I went to a talk given by Judy Wicks last night at the NC Museum of History, hosted by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. As one member of the audience commented, Judy is a dynamo.
She is a co-founder of Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), which builds networks of locally-owned businesses within communities that promote buying from each other, respecting the environment, and paying a living wage. At home, she built the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia. Each of the networks draws on local experts representing the building blocks of a sustainable economy: food, power, health, construction, etc.
She is a living example of following her conscience. As the owner of the White Dog Cafe, she originally felt resistance to the living wage movement because she did not want to be told by others what she should pay her employees. But after looking at the faces of her trusted staff, she thought, of course she wanted to make sure they were able to cover their basic needs.
This personal connection with people and place has been an ongoing theme for her. She feels personally responsible for her restaurant’s location, which is also where she lives. She has been living on the second floor of her brownstone building in Philadelphia ever since she fought to prevent it from being torn down to make room for a mall. After a drought died up the natural areas close to home, she became conscious of how she was contributing to global warming and converted her restaurant to run on 100% renewable energy.
The White Dog Cafe is famous for being the first in the Philadelphia area to use humanely-raised cows and pigs and organic produce. In order to make that happen, she had to personally set up a network of suppliers. And, she didn’t stop there. She felt strongly enough about shifting her local economy away from factory farming, the Cafe provided capital to help the suppliers distribute the good stuff to her competitors. This grew into a non-profit, White Dog Community Enterprises, which receives 20% of their income from the for-profit restaurant.
Believe it or not, there is more. Her life and work is a great example of the benefits of carefully building local living economies. Smallwander.com believes that towns that incorporate these principles are also great places to visit, since they are living and vibrant, take care of their people and animals, have unique activities going on, and celebrate the authentic.
Our next smallwander.com seminar will be an open discussion about planning special seasonal events in small towns. With the holiday season approaching, many towns plan Christmas parades and home tours. How important are they for your downtown? Share your experiences with other downtown managers and tourist officers who are hoping to initiate these types of events.
