Community Currency: Kim’s Innovative Plan

Kim said in the Berkshires, for example, residents use a point system where they can trade in a dollar for points. In other words, the more they spend locally the more points they earn.

That idea isn’t new to consumers who earn points for shopping with credit cards, fly using a certain airline, or stay at a hotel chain.

“Except when we use that, we just stay local to corporate brands,” Kim said. “What if we direct people to stay loyal to local shops?”

According to Kim, the community currency doesn’t necessarily have to be a point system. There’s no “cookie-cutter way,” he said, and it depends on the needs of each neighborhood.

Kim’s idea is to have the Office of Financial Resiliency, which would hire a chief cooperative economist and a chief financial resiliency officer, to work with local leaders and find the best model for that specific neighborhood.

The second bill in that package of legislation would pilot up to ten community currency programs in the state. Kim said he would want Flushing to be one of those neighborhoods.

“If we were to apply this pilot in a place like Flushing, it would be easier to transition into because people are used to QR codes,” he said. “There’s a culture that’s used to going cashless that’s already ingrained in our community.”

Many Chinese and Korean-American residents have already transitioned into using apps like WeChat to purchase goods just by tapping their smartphones. When Kim visited China last year, he saw that people in the suburbs or farm markets were already going cashless.

Instead of using WeChat’s currency, which is tied to a Chinese bank, Flushing’s residents can use a more local currency to retain that economic spending in the community.

“In a place like Flushing, to be honest, we don’t need as much help with designing a community currency,” Kim said. “A lot of local merchants do business here, live here, eat here. They keep recirculating their dollar organically without us giving incentives to do so.”