iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

We’re delighted to be part of this series. Please come!

Reposted by Local Return

Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This Friday, I'm attending CNU (Congress for New Urbanism) New England's annual summit. I'll be sitting on a panel focused on Innovative Approaches to Funding, trying my best to reflect the work of @localreturn.bsky.social, alongside 3 incredibly impressive people. If you're there, say hi!

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

We are reminded this morning by the Economic Progress Institute's RI Standard of Need that quality jobs mean being able to support your household, and that income gaps reinforce and contribute to wealth gaps.

Alan Krinsky presenting in front of a slide that reads: "TL;DR: Around 40% of RI households have income below what's required to meet basic needs."

A photograph of the 2026 Rhode Island Standard of Need overview.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

You're not going to want to miss our next book discussion. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer is both a beautiful meditation on reciprocity and an urgent judgment on our current economy. Pick it up at your favorite local bookstore or library today. localreturn.org/event/book-c...

localreturn.org

Book Club: The Serviceberry – Local Return

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

⏰ Today is the day! Jumpstart applications are due tonight by midnight.

localreturn.org

Jumpstart Training Cohort – Local Return

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We're joining @mainstreetri.bsky.social at the 2nd annual Main Street Together Conference on October 17, and you should, too! What's better than a Saturday in Warren with fellow Rhode Islanders who care about place and people?

tinyurl.com

Main Street Together 2026

Visit the post for more.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Interested in real estate development as a way to both build generational wealth for your family & improve your neighborhood? Apply now to learn the basics & get connected to a growing network. Accepting applications now for our Fall cohort. Deadline is 9/16. localreturn.org/programs/jum...

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Tomorrow evening, join us for a discussion with author Seth Rockman about the fraught relationships at the heart of our local economic history. localreturn.org/event/book-c...

Quote reads: "“The purpose of recounting these deceptive stories is to insist not upon a history without heroes, but upon a history populated by men and women no better or worse than ourselves at navigating an interconnected world defined by complex moral entanglements and ample invitations for self-deception and myopia. The fraught relationship of remote consumers and producers remains a central element of human experience, embedding all, now as then, in structures that predicate opportunity on exploitation.”

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Labor Day Week is an excellent time to consider this aspect of Rhode Island's history of manufacturing. Join us on Thursday at 6 p.m. at @symposiumbooks for a discussion with Seth Rockman on his book, Plantation Goods.

Quote from book reads: "To be sure, Rowland and Isaac [Hazard] were not needing to launder their reputations in Rhode Island. Being renowned Negro cloth manufacturers did not keep them out of polite company, lose them religious fellowship, or jeopardize their membership in learned societies."

Join us for a discussion of Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, with the author, Seth Rockman.

September 10, 2026
6:00-7:30 p.m.
Symposium Books
240 Westminster St., Providence

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This Labor Day, we honor workers by calling for an economy that values workers for their true contributions.

"We often say that the economy tells a story explaining who gets what and why. It's admittedly a simplified explanation of
economics, but as a rule of thumb it holds remarkably true: The economic systems that our leaders put in place prioritize certain groups over others, and they funnel money through the economy to fulfill those preferences."
Zach Silk, Civic Venture

Graph showing S&P growth over time compared to lack of wage growth.

LET'S
HONOR
WORKERS
BY
CHANGING
THAT STORY.

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Reposted by Local Return

Rhode PVD @rhodepvd.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Please spread the word: Bloom Rhode Island is giving away 220,000 flower bulbs to people who will plant them this fall in public places (sidewalks! Library, school, community & senior center entries!) in PVD, Pawtucket, Central Falls, E. PVD or Woonsocket bloomrhodeisland.org/hope-springs...

bloomrhodeisland.org

Bloom Rhode Island

Get free flower bulbs for your community with Bloom Rhode Island's Hope Springs program. Sign up for updates and join the planting joy!

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Interested in small-scale, neighborhood-based real estate development? Come hang out with us next Wednesday, September 9, at Moniker Brewery.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Dr. Taino Palermo on specific, focused, participatory repair: "Repair is really about changing the conditions that produced the harm... There are ways to navigate repair that dispel fear and harm because we have to rectify a historical structural wrong."

youtube.com

Dr. Taino Palermo on repair

YouTube video by Local Return

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Local small businesses almost always prefer when you pay cash. That way they can avoid the monstrous swipe fees charged by the credit card industry.

Sign from a local business reading: Cash is queen. Why do we prefer cash or check? Because we pay fees and a percentage of each credit or debit card transaction. These fees are higher for small businesses than large corporations and they really add up!”

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

A good learning opportunity here! Space is limited, so sign up now.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Come on out for our next First Wednesday meet-up, to discuss small-scale, missing middle real estate development, community wealth-building, and more!

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

We're reading Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery, an important study on economic and community history that remains ever-relevant to RI, by @sethrockman.bsky.social. Join us Sept. 10 at @symposiumbooks.bsky.social for an event with the author! localreturn.org/event/book-c...

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

"...interconnected. Otherwise, we’d see more concentrated effort and discourse around economic themes, not just creating better interactions between the public, elected officials, and formal institutions. This partly stems from a problematic separation of politics and economics..."

