The image above is a sample of Colonial Scrip, a local currency printed by the famous Paul Revere of Massachusetts. Local Currency is not a new idea.
About Local Currency
In our region we have thousands of people with skills to offer their community, and yet they sit unemployed or under-employed, mostly because the people who would hire them (people like me) don't have enough federal dollars to do so! Those same people with skills to offer also need services and goods, but they too don't have enough federal dollars to purchase the services and goods they need. The key ingredient missing from the equation is money.
Federal dollars are meant to be scarce. Since RiverHOURS cannot be spent outside of our community, they will never leave it, except for the occasional tourist who collects the notes, or the few that are lost. By having a complementary source of money in our community, there can be an increase in trading of goods and services. RiverHOURS are issued without interest and put more money into circulation in our community. Did you know … when you spend one hundred dollars at a big box store such as Wal-mart, about ninety-five of those dollars leave our community? About 50% goes to China, the other 40+ goes to Arkansas and fills the pockets of the one of the richest families in the world.
But, if you spend the same amount in RiverHOURS, all of that money stays right here to employ your friends and neighbors over and over again.
Community currencies are working around the world, putting people back to work, invigorating communities, making connections, and creating economic stability within specific geographic regions. It's much more simple than most people think. It's just that we are never taught to even think about it.
Buy Local, and then Some …
Using RiverHOURS is taking the idea of buying local one step further. When you use RiverHOURS, you trade with money that will never leave the Gorge. Money that stays in the Gorge circulates over and over again instead of leaking out to distant corporations and financial institutions. If 1RH changes hands 100 times, that's an equivalent to $1000 in trade right here in our community, with zero leakage.
Expanding our Trading Capacity
Promoting the trade of local goods and services is only one function of the GLCC . We also provide no-interest loans to RiverHOURS advertisers. Because there are costs involved in administering the loans, there is a small fee associated with RiverHOURS loans, but no interest is ever charged.
We target larger businesses and public services to consider accepting RiverHOURS. A large business or public service can accept RiverHOURS, but they need to have a way of spending the RiverHOURS they collect. Explore RiverHOURS information for business owners.
For example:
Every county has people who plow the roads in the winter. These people are county employees. If the county employees would accept five or ten percent of their pay in RiverHOURS, then the county could accept part of your tax payments in RiverHOURS.
As more and more goods and services climb aboard the local trade system, more and more RiverHOURS can be used to purchase them. This could expand to local utilities, public schools, county services and more!
I am happy to receive RiverHOURS as pay so long as I can go out into my community and spend those RiverHOURS on things I need. A strong local currency can help make a geographic region economically independent. The Gorge region could have another economic system in place that's not dependent on outside imports. The trading of goods and services could go on more uninterrupted in the event of an outside calamity.
Read more at our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Check out our By-Laws for info on how the GLCC operates.
In our region we have thousands of people with skills to offer their community, and yet they sit unemployed or under-employed, mostly because the people who would hire them (people like me) don't have enough federal dollars to do so! Those same people with skills to offer also need services and goods, but they too don't have enough federal dollars to purchase the services and goods they need. The key ingredient missing from the equation is money.
Federal dollars are meant to be scarce. Since RiverHOURS cannot be spent outside of our community, they will never leave it, except for the occasional tourist who collects the notes, or the few that are lost. By having a complementary source of money in our community, there can be an increase in trading of goods and services. RiverHOURS are issued without interest and put more money into circulation in our community. Did you know … when you spend one hundred dollars at a big box store such as Wal-mart, about ninety-five of those dollars leave our community? About 50% goes to China, the other 40+ goes to Arkansas and fills the pockets of the one of the richest families in the world.
But, if you spend the same amount in RiverHOURS, all of that money stays right here to employ your friends and neighbors over and over again.
Community currencies are working around the world, putting people back to work, invigorating communities, making connections, and creating economic stability within specific geographic regions. It's much more simple than most people think. It's just that we are never taught to even think about it.
Buy Local, and then Some …
Using RiverHOURS is taking the idea of buying local one step further. When you use RiverHOURS, you trade with money that will never leave the Gorge. Money that stays in the Gorge circulates over and over again instead of leaking out to distant corporations and financial institutions. If 1RH changes hands 100 times, that's an equivalent to $1000 in trade right here in our community, with zero leakage.
Expanding our Trading Capacity
Promoting the trade of local goods and services is only one function of the GLCC . We also provide no-interest loans to RiverHOURS advertisers. Because there are costs involved in administering the loans, there is a small fee associated with RiverHOURS loans, but no interest is ever charged.
We target larger businesses and public services to consider accepting RiverHOURS. A large business or public service can accept RiverHOURS, but they need to have a way of spending the RiverHOURS they collect. Explore RiverHOURS information for business owners.
For example:
Every county has people who plow the roads in the winter. These people are county employees. If the county employees would accept five or ten percent of their pay in RiverHOURS, then the county could accept part of your tax payments in RiverHOURS.
As more and more goods and services climb aboard the local trade system, more and more RiverHOURS can be used to purchase them. This could expand to local utilities, public schools, county services and more!
I am happy to receive RiverHOURS as pay so long as I can go out into my community and spend those RiverHOURS on things I need. A strong local currency can help make a geographic region economically independent. The Gorge region could have another economic system in place that's not dependent on outside imports. The trading of goods and services could go on more uninterrupted in the event of an outside calamity.
Read more at our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Check out our By-Laws for info on how the GLCC operates.