J has been looking into community currencies.
The proposal at this stage is to use a Joomla software provider to (slightly) adapt software being used for some other organisations to provide a community currency for The Grove.
Having previously started a LETS system (PermaLETS) it gave some valuable insights into some of the essentials that need to be there for it to work:
[ul]the currency needs to have value not be Mickey Mouse
there needs to be a way that people can generate a positive balance so that they can start trading (going straight into the red doesn’t work)
it needs to be a closed system so that the energy generated by trades grows within the local community and does not leak out
it needs to recognise differences in value in skills – people invest time and effort in gaining tradeable skills; systems which treat everyone’s time and skills as equal are Mickey Mouse.[/ul]
Some sort of physical currency (notes tokens) would be ideal but generates the risk of counterfeiting and the very real cost of producing them.
A name for a local currency has already been suggested: Groves
The aim would be to gradually build up a recognised local unit of exchange that could be used by registered locals to trade locally. Initially we’d want to get it working well the software tested and reliable and approachable and start doing some trades and find out where the bugs were and correct them.
The process of building value into a community currency could involve paying A$s to buy into it (if desired to get some value to start or more than you’ve earned through community trades). This would generate a pool of A$s that would then be available as a community fund to do things like buy community equipment or use for community projects to create community value.
The currency would not be reverse redeemable for A$s because it is essential to keep it local to keep the energy of the business and trades local.
A community currency is something that needs to be experienced to be believed. It teaches deep lessons about value and trading and it almost miraculously generates local community trading activity. What goes around comes around and around and around. We’re not used to it with national currency because it ‘leaks’ offshore so rapidly.