The Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities followed up on its 2007 Pioneer Valley Relocalization Workshop with a statewide conference in Roxbury in 2009. The Massachusetts Relocalization Conference was a celebration and display of the many grassroots initiatives that are springing up in response to systemic breakdowns and meltdowns, from the economy to healthcare to the environment.

MCHC is currently planning a 2011 conference and we encourage you to get in touch with us if you are interested in helping out or participating.

RELOCALIZATION

Relocalization is a push for vibrant local economies based on sustainable jobs and economic justice, including community-led initiatives in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, community farms and gardens, local manufacturing, livable walkable bikeable streets and well-integrated public transportation, community-owned finance and local currencies, and more. We’ll use the conference to help build statewide momentum for the urgent changes we need to address the unjust and unraveling economy, climate change, energy disruption, inadequate nutrition and an unsustainable food system, transportation inequity, healthcare breakdowns, etc.

Relocalization is a term coined by the Post Carbon Institute, representing a strategy to reclaim our socio-cultural and economic systems in response to over-reliance on cheap energy and the related erosion of community.

BACKGROUND

The Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities (MCHC) was formed in 2003 to advance a holistic view of what constitutes a healthy community and to work towards healthy communities in an integrated way. Since early 2007, MCHC has grown more focused on the converging crises of climate change, resource depletion, and economic unraveling -- recognizing that they spell a new kind of urgency for Massachusetts and the world. Our 2007 Pioneer Valley Relocalization Workshop, with over 200 attendees, highlighted the remarkable initiatives already underway in the Valley, and provided a springboard for inspired sharing, dialogue, networking, and collaboration. It also helped launch an ongoing, local grassroots effort called the Pioneer Valley Relocalization Project which continues to work on relocalizing the Pioneer Valley. Our 2009 conference in Roxbury had over 250 attendees, and featured local food, Roxbury Rox conference bucks, and an incredible array of people and organizations hard at work relocalizing Massachusetts.