The Practical Visionaries Workshop partners are launching the Practical Visionaries Forum Tuesday, November 27, 2012. This Forum is a place where our partners and our broader constituencies can share with and learn from each other. Details below:
Real Economic Development: Beyond Walmart
Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 6-8pm
@ Alternatives for Community & Environment
2181 Washington Street, Roxbury (3rd Fl)
Are you skeptical about Walmart’s claims to bring good jobs and fresh food to your community?
If you don’t like Walmart, is another big box chain store the answer?
How can we think beyond Walmart to build a more just and sustainable community economy?
Though Walmart’s proposals for Roxbury and Somerville are currently dead, we know that they are not going away. Our neighborhoods are their next market. Walmart recently pledged to open up to 300 stores hiring 40,000 associates in federal-defined food deserts. They have begun to fund community and food efforts locally and across the country (for example a $1 million grant to Growing Power in Milwaukee).
Come to this Practical Visionaries Forum to share and learn from others who want Real Economic Development for our communities. This session will feature community leaders and Tufts researchers who have been exploring possible pathways beyond Walmart. Bring your own ideas and questions and join the dialogue. The program will feature:
• If Not Walmart, Then What? A report from Spring 2012 by Tufts graduate students
• Building a “Real Food Hub” in Roxbury – ideas for growing the local food economy by Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and Alternatives for Community & Environment
• Exploring a Food Coop for Somerville – Somerville Community Corporation’s efforts with local residents to envision a plan for an abandoned Star Market site
• Discussion of Real Economic Development Visions and Strategies
Sponsored by the Practical Visionaries Workshop:
Launched in spring 2011, the Practical Visionaries Workshop (PVW) brings together Tufts Department of Urban & Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) and community partners in Greater Boston to share, learn and develop strategies for “justainable” (just and sustainable) cities. The Steering Committee includes Alternatives for Community & Environment, Boston Workers Alliance, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and Somerville Community Corporation. For more, see http://pennloh-practical.vision/practical-visionaries-workshop/.
Please RSVP to Penn Loh (penn.loh@tufts.edu, 617 627-4608)
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