Hi Catherine,
I just finished listening to the Flashpoints program (8/31) and your Community Business segment. Here are some ideas that occurred to me while I was listening to your presentation; I believe that all you have hoped for and prayed for can be accomplished if you were to lobby your favorite members of congress, and request them to amend the Morrill Land-Grant College Act in the following ways:
- There are some seventy “Land-Grant Universities” established by the Morrill act; The Morrill Act Land-Grant charter franchise should beextended to the present 1200 or so community colleges, establishing eachof them as “subsidiary colleges” of the land grant university system.
- The agricultural extension service/ county farm agency established by the Smith-Lever Act 1914 should be amended in such a way as to be consistent with the principles and practices to be found in The Transition Handbook by Hopkins…this extension service function provided by the community colleges could be staffed and funded at the community college level as an integral part of the Land-Grant University System.
- Each of the land Grant universities and community colleges needs to have established a congressionally chartered and mandated “endowment fund”… this endowment fund would be granted the authority to acquire real estate by “condemnation right of eminent domain”… all existing real estate presently under threat of foreclosure should be “condemned for public use”
by the land grant university/ community college system.
- All real estate (e.g. residential, commercial, and agricultural) acquired by right of eminent domain, would have all Title Deeds held by the Land-Grant University System Endowment Fund…The community College Endowment Fund Management Office would immediately “buy and lease back” to existing home owners, and/or retrofit all acquired real estate to Transition Handbook/ “Permaculture Urban Microfarm” specifications… and then offer these retrofitted properties to permaculture transition certified alumni of the community collges.
- In conjunction with the community college mandated “urban homestead retrofit programs”, the community colleges should offer an Associate of Arts degree in Permaculture Homestead Management, as well as an Associate of Arts program for Community Business Transition Enterprise (based on Hopkins’ Transition Handbook).
- Part of the congressional charter mandates would “request and require” that NOAA/NASA/FEMA adjust their budget priorities, and mission mandates, to be consistent with the Transition Handbook by Hopkins… futhermore these federal agencies need to provide the technical means and support as needed by community college transition enterprise programs. Time is of the essence for congressional action to enable a land grant university system concept that might best be called a Community Business/Transition Enterprise General Mobilization Plan.
Related reading:
Land-grant University
Wikipedia
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
Wikipedia
List of Land-grant Universities
Wikipedia
Smith–Lever Act of 1914
Wikipedia
Transition Towns
Wikipedia
NOAA
Wikipedia
NASA
Wikipedia
FEMA
Wikipedia
KPFA/Flashpoints
(31 Aug 11)