Rooted Resources

A Festival About Democratizing Wealth Building Solidarity Localizing Economic Power

KINGSTON : May 12th - 15th, 2022

Rooted Resources

Rooted Resources was a weekend festival that shone a light on localizing economic power to nurture solidarity, awareness, and action.

So much gratitude to everyone who participated and generously contributed their time, talents, ideas, and reflections! This work is ongoing and we look forward to continuing this journey together.

Democratizing wealth, communities, and work is one of the principles of Just Transition that we want to uplift in 2022. Through this gathering we offered a platform to learn from each other, connect with ideas and initiatives, and facilitate the hard and powerful conversations that come with looking at how we might better share resources to shift from individual survival to collective thriving.

We asked big questions to reimagine money and redefine shared resources:

How might we understand money differently, democratize wealth, and see new ways to engage in exchanges that benefit our communities and all life?
What happens when we allow ourselves to explore the commons, land as wealth, cooperatives, community funds, mutual aid, and traditional practices rooted in collective prosperity?

With activists, entrepreneurs, storytellers, community builders, and explorers as our guides, we gathered to learn from the projects underway to create stable, dynamic, just abundance in our communities. We also faced the real fact that there is trauma around money, and brought forward ways to heal, to move away from the scarcity that global capitalism imbeds in us. Lastly, we celebrated the creativity inherent in all of us and took the opportunity to be together in-person! It was amazing.

A collection of posts and reflections on Rooted Resources – a festival and series that shines a light on localizing economic power to nurture solidarity, awareness, and action.

Community Fund Design Group – 2023 Program

By Hélène Lesterlin

12.19.23

An overview of the program, to give a sense of the breadth of topics we encountered and discussed together in this intensive learning and design process.

Looking Back: Updates from the Community Fund Design Group

By Hélène Lesterlin (Steward, Community Fund Circle)

12.18.23

From the beginning we were committed to this process being just, emergent, open to experimentation, and grounded in collaboration and learning.

About Sharing Power

By Clay Moodey, member of the Community Fund Design Group

12.18.23

At its core, this project is about shifting power. As the first stage of the design process wraps, I’d like to share some reflections about my experience and perspective about power through the design process.

Apply: Design a community fund for Kingston

By Hélène Lesterlin

03.03.23

We invite you to participate in a democratic process for designing a Just Transition-aligned pilot community fund for the city of Kingston! More info here.

Community Fund Research and Resources

By Hélène Lesterlin

11.05.22

Starting today, we are hosting community forums on the Kingston Community Fund. This page is a growing resource vault for anyone who might like to explore info we are unearthing as we go on this learning journey together.

Making a Community Fund here in Kingston

By Micah, Hélène and Aja

10.11.22

We are excited to announce that we’re exploring the creation of a community-designed, community-controlled fund.

Reflections on the Layers of a Forest Garden

By Carrie Flemming

06.02.22

Rev Dele is a grandmother, spiritual leader, speaker, and permaculturist whose mission is “grounding heaven on earth by strengthening our oneness with Nature.”

Cooperation Over Competition

By Carrie Flemming

06.02.22

We know a future that works for everyone will require radical movement toward equity and community care in every sector of society.

Schedule-at-a-glance

Day	Time	Sessions	Location
Thursday (online)	6:00-7:30pm	Welcome & Orientation	Zoom link provided with registration
Friday (indoors, in-person + streaming)	7:00-9:00pm	Festival Kick-off featuring keynotes by Omar Freilla and Betty Francisco	Bethany Hall at The Old Dutch Church – 272 Wall Street, Kingston
Saturday (outdoors, in-person)	9:30am-4:30pm	All-Day Festival includes over 9 topic-focused sessions, pop-up “Health is Wealth” clinic, food, art, music*	Big Bubble Parking Lot – 718 Broadway, Kingston
Saturday (in-person, inside-outside)	5:00pm-7:00pm	Celebratory reception with light food, beverages, and tunes	GWI Greenhouse – 65 St. James Street, Kingston
Sunday (outdoors, in-person)	10:00am-1:30pm	“Stories of the Future: Envisioning Pathways to Local Economic Power” (interactive workshop/closing session)	Big Bubble Parking Lot – 718 Broadway, Kingston

Festival Sessions

Festival Welcome & Orientation

Join us online on Thursday evening for an official Welcome and Orientation before we gather in-person at the Rooted Resources festival! [...]

Festival Kick-Off! Keynote

We celebrate this first opportunity for many of us to be together in community, in person, in a long time! This evening session sets the tone for the weekend ahead [...]

Reimagining Money: Alternative Local Currencies and UBI

As inflation and economic inequality dominate the airwaves, we shine a light on experiments in local currencies that are building resilient economic networks to benefit local communities. [...]

Property as Wealth

Private home and land ownership are a primary driver of wealth-building and, conversely, of generational wealth gaps. Join this discussion with panelists whose work addresses the challenges of the current [...]

Conflict Resilience in Circle

Why does money often foster so much conflict? If we understand money is an instrument of separation, then the conflict it engenders might be trying to bring us closer, so [...]

“Health is Wealth” Pop-up Clinic

The Good Work Institute is partnering with the Holistic Health Community to provide a “Health is Wealth” pop-up clinic at the Rooted Resources Festival on Saturday, May 14. There will [...]

Landback

In a country where land is seen as a commodity and a means to generate wealth, what does it mean when the land has been stolen? Democratizing wealth is not [...]

Reciprocity

We are inviting folks to come share, listen, and learn about ways people in our communities build reciprocity through mutual exchange to help us all thrive. [...]

Design a Cooperative Business!

Cooperatives are for-profit businesses that bake democratizing wealth and governance into their very DNA. In this interactive session, we go over the basics of what cooperatives are and can be, [...]

Democratizing Access to Community Capital

We want finance to work for people, not the other way around. What are ways that democratizing access to capital can provide new opportunities for abundance and equity in our [...]

Unconference: What’s On Your Mind?

Are there conversations you want to have with other festival attendees about what you're hearing or, perhaps, what you haven't heard yet? This is a space for identifying those topics [...]

At the Root: Our Stories and Values

We all have stories related to money. Whether we grew up with a lot of money or very little, our access to wealth greatly shaped our lives. TMI Project will [...]

Mirror Image of Nature: Movement and Metaphor

Drawing on her personal Indigenous lineage and culture, Rev Dele leads us on a journey to nourish a deep connection to land, each other, and a thriving social climate. Through [...]