Field Guide Supporters,

Our Year in the Life of a Regenerative Bank partnership with First Green Bank takes Capital Institute on a deeper, longer-term, and more active engagement with a regenerative enterprise than we have yet undertaken with the subjects of our Field Guide. Our source code for this collaboration is the Regenerative Capitalism framework that Capital Institute has been evolving since its founding in 2010. The Field Guide and Year in the Life projects are part of Capital Institute's ongoing work to link theory with practice, shining a light on how the Regenerative Economy is emerging in the real world, if only we have eyes to see it.  

In June, Field Guide Director Susan Arterian Chang and Year in the Life Mentor Stuart Cowan traveled to Mt. Dora, Florida, to spend a few days with First Green Bank CEO Ken LaRoe and his team. 

Our first visit to the bank exceeded our expectations in every way imaginable. At the conclusion of our visit, the bank had committed to building Florida's first commercial, beyond LEED Platinum, "Living Building" and, hopefully, to building it without a premium over conventional construction. What's more we all came away with the seeds of an idea for how the Living Building Challenge could be a catalyst for the regeneration of the local economy. We also better understood the role the bank might play in supporting that regenerative process.