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The buy local movement isn’t new. But now, an initiative in Ithaca is offering a different kind of opportunity: to invest in local businesses. Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and GoFundMe are nothing new and are donation based. The new Ithaca Exchange is investment crowdfunding. “Investment crowdfunding works with businesses to create actually SEC approved investment opportunities. Which means the businesses need to promise some type of financial return to investors.” That’s Stephanie Geller. She’s the founder of Community Wealth Builders in Baltimore. The group works to develop more equitable and inclusive neighborhood economies. They launched their Maryland Neighborhood Exchange program in 2019. “Even existing black businesses had a very hard time accessing growth…
Samuel Whitehead speaks with Tompkins County 5th District Legislator Jim Dennis about how he got into public service, revisiting CIITAP, and the fallout of the New Years Eve standoff in Danby. This interview originally aired on the May 25th edition of WRFI Community Radio News;
Read MoreAt about 9:15 on Saturday night, our WRFI transmitter failed completely. It looks like the power supply got fried, probably by lightning. More than a dozen volunteers worked like crazy yesterday to make repairs and we were back on the air by 7:30 Sunday night. Special thanks are due to fellow broadcasters WVBR who lent us a backup…
Read MoreSamuel Whitehead speaks with Trevor Pinch and James Spitznagel about the exhibit “Switched On: The Birth of the Moog Synthesizer” at the History Center in Tompkins County, which closes at the end of May. They also touch on the spread of the synthesizer in popular music and what it’s like to play a Moog. …
Read MoreEsther Racoosin and Samuel Whitehead speak with Bill Chaisson, Editor of the Ithaca Times, about some of the events happening in and around Ithaca in the next week. This conversation originally aired on the April 30th, 2015 edition of WRFI Community Radio News.
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Daily features and interviews from our community
The buy local movement isn’t new. But now, an initiative in Ithaca is offering a different kind of opportunity: to invest in local businesses. Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and GoFundMe are nothing new and are donation based. The new Ithaca Exchange is investment crowdfunding. “Investment crowdfunding works with businesses to create actually SEC approved investment…
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Sabotage Cuts Candidate Forum Short A forum for Ithaca City School Board candidates Thursday night was interrupted and then cut short. The event was hosted by the Ithaca Teachers Association (or ITA) via Zoom. Seven candidates were slated to participate, three of whom are endorsed by the ITA. According to the Ithaca Voice, the attack…
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Cornell President Pollack to Retire After seven years as Cornell’s President, Martha Pollock will retire on June 30. According to the Cornell Sun, in her announcement Pollack stressed that the decision to leave was her own. She added that she had been considering retirement since last fall. But events at Cornell and other campuses lead…
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Housing Market in Tompkins Remains Tight The housing market in Tompkins County continues to shrink. According to the Tompkins Weekly, housing stock is down 14% from last year’s already historic low. Brent Katzmann of the Ithaca Board of Realtors called the decline “disconcerting.” In addition to an overall decline in available houses for sale, he…
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