When it comes to investing money, forgo Wall Street and focus on Alvarado Street instead.
That’s the message behind the community capital or slow money movement, the idea that instead of sending money away by investing mainly in mutual funds or 401(k)s, investors can keep it in their own cities by investing in local businesses and initiatives.
From Sept. 10-13, the national ComCap 17 Conference happens in downtown Monterey, expected to draw hundreds of people from around the country interested in the movement. It stretches across downtown venues including the Golden State Theatre and Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
ComCap is here this year after Monterey Councilmember Timothy Barrett attended last year’s conference in Portland, Oregon, and wanted to share the ideas in Monterey.
“For me, the conference is about community empowerment and self-determination and participating in our economic future,” Barrett says.
Community capital opens up a new source of funding for local economies, he adds. Traditional economic development models – like trying to attract new industries – potentially displace local workers and result in government and business spending that never gets recouped. Investing in industries already in the community instead can possibly reduce the impacts of a national recession to a “speed bump” locally, Barrett says.
Community capital takes many forms, from crowdfunding to investment networks. Keynote speaker Woody Tasch is the founder and chairman of the Slow Money Institute, which has spurred the founding of dozens of networks and investment clubs that invest money in local – and mostly organic food – enterprises in the U.S., Canada and France. According to the institute, the investors have channeled more than $55 million into 600 enterprises.
Among the locals participating in the national conference: Alan Lovewell, founder and CEO of Real Good Fish in Moss Landing; Sherry Flumerfelt, executive director of Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust; Shyam Kamath, CSU Monterey Bay College of Business dean; and Kent Glenzer, dean of the Graduate School of International Policy and Management at the Middlebury Institute.
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