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

"Most people in the field of civic engagement are interested in reversing the enduring democratic recession. However, the economy feels as though it’s not something that democratic participation can or should tackle, or it is just too out of reach, and we don’t know how they should be..."

nationalcivicleague.org

The Geography of Discontent and What Democratic Innovations Can Do About It - National Civic League

Even promising democratic innovations can frequently fall short because they fail to elevate the well-being of people in economically disadvantaged regions. What’s missing is a democratic system that ...

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

This article does a great job of explaining how our approach to retirement funds has shifted in this country.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

We are thrilled to see Rhode Island end the use of restrictive covenants by supermarkets. “Everywhere that Wall Street wants to buy up Main Street, we are going to fight back.” Thank you for your leadership, @sabinamatos.bsky.social.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

We had a fabulous time at the @growsmartri.bsky.social summit about the multiple kinds of capital in our places — and how to make financial capital work better for communities.

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Reposted by Local Return

Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

If you're at the @growsmartri.bsky.social Power of Place Summit today, come on out to the lunchtime session @joshdaly.bsky.social and I are facilitating about community capitals. It's going to be just a little bit freewheeling and fun, and we'll figure it all out together.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Come on out for our next Jumpstart Rhode Island networking meet-up -- next Wednesday, 5-6:15 p.m., at the fabulous Incred-A-Bowl in East Providence.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

"You can tell people to buy less, buy responsibly, buy locally, participate in the circular economy, learn how to mend things, repurpose old items, and so on, but there comes a point where individual choices run headlong into systemic constraints."

thenoosphere.substack.com

Enshittification Isn’t Limited to the Digital World

It’s also hardly a new phenomenon

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

👀 "AstroNova employs 400 people in West Warwick, according to Providence Business News 2026 Book of Lists. It was unclear if this transaction would affect staffing or operations at the West Warwick facility. Representatives from AstroNova did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

pbn.com

AstroNova agrees to be acquired by Tenn.-based private equity firm

WEST WARWICK – AstroNova Inc. on Wednesday entered into an agreement to be acquired by Tennessee-based private equity firm Arcline Investment Management in an all-cash transaction of approximately $27...

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Reposted by Local Return

Rhode Island Community Investment Cooperative @investri.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

This is how we build a local investment pipeline -- one plan/business/venture/project at a time.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

"An economic paradigm is not a list of policies. It is the invisible logical architecture within which policy debates occur and the framework that determines how we see economic cause and effect."

theatlantic.com

The Economic Experiment That Upended Reality

Minimum-wage increases were expected to kill jobs. The fact that they didn’t should make us rethink a lot of assumptions.

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Reposted by Local Return

stephanie @stefene.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

say what you want about ups but they're union. that matters.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

"For small businesses caught in the middle, deeper dependence on Amazon’s logistics means rising fees, with no leverage to push back. For those consumers who want choices, it means something uncomfortable: They can keep trying harder to avoid the giants, but the giants keep getting bigger anyway."

rhodeislandcurrent.com

You’ve been trying to get around Amazon – but it’s not that easy • Rhode Island Current

You might pick a small brand instead of the giant, but you've just walked through a different door into the same store. And it’s getting harder and harder to escape, a pair of consumer behavior and…

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

This Wednesday, come on out to network with our aspiring neighborhood/real estate developers.

localreturn.org

Jumpstart Rhode Island Monthly Networking Meet-Up – Local Return

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Reposted by Local Return

Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

And yet, it could look like: -Vibrant, locally-owned main streets as anchors of places people want to live -Slow and steady growth of independent businesses -Increased self-reliance and community interdependence -Worker and community ownership

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Current and aspiring neighborhood-developers, join us next Wednesday, June 3! localreturn.org/event/jumpst...

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

🚨 We urgently need to move money from Wall Street to our main streets! The Senate Finance Committee is hearing S2833, the Rhode Island Local Investment Tax Credit Act, this Thursday. Come testify, submit a letter of written support, and spread the word.

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Reposted by Local Return

Gradon @gradontripp.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Went to Teatro ECAS this evening for @localreturn.bsky.social’s Wealth in Rhode Island: Who, How, What, and So What? discussion. A very thought-provoking look at what wealth is and who is — and who isn’t — able to achieve it.

Host Jessica David and the panelists: Keith W. Stokes, Dr. Taino J. Palermo, Lorén Spears, and Seth E. Rockman.

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Reposted by Local Return

Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

“If this is a federal law, why do we need state legislation?” Because this federal law hasn't been enforced since the 80s. Not coincidentally, that's the same time period over which we've seen consolidation in the grocery and retail sectors, including the rise of "Super Walmart."

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

#2 on the @mainstreetjournal.bsky.social's list of local economy stengths is Investment Reform, calling out the state of Michigan for their consideration of a tax credit for local investors. RI legislators are considering that, too: S8195/S2833. localreturn.org/2026-policy-...

mainstreetjournal.substack.com

A Report Card on the U.S. Local Economy Movement

Many great organizations and great leaders, all starved for funds, could provide the basis of a new, stronger local economy movement.

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Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

This morning we highlighted the importance of moving your money from Wall Street to main streets -- including by moving your deposits to local credit unions and community banks.

localreturn.org

Celebrating Move Your Money Month with a Bank Local press conference – Local Return

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