Events

This conference is to learn about transitioning communities to self-reliance, for discussing the needs and capabilities of business owners, prospective business owners, and citizens of the Springfield-Joplin area, and taking the first steps toward regional self-reliance. Subjects will include:

• To discuss issues pertaining to building community resilience in this area: local cottage industry, small business, small farms, farmer's markets, emergency preparation, community-based charities, and a robust trade network.
• To discuss the incubation of small business and local cottage industry including a support network where small businesses and prospective entrepreneurs can rely on each other for support against large competition and intrusive government regulation.
• What local products/materials are needed by local business to lower prices and as a hedge against rising costs of imports? (e.g. wool scour and processing)
• What local efforts are already working on these problems? What help do they need? What is missing?
• How does a new (or existing) business navigate the maze of regulations to comply with the law? (e.g. sales tax, business name and registration, special regulations on their product, zoning, health regulations, weights and measures, etc., etc.) How-To guides on these subjects might be invaluable. Who will write them? Who will maintain them? Where would they be published?
• What are the advantages of the barter economy for small business? The pitfalls? How do we make the local economy robust in the face of a possible inflationary spiral and/or significant drop in value of the dollar?
• How does the small, niche, business deal with labor regulations such as minimum wage which may make it prohibitive to hire labor?

There will be presentations on some of these issues, materials distributed by related local groups, discussion with and among participants on the most critical needs, time to meet other residents with similar concerns, and the conference will decide what steps need to be taken next.

View the proposed agenda and Call for Presentations.