Wednesday or Thursday of next week to meet with you.
Specifically, what I wanted to discuss was New America's possible
involvement in an innovative asset building program on the Western Slope
of the High Sierra. We are a very troubled community economically, but
with very strong social capital ties which make us an ideal pilot
program site.
The Western Slope of the Central High Sierra is a resource rich area
with big problems and big opportunities. Some of our problems include
overgrown forests and fire dangers, over use of natural resources,
devastated salmon population, a mono-culture economy that is in a free
fall after the collapse of the trophy home industry, socially and
economically marginalized indigenous population and Central and South
Americans.
But the opportunities are just as big. PG&E will be giving away
approximately 20,000 acres of land in the near future for the best use
of the people of California, 1,500 people are organizing to create a
Collaborative Ski Area, economic opportunities from small wood
utilization, carbon neutral micro energy production, enhanced recreation
opportunities that create revenue to properly manage the resources,
non-profit youth outdoor adventure programs, strong progressive
non-profit community, a Forest Service seeking innovative ways to manage
the Tahoe National Forest, green technology and industry funding
opportunities, jobs stimulus packages, to name a few.
The goal of SumPeople.org is to organize a conference call "Dreams of
the Western Slope" to bring together this "apex of opportunity" to begin
to imagine a systemic resource management plan with the goal of
sustainable resource management, just and broadly distributed economic
development, and enhanced and non-extractive recreation access.
We envision the possibility of the creation of a Collaborative
Corporation that would gain long term resource rights on the Western
Slope, and, in the Common Pool Resource management model of Nobel Prize
winner Elinor Ostrum, manage those resources for the collaborative goals
of the community. Where this becomes an innovative asset building
program is in the collaborative control of the capital created by this
new type of corporation. For instance, resources earned by a
housekeeper are used to send her daughter to get a Master's Degree in
Engineering, or profits earned by a Janitor are used to build affordable
housing for his family.
By adding democratic civil government mechanism to the modern corporate
model such a checks and balance, branches of governance, and elected
accountable leadership we believe we can build a wealth building model
that does not depend on everyone becoming a sole proprietor. As a sole
proprietor I can say that it is an incredible obstacle to overcome, you
need to a jack of all trades and often master of none. Which is an
incredibly high barrier for historically marginalized communities.
However, we believe everyone can have a productive role to play in the
creation of a complex corporation and should have the right to a
representative voice in the government of their enterprise.
Let me know what times work for you.
With Hope, Determination, and Love,
Michael Rogers.
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