Dear BerkShares Business,

The July 15th, BerkShares Bash celebrated the one millionth BerkShare placed in circulation through Berkshire Bank, Lee Bank, Salisbury Bank and Trust, and Pittsfield Coop Bank.  Forty-seven BerkShare businesses exhibited, bands sang and played, Roger the Jester delighted children--all part of a community picnic on the lawns of the historic Searles Castle at the heart of Great Barrington.  Rain shortened the fun but not the fine community spirit.  Award winning author Bill McKibben delivered the keynote address. 

Bill McKibben's 1989 book "The End of Nature" warned about the eminent threat of global warming.  McKibben is no less concerned today with the growing climate problem, but his message is different.  In his popular new book, "Deep Economy", he calls for a return to vibrant local economies where goods are consumed closer to their point of production.  He argues, as did the economist E. F. Schumacher, that in addition to reducing use of fossil fuels, such a place-based economy can help renew our sense of community and with it our sense of well being. 

McKibben came as keynote speaker to the Bash to honor BerkShares.  "While others are developing the necessary new technologies for sustainable energy production, BerkShares," he argues, "represent an essential new community technology for building local economies."

"There is nothing more important you can do for the environment," he told his audience, "than ensure the success of this model.  As I travel around the country, people are asking about BerkShares.  The eyes of other communities are on you.  You must get it right."

BerkShares, the local currency for the southern Berkshire region, is young--only ten months since its launch in September.  Even so there has been unprecedented international and national media attention as the world watches a small community take its first steps towards shaping its own economic destiny and reducing its dependence on transporting goods from afar. 

Much team work still lies ahead to build strong roots for the existing program, extend circulation to a broader geographic region with more complex economic challenges, introduce checking account and debit card features to facilitate recirculation by businesses, install BerkShares ATM machines for convenience of users, and record the process as a model for other communities. 

BerkShare merchants, restaurateurs, farmers, bankers, carpenters, auto mechanics, lawyers, service providers, and non-profit administrators are only now understanding how best to use a local currency in their businesses. Our citizens are discovering new economic habits that expand their use of BerkShares and help them learn what their money is doing tonight.  Office staff are developing new ways to support BerkShares businesses.  There is no blueprint for issuing such a robust local currency in the twenty-first century.  Together--businesses, bankers, and users--we are writing the handbook.  

All of this exploration and development is being conducted under intense media scrutiny, at a whirlwind pace, amid knocks on the door from other regions asking how it is done.  The program carries sufficient depth in its conception, sufficient integrity in its early application, sufficient vision for its future, to earn and meet such attention. We welcome the rapid unfolding and public visibility, simultaneously challenging and fitting. However to shape BerkShares into a local currency program that shines as a beacon of possibility for other communities, we are responsible for continually refining the program to meet the needs of local businesses, local financial institutions, and local users.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the board of directors of BerkShares, formally committed to extend the program for another year.  We now need your suggestions on how to craft that extension for easier and more vigorous use and recirculation.  During the next two weeks you and other participating businesses will be receiving a questionnaire about BerkShares. Another questionnaire will go to the local public of BerkShare users.

Media attention has drawn extraordinary traffic to the BerkShares website. To help ensure local input only, the questionnaires will be mailed or available in paper format at local stores. The questions will focus on what practically might be done given restraints of administrative funding, legal considerations, and capacity of the program itself.  

But that should not restrain you from thinking about how we as a community can do more to encourage a local economy in which the goods consumed in the region are produced in the region. What is missing to identify import-replacement business opportunities, develop the business plans, train skilled worker/owners, and so secure appropriate jobs for a sustainable economic future for this community we all love?

How do we meet Bill McKibben's challenge "to get it right" for our region and for other regions grappling with the impact of a global economy and climate warming and seeking long-range positive solutions. 

Thank you,

The BerkShares Team