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An effort to create a local currency in Greensboro is the latest manifestation of a small, but growing relocalization movement in the region.

Members of the Greensboro Currency Project, led by Signe Waller Foxworth and Alyzza Callahan, have invited residents and business owners to attend a brainstorming meeting next week.

Organizers want to gauge the level of interest in creating a legal alternative to using U.S. dollars that aims to counter devastating job losses and tightening of credit caused by a global recession.

“This is about trying to strengthen the local economy and the local community in general,” said Callahan, a rising senior at Guilford College. “I think this is something Greensboro might want right now.”

Robin Mack Davis, owner of Greensboro-based Mack and Mack women’s apparel, said she would be interested in a local currency if it is widely-circulated and implemented in a way that makes it flexible for business owners.

“The bottom line is everybody has to pay their bills and right now the way that is set up is with U.S. dollars,” said Davis, who imports fabric from Japan. “Duke Energy, I doubt they would accept a currency other than that.”

It’s common during economic downturns for communities to encourage shoppers to prioritize locally owned businesses when spending their limited dollars. For example, The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and Merchants Association started a Buy Local campaign last year.

But a trend toward relocalization started gaining momentum before the recession started because of concerns about rising oil prices and climate change.

For example, T.S. Designs in Burlington started a T-shirt line this year that uses fabric made entirely within North Carolina. And a non-profit group called Urban Harvest announced last week that it has proposed starting a farm in downtown Greensboro to supply restaurants with locally grown produce.

A successfully deployed complementary currency traded in a limited area could further motivate residents to take advantage of local resources.

Pittsboro is a small North Carolina town experimenting with it. Residents created the PLENTY Currency Cooperative in 2002, relaunching in May with the backing of a local bank and new currency denominations to stimulate circulation.

Melissa Frey, the executive director, said the cooperative printed $40,000 in PLENTY notes, and so far has about $15,000 worth in circulation and 32 participating businesses and organizations.
“This is by no means a new idea,” Frey said. “A local currency or people made currency goes back to our colonial roots.”

Frey said she has received numerous phone calls from people interested in starting a local currency, and she met with members of the Greensboro Currency Project last week. Greensboro’s large population and local business base could work in the city’s favor, she said.

“A lot of this is about what the individual community is like and where the focus is and what the consciousness is of the community about buying local,” Frey said.

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com.