Race, Privilege and Our New Gift Economy Model

The Gift Economy and Communities Magazine. We’ve altered our economic model with our latest issue of Communities magazine
by offering it for download by voluntary donation (or free!) With more and more news and content sites disappearing behind a paywall we want to make Communities Magazine’s blend of essays and practical wisdom as available as possible. If you don’t want to download the whole issue many of the articles are posted on our blog.
This “gift economy” model for our magazine has been a resounding success: we’ve had more blog hits, downloads and even paid subscriptions to communities magazine this month. Let’s take this as a lesson the next time we feel the pinch of scarcity. If you have something worthwhile good people will find a way to support you.

Race, Class and Privilege. 
Another reason for the success of our experiment may be that our latest issue focuses on class, race and privilege in community. The question “Why won’t they come?” has been around the communities movement forever. Asking why societies designed to alleviate poverty, injustice, inequality and hate can’t attract the poor, the oppressed, and the victims of white supremacy is paramount. Only then can we change ourselves and the systems we inhabit.

Crowdfunding Success!
This month we also surpassed our crowdfunding goals for The Wisdom of Communities. This four volume series collects the most important and useful articles from the past thirty years of Communities Magazine and we hope will become indispensable for anyone seeking community. You can check out the whole series here.

On “Waiting” for People of Color. On the land where his grandfather was born a slave, the founder of a nascent intentional community reflects on the challenges of attracting people of color, and the project’s next steps.

by Michael Brickler

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Moving Beyond Diversity Towards Collective Liberation: Weaving the Communities Movement into Intersectional Justice Struggles.  The co-organizer of the People of Color Sustainable Housing Network shares strategies for deepening your community’s work on issues of race, class, and privilege.

By Deseree Fontenot

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Barriers to Diversity in Community. An organizer of Charlotte Cohousing in North Carolina offers several ways intentional communities unintentionally exclude her fellow people of color.

By Crystal Farmer

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