From the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE):

Building Blocks of a Local Living Economy
As noted by BALLE co-founder and chair, Judy Wicks, “In order to build a local living economy, we must first determine what one looks like – what are the components, or building blocks, which comprise this sustainable system? By identifying the building blocks, we create a holistic vision of a local living economy that we can work toward achieving.”

Why a Building Blocks Approach?
By organizing local networks around local living economy building blocks we are able to:

• Ensure each major segment of the economy is represented as we work to create community change,
• Help member business owners to self-organize around their passion and interest,
• Organize network events and programs cooperatively, with each building block contributing their expertise and knowledge to the benefit of the whole,
• Identify new business opportunities for increasing local self-reliance and sustainability within each building block, and
• Identify and understand and how public policies support and promote the building blocks toward local self-reliance and sustainability.