local first

Today, I came across this adorable slide show that featured 20 Local First organizations. It's quite appropriately titled Buy-Local Campaigns Help Beat Recession. Here's a brief overview by BusinessWeek's John Tozzi:

Study Will Highlight Impacts of "Local First" and "Buy Local" Campaigns

 

The survey closes tomorrow, Tuesday, January 12th at midnight Pacific time. Thus far, the survey has 300 fewer business respondents than in 2009.

Here at the Mile High Business Alliance, we <3 ColoradoLocalFirst.com  There you can read and leave reviews for your favorite LOCAL Colorado businesses. Additionally, there's an events calendar, Local Flavor Guides, thorough explanations on why spending your money locally is important, and much more. 

But what do you do when you are...
Moving out of Colorado?

Groups say a small share of consumer spending can save local businesses

By Katheleen Conti
Boston Globe Staff / June 11, 2009

It has been a very exciting month for the Colorado Local First campaign. We currently have "Stop Money Wandering" signs in 100 metro area RTD buses, and we're wrapping up sponsorship for the 2009 campaign. Through our partnerships and media sponsors, we're able to turn every dollar of underwriting into over $12 of media exposure for Colorado Local First. (find out more about underwriting)

The following article was published February 27, 2009 in Business Week and is written by John Tozzi. It covers the efforts of communities all over who are working to build more stable local economies. They unfortunately missed the Colorado Local First campaign in their slideshow, but we still like the article, nontheless.

We love this article in the Denver Business Journal about a recent Downtown Denver Partnership event where Andre Pettigrew from the Denver Office of Economic Development advocated buying and investing locally as a key aspect in addressing our current economic instability. The article notes:

Besides recommending that people buy from local companies, Pettigrew added, “I’m going to up the ante” and recommended that they also invest locally, citing growing Colorado economic sectors such as biosciences and alternative energy.

Want to find something unique and special for loved ones this holiday season? There are dozens of gift guides on the internet, but we’re offering something unique: a guide to local gift giving.

When we buy from locally owned businesses, more of that money stays in our local economy. In fact, one study in San Fransisco revealed that just a 10% shift in retail sales toward local businesses would create thousands of new jobs and $190 million in economic activity. We don’t have to spend more, just spend smarter.