I am working on a segment for The Solari Report about how to map your local financial ecosystems. I am getting more and more questions about how to do so, including a great group from The Leadership Summit last weekend in Cleveland. Read their report here. Click here to view Catherine’s slide show presentation given during her speech at the Summit.

Also see Thinking About Local Food Systems in Lewis County, Tennessee by Bob Waldrop.

If digging in to learn “how the money works” in your community is an area of interest, here are a few links and comments to get you started.

Data in your local area is typically collected by enterprises and agencies responsible for public and private operations and investment. Many years ago, I created a taxonomy to describe the basic areas of data collection.

The Solari Taxonomy

Investment Categories:

1. Adult Education/Community College/College/Training
2. Agriculture and Food
3. Arts & Culture
4. Child Care
5. Courts & Judiciary
6. Economic Development
7. Energy (gas, electric, nuclear, solari, wind other)
8. Fire and Emergency Services
9. Health Care
10. Housing
11. K-12 Education
12. Land, Weather and Natural Resources
13. Libraries
14. People Who’s Who: People Who Live and Work in Our Neighborhood and Our Core Competencies
15. Military, National Guard, Troopers, Sheriff, Police, Enforcement, Prosecution & Public Safety
16. Prisons
17. Sewer and Garbage
18. Social Services
19. Sports and Recreation
20. Taxes, Time, Regulatory Powers and Assets Paid/Given to Federal, State and Local Government
21. Transportation
22. Water

Cross-Cutting Categories:

23. Jurisdictions and Boundaries: Who and What Are We a Part of?
24. Risk Issues
25. Neighborhood Balance of Trade: Imports/Exports
26. Total Debt Per Person: Federal, State, Local, Consumer, Mortgage and Other
27. Parking Lot

To get you started, check out the links on our blog under “Get Data.”

For an example of a collection of links we put together in 2005 for the Flathead Valley that may inspire, click here.

Participatory budgeting is a very interesting idea that emerged from the economic problems in Latin America. Check it out here.

An introduction to some of the key economics literacy you need to understand your local economy and to make sense of all the data available, see my Economics 101.

I always thought that community questing would be a great way to learn the economic history and assets of our communities. See: Questing: A Guide to Creating Community Treasure Hunts.

If you have suggestions related to mapping local financial ecosystems that you would like us to address, please do post.

My deepest apologies for not being able to respond individually to all the great questions and comments that you post on the blog. I read them all and hold them in the parking lot to try to address as possible.  I deeply appreciate your interest and advice. Your impact is powerful.