local economy

Nine of ten of Denver's Mayoral candidates gathered with 130 guests at the Tattered Cover on Wednesday evening to discuss the future of Denver's local economy. Candidates Carol Boigon, Michael Hancock, Doug Linkhart, Danny Lopez, James Mejia, Jeff Peckman, Ken Simpson, Theresa Spahn and Thomas Andrew Wolf participated in conversation around the important role small and local business plays in Denver's economy.

Today marks the beginning of Buy Local Week. We at the Mile High Business Alliance are in our fourth year leading a local campaign covering the greater Denver area.

This year is most certainly our biggest yet. We've printed 20,000 Shopping Guides, launched a participation-oriented Buy Local Bingo game and are ramping up for a great event on December 3rd. We have had the pleasure of being featured in quite a few media outlets (Did you hear Mickki on 850 KOA on Monday?), have ads on the 16th Street MallRide and put up a billboard saying "Want a better economy? Buy Local First." Even more so, we are honored to have BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, using our logo for Buy Local Week!

 

Throughout the holiday shopping season, we hope that you will be joining in patronizing local businesses. Every dollar we spend is an investment in something, and when we choose local companies, products or charities first, we're helping to build a better economy and a place we love to live.

In Community,
The Mile High Business Alliance

Local Food, Local Economy & Local Community!

Awakening the Dreamer:

Changing the Dream Symposium

 

On October 10th (10/10/10) people all over the world will be striving to reduce CO2 emissions via climate action Work Parties organized in cooperation with 350.org, an international campaign that's building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. The mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis – to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

The symposium will be held in the EventGallery 910Arts, which opens up to an open-air courtyard. In an afternoon session, we will be visioning an edible living wall project for the 910Arts courtyard promoting artistic design, found objects, and local food.

Okay. I'm definitely hooked on Go Local Sonoma County's website. There is so much excellent information on there that I couldn't help but make one more post on banking locally. The following information is taken from a post by Kelley Rajala and Terry Garrett.Make sure to follow the link to see a great Prezi on the Local Multiplier Effect. (Background: Prezi is similar to PowerPoint, but is less linear in both layout as well as scope.) Enjoy!

I found this great podcast online today from Equal Time Radio. After listening to it, I've gone into a wee bit of a researching frenzie. Ken has published some really interesting papers, which I'll include links to at the bottom of this post.  Enjoy!

 

Podcast: Local Food Systems Are the Best Driver of Economic Development

Job developer Michael Shuman seeks to rebuild struggling communities with home-grown businesses.

By Tim Holt | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

from the February 9, 2009 edition

Now that we've entered the Twitter era, I find myself more and more inclined towards brief but very informative pieces of information, especially when surfing the internet. I'd liken it to reading Psychology Today Magazine over individual psychological studies. This has led me to read a lot of lists and pointers, undoubtedly feeding my childhood love of Hints from Heloise. 

I found this list today titled: Summer Downsizing: 31 Ways to Jumpstart Your Local Economy.  Not all of the suggestions were actually related to one's local economy; some were just ways to remove yourself from spending money period. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the community-focused section, pasted below:

A friend forwarded this video about local food, produced for Canadians. The animation is great and helps explain the difference between importing fresh food and producing it closer to home: 

This article originally appeared as part of The New Economy, the Summer 2009 issue of Yes! Magazine.



Social activist and local living economies advocate shares her investment secrets

I have always felt uneasy about the stock market. As a longtime organizer and a local restaurant founder and owner, I put nearly all of my money, time, and energy into my local community, rather than into global corporate investments.