RiverHOURS

Summary:

RiverHOURS is a local currency that operates in four counties in two states covering the Columbia River Gorge, an hour east of Portland, OR. It has been in circulation since September of 2004 and has been able to remain stable for the past four years. The currency is administered by the Gorge Local Currency Cooperative and they are in the process of presenting RiverHOURS to the local government.

At a Glance:

History:

RiverHOURS began at several planning meetings in the summer of 2003. A couple of dozen interested folk whittled down to the current eight-member steering committee who met weekly for more than a year to hammer out the issuance details and create by-laws for the organization.

Our main reference sources for this project were Tom Greco’s book, Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender, and the movie, the Money Masters . Our web site also contains a link page to various other resources we’ve found over the years.

We spent a lot of time in the beginning trying to build a good infrastructure for the currency. While we don’t have the full cooperation of local governments yet, several local business associations have come on board. In addition, we work hard to get new members whose goods and services supply real needs such as food, health care and building supplies.

The GLCC steering committee remains dedicated to bringing RiverHOURS towards wider acceptance in the gorge region. Current economic situations, while unfortunate, reflect everything that is wrong with the Federal Reserve System. While RiverHOURs are not meant to replace federal currency, it is our intention that as people become more desperate for solutions and community, we are already there to step in as they come to embrace the benefits that local currency can provide.

Benefits:

There is also a community-building component to the idea of local currency that we really strive to impart. The simplest example is “buy local.” when you use local currency, the money never leaves the community for some distant corporate bank account, instead circulating over and over again. In addition to taking buy local campaigns one step further, this “multiplier effect” means that a single RH note can be responsible for many times its face value in economic activity. People who trade in local currency often report that the transactions make them feel a closer connection to the people they do business with.

Future Outlook:

The currency has remained remarkably stable at around 80 advertising members. Most alternative currency experts claim that the only way for a supplemental currency to become a strong system is for local governments and/or utilities to accept them. This is where the GLCC is at the moment; poring over county and city budgets line by line to see where RH could fit in. We hope to have some formal presentations prepared, specific to each community, in the near future with the hopes of implementing RH programs to supplement local budget shortfalls. This is our plan to kick the system up to the next level.

Reflections:

After six years, we have found the toughest aspect is education. Money is a very personal thing to people and most are unwilling to give up their preconceptions about its true nature. This is where patience and perseverance kick in. more than once people have commented that they had to hear the information several times before they “got it.”

Gallery