For Registration (Spaces are filling fast)

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2015
Time: 1:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: University of Baltimore
21 W Mt Royal Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
United States

Join us for a day of celebration and exploration of the new economy. There will be interactive workshops that will explore core elements of the New Economy movement. Each session will connect local, national, and global issues. We will learn together about the compelling conceptual framework that unites all of these various pieces and get ideas for creative constructive action.

The evening event, People and Planet First: A Multi-­generational dialogue on Maryland’s Future, will feature Greenpeace USA Director and Story of Stuff founder Annie Leonard, in a multi-­generational dialogue on Maryland’s Future. Also featured will be the Democracy Collaboration’s Gar Alperovitz, Progressive Maryland’s Larry Stafford, and Climate Change MD Coordinator Larissa Johnson, moderated by Institute for Policy Studies Director John Cavanagh. Through dialogue among these leaders and with the audience, the panel will chart futures for Maryland that are good for workers, climate, and democracy.

Agenda
1:30 – 3:15 pm — Workshop Series 1
A Just Transition in Maryland: Building from the Baltimore Anti-Incinerator Fight
How can we create a just transition from Maryland’s fossil fuel old economy to one rooted in community needs, in democratic ownership, in sync with people and the planet?  This workshop will start with the fight against the proposed incinerator in Baltimore’s Curtis Bay neighborhood and look at what the campaign to divest from dirty energy has won so far, and the community’s visions for human rights-oriented development.  Panelists will connect local struggles to broader just transition principles and strategies, and will look at how movements are working to transform our ‘dig, dump, burn’ economy to one that is good for people and the planet.

Janet Redman (moderator), Director, Climate Policy Program, Institute for Policy Studies

Annie Leonard, Greenpeace USA Executive Director and Story of Stuff founder

Jordan Estevao, Senior Strategist, National People’s Action

Charles Graham, Youth Leader, Free Your Voice (a Human Rights Committee of United Workers)

Greg Sawtell, Leadership Organizer, United Workers

How emerging Business Models are Building the New Economy
A wide variety of new business models are being tried as we seek to build a New Economy that better serves all our people and protects our planet. In this session we will explore a variety of approaches and seek to learn together what themes unite.  We will also openly discuss differing perspectives and what models have potential to bring about the changes we desire.

Larry Stafford (moderator), New Economy Maryland Fellow, Deputy Director, of Progressive Maryland
Kate Khatib, co-founder, Red Emma’s, a worker coop building the New Economy in Baltimore, Maryland
Gar Alperovitz, co-founder, Democracy Collaborative

3:15 – 3:30 pm — Break

3:30 – 5:15 pm — Workshop Series 2

From Farm to Fork We Shape the Future – New Economy Food Systems
Half of our nation’s fruit and a quarter of our vegetables are grown in California, a state that is due to run out of water in the next year due to drought and unsustainable draining of underground reserves.  Our industrial, chemical-dependent food system depletes the soil, poisons our bodies, and treats working people and animals as disposable tools in a giant machine.  This workshop will explore the dynamics of the industrial food economy in Maryland, and imagine what a New Economy for food could look like in our state.
Jon Berger (moderator), Real Food Challenge

Aleya Fraser, Black Dirt Farm, Seed keepers Collective, Southeastern African American Farmers Organic Network (SAAFON)

Dennis Olson, Senior Research Associate, Food & Agricultural Policy at United Food & Commercial Workers International Union

How the New Economy is Taking Shape in Baltimore and Beyond
Maryland is a key incubator for the New Economy. Through our creative action we provide models of what can work and how to overcome structural challenges.  We are coming to see that we are part of an emerging global movement much bigger than ourselves with the power to change the world. If we are to successfully navigate the challenges before us, we must embrace big system change and scale our responses to the scope of the problem.

Larry Stafford (moderator), New Economy Maryland Fellow, Deputy Director of Progressive Maryland

Michael P. Scott, Chief Equity Officer, Founder, Equity Matters, Inc

Jamal Jones, co-executive director, Algebra Project

Gar Alperovitz, co-founder, Democracy Collaborative

Dorcas Gilmore, founding Board member, Baltimore Activating Solidarity Economies (BASE)

5:15 – 6:45 pm — Dinner Break-outs

6:45 pm — Plenary

People and Planet First: A Multi­-generational dialogue on Maryland’s Future
Through dialogue among these leaders and with the audience, the panel will chart futures for Maryland that are good for workers, climate, and democracy.

John Cavanagh (moderator), Director, Institute for Policy Studies

Annie Leonard, Greenpeace USA Executive Director and Story of Stuff founder

Gar Alperovitz, co-founder Democracy Collaborative

Larry Stafford, New Economy Maryland Fellow, Deputy Director of Progressive Maryland

Larissa Johnson, New Economy Maryland Fellow, Climate Change MD Coordinator