A local complementary currency, also known as a community currency, is a local currency that can be created and used in parallel with the national currency to transform and release a local community’s potential. A local complementary currency is therefore essential for furthering self-development and building community.

Did you know that many local complementary currencies are quietly being used to great effect, transforming people’s lives? Don’t you think this is important, and that we deserve to hear more about this? I suggest that turning to local complementary currencies would be a good way for grassroots people to respond to the economic collapse caused by COVID lockdowns and the tough austerity measures that were imposed in many of the world’s countries.

Some good examples of local complementary currencies include:

  • The Brixton Pound in London, UK, running since 2009
  • The BerkShares scheme in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, running since 2007
  • The Equal Dollar in Philadelphia, running since 1995

Then there are the LETS and Timebanking schemes and the many variants of these ideas, running all around the world, which are easy to set up and do not require the printing of paper money. Take a look, for example, at Heartcredits, a new non-convertible complementary currency in the UK that incentivises local transactions.

A local complementary currency can either be market-based—like traditional currencies—or time-based—where everyone’s time is valued equally as they share their practical help and support with others in their local community. The key principle is that the circulation of the complementary currency is kept within the local community, as a local currency.

Here are 8 good reasons for you to use a local complementary currency:

  1. It helps to stop our wealth and energy from being drained out of the local community into remote banks and multinationals.
  2. It ensures that money circulates locally, going to local people and local businesses, serving and regenerating the local community.
  3. It builds connection, support and trust between people in the local community, enhancing community spirit – very valuable where community has been breaking down.
  4. It promotes resilience in the local community, protecting it against the destructive instability of the global markets and the conventional currency system.
  5. It reduces our ecological footprint by supporting local businesses, which will be more accountable to the community.
  6. It encourages us to think more about our purchases and who the currency is benefiting so that we can make better economic choices.
  7. It promotes creativity and resourcefulness in the local community, utilising and developing our untapped skills, enthusiasm, and potential—even when austerity is called for in the national and global economies.
  8. It is fully inclusive of the local community, enabling people who would otherwise be marginalised or trapped in poverty and unemployment to integrate and participate in the local community economy.

That’s all for now! Let me know in the comments below if you have any experience of setting up or using a local community currency, and consider getting involved if you’re not already. The more established local currencies become, the better.

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