Sustainable Community Development: Economic Recovery 101

How are you using the insights from all the work that’s been done by sustainable development professionals to address the economic crisis in your community?  Do you need new ideas about how to create jobs and that build natural and social capital?  How to redirect the economic stimulus package so that it doesn’t just go to the tired solutions of yesterday, regardless of how ‘shovel ready’ they are?  What opportunities are hidden in the housing crisis that can mobilize communities toward long-term, permanently affordable housing and stronger neighborhoods?  

Learn how you can take advantage of this moment in time to build more sustainable systems and practices in your community. We’ll use the LASER Guide (Local Action for Sustainable Economic Renewal) to chart a course for your community that you’ll be able to put into action at the end of the course.  

The LASER Guide is co-authored by Hunter Lovins and Christopher Juniper of Natural Capitalism, Bernard Lietaer from the Access Foundation, Gwendolyn Hallsmith of Global Community Initiatives, Wayne Fawbush, who now works for the Ford Foundation, and Michael Miller of America’s Development Foundation.  It’s a step by step workbook with a web based set of management support tools with best practices from around the world, and resources that give you practical stories and advice from people who have successfully used the strategies.

This course meets on-line on Mondays (March 1, 8, 15, 22) at 1:00-2:30PM PST.

Some Participant Comments from 2009:

“The course content was exactly what I needed to know and made some connections for me about the green sustainability and economic resilience that I have been struggling to articulate and apply for a while. I appreciate the focus on implementation right now too.”

“The course was useful and Hunter really tied it all together with her discussion on looking at the Business Case. This makes people listen and hopefully act.”

“Great course content and very helpful tools, models, matrices, etc. I really appreciate having access to all that Gwen and Hunter have learned through the years about what works and what doesn't.”

More About the Instructors

Gwendolyn Hallsmith, the founder and Executive Director of Global Community Initiatives (GCI), has over 25 years of experience working with municipal, regional, and state government in the United States and internationally. She has served as a City Manager, a Regional Planning Director, Senior Planner for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Resources, the Deputy Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and as an international specialist on sustainable community development. Her international experience has included work with the United Nations Environmental Program, the United Nations Development Program, the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the International City/County Management Association, the Academy for Educational Development, and Earth Charter International.

L. Hunter Lovins is President and founder of the Natural Capitalism Solutions. NCS educates senior decision-makers in business, government and civil society to restore and enhance the natural and human capital while increasing prosperity and quality of life. In partnership with leading thinkers and implementers, NCS creates innovative, practical tools and strategies to enable companies, communities and countries to become more sustainable.

To see Hallsmith and Lovins speak about sustainable development, check out ISSP's YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/ISSPcast.