Cate Adams, Emma Clopton, Isabelle Spirk, Julie Wright
From the social enterprises we reviewed today, or others you have studied, identify ten extremely specific strategies that you can leverage for your project. The strategies can be about the technology, the business model, access to capital, customer education, messaging, thought leadership, etc.
- Build social capital by attending community events and meetings in Southside Bethlehem to create a network of community leaders and contact points that we can learn from and collaborate with.
- Build human capital through educating individuals about permaculture through general agricultural practices, on-site engagements (tours), etc. Eco-local human capital boosts cooperative business and networking skills that are necessary for the success of the park and community economy.
- Develop connections with signaling partners like UN civil society organizations.
- Explore how to effectively engage the Southside Bethlehem community on the permaculture park land by meeting with the Office of Risk Management and articulating the need for allowing residents to access the space, and ways that we can accomplish this safely.
- Establish the SSPP as a thought leader – demonstrating our knowledge of permaculture through our experimental research and trial and error of implementing different permaculture concepts in an urban environment.
- Develop a business model structure to expand our revenue streams in order to support the financial capital of the park. That can be through donations and fundraiser programs, on-site community events, pop-up shop events, etc.
- Use the “loss leader” by giving out free plants to entice people to learn more about the permaculture park and engage with our project. Unlike the traditional loss leader model, we are not employing this in order to draw in profits, but social capital and a network of partners.
- Task shifting by educating Lehigh students on permaculture principles and regenerative agricultural practices, so labor capital can be increased.
- Delegating tasks to individuals and organizations that are more able and educated to complete certain projects. For example, inviting the Natural Builder’s Guild to assist in building an archway or community growers to plant crops.
- Expanding our network through social media and our website within and beyond the Lehigh Valley to connect with individuals and organizations that are interested in permaculture design philosophy.
Create a first draft of your business model using the business model canvas. Please be as specific as possible and explain why you picked those specific approaches for each of the building blocks.
Create a set of 2-4 slides to articulate your business model in a presentation. Come prepared to describe your business model in the next class.