Working Groups are groups of active members and others using NEN to do ongoing work together. “Working Group” is a term of art referring here to any grouping of individuals and organizations that come together to further the work on NEN and meet the baseline criteria set out below. For example, a Working Group could be formed by the heads of all institutional members of NEN for the purpose of facilitating ongoing communication, or a Working Group could be a closed group of scholars and analysts jointly engaged in a discreet policy research project. Working Groups can be freely established by NEN members (non-members may participate in but not create or chair NEN Working Groups).

Working Group Criteria

 

1. A minimum of 3 individuals or organizations with experience relevant to the topic.
2. A clearly articulated purpose that is consistent with NEN’s mission and purpose, as defined in this Charter.
3. A clearly articulated membership and decision making process that is consistent with NEN’s principles as defined in this Charter.
4. A commitment of time and energy to their cooperative activity.

Working Group Rights and Responsibilities

 

• Working Groups have the right to define their own goals, membership and processes. They may be open to new members or closed.
• Working Groups agree to submit a simple application form to the Working Group Committee, and may request advice and support from the Working Group Committee.
• Working Groups agree to select a ‘chair’ or leader, who is a member of NEN and is responsible for communicating with NEN.
• Working Groups agree to have their goals, leaders and members listed on NEN’s secure intranet site, and may elect to share their work on NEN’s public web site.
• Working Group chairs agree to give the Working Group Committee semi-annual progress reports, which are posted on the public page of NEN’s secure intranet site.
• Working Groups may request their own private work platforms on NEN’s secure intranet site. They may elect keep their work platforms open or closed to NEN’s membership and to the public.
• Working Groups members who are not NEN members only have access to their own Working Group work platform, not to the membership site.
• Working Groups take full ownership and responsibility for their work product. They may not disseminate or promote their work under NEN’s name.
• Working Groups are responsible for their own fundraising.
• Working Groups may request technological, fundraising or administrative support from NEN’s staff, within the limits of staff capacity.

Current NEN Working Groups

 

• Messaging and Framing, chaired by David Brodwin and Allen White, is working to develop the “Big Story” on the New Economy and to create effective messages for different audiences. This group has conducted more than 60 interviews of key progressive organizations to assess their messaging needs and their approach to deep framing of economic issues, and has issued a white paper summarizing their findings. They received a grant from V K Rasmussen in January 2011 to study the feasibility of a shared messaging platform for the new economy movement and will be finalizing this research in January 2012.

• Beyond Consumerism, chaired by Gus Speth and Lew Daly in collaboration with SCORAI and the Center for a New American Dream, brings together scholars, public intellectuals, representatives from environmental and consumer groups, activists, and others in collaboration to mount a visible and credible challenge to the consumerist economy.  They have recruited over 82 members to share research and policy ideas on their web site https://sites.google.com/a/neweconomynetwork.net/beyond-consumerism/

• Solidarity NYC, chaired by Cheyenna Weber, aims to develop a community-led economic development organizing platform to support and grow New York City’s solidarity economy. They have set up a web site, www.solidaritynyc.org/basics, created an interactive map of the New York Solidarity Economy, http://solidaritynyc.org/projects/solidarity-economies-in-nyc  and produced a series of short videos profiling solidarity economy organizations www.solidaritynyc.org/projects/short-films. Solidarity NYC has been active in Occupy Wall Street, contributing to OWS Working groups on Alternative Economy, Worker Co-ops, Alternative Currency and Move Your Money Day.

• 3rd Millennium Economy, chaired by Peter Brown, John Fullerton, and Peter Victor, is researching  key components of the new economy, including questions like: how we can fit the macro economy into the “safe operating apace” of the biosphere; what is the ethical basis of such an economy; what are the prospects for material “decoupling” in contrast with material efficiency gains; how do we select the goals and metrics for success of such an economy, and how do we enforce the boundary constraints; what is the purpose of finance; and what new language/mathematics and models do we need to manage such an economic system. The Capital Institute is hosting their work on its website, www.capitalinstitute.org/capital-lab/3me/

• New Economy Transitions, chaired by David Korten, John Cavanagh and Gus Speth and administered by Noel Ortega, is a project of NEN and the New Economy Working Group at IPS, which organizes monthly meetings to explore key points of intervention in our transition to a new economy. Over the past eighteen months the NET group has held ten meetings on subjects ranging from jobs, inequality, the money system, messaging and framing, economic indicators, movement building, corporations, media and tax policy. With over 200 participants, presenters have included Van Jones, Ai Jen Poo, Ellen Brown, Bill Greider, Stacy Mitchell, David Brodwin, Heather Booth, Gar Alperovitz, David Korten, Gus Speth and Annie Leonard. They have published two white papers , How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule and A Main Street Fix for Wall Street Failures.

• Core Principles, chaired by Neva Goodwin, Richard Rosen and Allen White, aims to develop and disseminate a broadly accepted set of core principles of a new economy that supports people and the planet. They have finished a working draft of the document (attached), Principles of a New Economy, and are in the process of collecting feedback.

• Research, Public Policy and the New Economy, chaired by Atlee McFellin, is a collaborative effort between NEN, the Institute for Policy Studies, The Progressive Ideas Network and the American Sustainable Business Council, to increase communication and coordination between research and advocacy organizations working toward a new economy. They have held three monthly calls to discuss mapping, progressive policy, and messaging and framing. They are planning a New Economy Policy Summit in March of 2012.