How WinCentral started
After moving to Winchester in 2003, shortly after their daughter Leah was born, Alex Lorenz became interested in the local community.
However, as young and busy professionals, he and his wife had little time to research local events, background stories and business information. In early 2008, Alex got involved in the Winchester Farmers Market initiative and was instrumental in the choice of their location today on the Winchester Common. The experience working with other local stakeholders on building a platform that allowed for serendipidous encounters was the initiative for Alex’s more active involvement in the Winchester community.
Again in 2008, invited by Arlington’s Chamber of Commerce, Alex attended the 7th National Conference of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) where he met and was intrigued by the ideas of the acclaimed economist and author, Michael Shuman. As an outcome of the conference, Alex had a leadership role in the founding of an Arlington community group called "Famboogle Arlington."
In early 2009, Alex was approached by a number of Winchester friends, residents and supporters about starting a local organization that would help strengthen the local economy and that would provide an open forum platform to add transparency to the Winchester community.
Alex met with members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Winchester Multicultural Network, the Winchester Foundation for Educational Excellence and numerous other organizations and found overwhelming support for the concept.
Together with Jeff Cabral, resident of Winchester since 1999 and member of Sustainable Winchester, and Lily Yamamoto, resident of Winchester since 1967 and founder of LMY Studio, Inc., Alex formed WinCentral, Inc. as a Chapter of the Alliance for the Empowerment of Local Communities (AELC).
WinCentral was formally launched on October 3, 2009 at the Winchester Farmers Market.