3DN Collectives
Q: How can we serve as catalysts to connect people into mutually supporting communities, educate them to perform vital services for each other and then pass the pattern on to others? - MB
A: I would be cautious using the term collective. The good vs. evil metaphor still forms the basis for the mental maps of a preponderance of the population and the word collective will automatically place this concept on the “bad” list for at least half of the US population. Besides, the proposed structure is no more a collective than any other agreement between investors, managers and employees to engage in a business.
The difference is in treating labor as a capital contribution and a business plan that is designed to lower the cost of living for the participants rather than maximize monetary profit. Reduction in cost of living is achieved through accumulation of the assets required for the capacity to produce an abundance of certain basic goods and services, namely food, shelter, clothing, education and health care. To use David Korten's terminology, this is converting financial resources to living resources.
There is also a way to look at this same process as a community development benefiting all sectors of the community. See Sample Transactions for a model of how a self-help corporation might be an investment by a community in its own well being.
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