6 – 8 p.m. Monday, October 30
Linc Up Gallery
341 Hall St SE, Grand Rapids, MI
Free

 
Local First is hosting Deborah Frieze and Aaron Tanaka from the Boston Impact Initiative.  for this discussion. They will share how The Boston Ujima Project has helped mobilize communities and build wealth and resilience by democratizing local investment, production, and consumption. This interactive workshop will walk participants through the creation of a neighborhood-scale economy that is governed by low-income and marginalized communities through creative interventions at every phase of an economic cycle.

Who would get the most out of this event? Entrepreneurs, community activists, and neighborhood leaders who want to see their local economy flourish.

About the Speakers

Deborah Frieze, co-founder of the Boston Impact Initiative, is an author, entrepreneur and social activist. Her award-winning book (co-authored with Meg Wheatley), Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now, profiles pioneering leaders who walked out of organizations failing to contribute to the common good—and walked on to build resilient communities.

Aaron Tanaka, Investment Committee and Board member of the Boston Impact Initiative, is a community organizer, grant maker and impact investor. He founded and now director of the Center for Economic Democracy. He joined the Boston Impact Initiative in 2013 as the startup managing director and is also an Echoing Green Fellow, a Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) Fellow, a visiting practitioner at Tufts University, and co-chair of the Asian American Resource Workshop and the national New Economy Coalition.

In partnership with Johnson Center for Philanthropy, Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Frey Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation,