Community cash

Some American communities are returning to a Depression-era practice of helping struggling families and businesses.

Places such as Detroit, the Berkshires and Pittsboro, N.C., have taken to printing their currency which can be "purchased" at a discount with legal tender and used with limited circulation at local businesses, USA Today reports.

More than $2.3 million in "BerkShares" has circulated in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts since the currency was created in 2006. Shoppers can buy $100 worth of BerkShares for $95 at one of a dozen banks. The local currency purchases goods or services at 370 businesses.

The Pittsboro "Plenty," which was created in 2002, has been out of circulation for a while but the city is bringing it back during recessionary times. A buyer with $9 U.S. can exchange it for $10 Pittsboro.

"We're a wiped-out small town in America," Lyle Estill, a participating Pittsboro businessman, told USA Today. "This will strengthen the local economy. ... The nice thing about the Plenty is that it can't leave here."

On a smaller scale, three businessmen in Detroit are printing Detroit Cheers that can be spent at dozen businesses.

Local currency builds on the Depression practice by businesses to issue scrip to keep going during a cash shortage when banks closed. Now it is a way for residents to stretch their own dwindling dollars as well as help keep local businesses afloat in today's difficult economic times.