Michiana Currency To Pick Name This Week
Organizers with the Michiana Community Currency project plan to announce the name of the new local currency at a press conference at 2 p.m. Friday at Fiddler’s Hearth downtown.
Area residents are encouraged to vote on several possible names via the Internet or by phone through Wednesday. Open voting began April 27.
Choices include:
- — BGs (Bridges and Growers),
- — Bits,
- — Bridges,
- — Growers,
- — MACs (Michiana Area Currency),
- — Money,
- — RV (Real Value, also a nod to the local production of recreational vehicles),
- — Sprouts SEEDS (Social Empowerment & Equity Dollars),
- — SHARES (Social Harvest Resource Exchange),
- — Talents,
- — WITTs (We’re In This Together).
Online voting can be done by visiting the Web site at www.michianacurrency.org.
Votes also may be cast by sending an e-mail to: michianacurrency@gmail.com or by calling (574) 807-1349.
“We are very gratified by the response we’ve received thus far,” said Karl Hardy, an organizer with Michiana Community Currency. “We want everyone to have the opportunity to make their opinions known about what the new currency should be named.”
Local currencies are designed to foster local trade, build community or “social capital,” and enhance economic opportunities for the community’s marginalized persons, according to the news release.
Michiana Community Currency will only be able to be spent locally and will complement the federal dollar, organizers say.
They’ll will be signing up businesses and individuals to participate in the local currency exchange network over the coming weeks and months with a planned launch of the currency in the fall.
