articles we’ve published at èßäÉçÇø! on themes that related to this conversation:

• Cheaper Together: How Neighbors Invest in Community
  Cooperative financing and community land trusts keep rents affordable and homeownership within reach.
• Life Is Easier With Friends Next Door
  Feeling a need for community? Cohousing can provide affordable space and neighbors to share it with.
• How I Learned to Love My Hometown
  A sense of history and community tugged at the heart of Mindy Fullilove and pulled her back to the Jersey home she’d forsaken.