(Note: This post was written by Laurel Regan and originally published in a separate blog called “Why Windsor…”, which was later merged with Alphabet Salad.)
Laurel Regan – Writer, tangler, learner of French and Italian, crocheter, cat herder, needle felter, iPhoneographer, Growlita, iFan, on-and-off politics junkie, 80s music trivia freak, ongoing work in progress.
Buying local is a great way to support our community.
A great website for resources on the subject can be found here http://www.livingeconomies.org/local-first
Included is a manual on how to have a local first campaign in our community
I first discovered BALLE when I was in a dispute with our local chamber of commerce and realized that they supported developers and big businesses far more than local independent businesses. I then learned that communities throughout North America are creating BALLE chapters for this very reason and they’re gaining memberships at a far faster rate than local chamber of Commerces
Its not about opposing big box either. The current campaign is called “Shift your shopping”. I believe they have statistics that show that if a community the size of Windsor shifted only 10% of their shopping from big Box and national chains to Local independent retailers we could create something like over 1000 new jobs (cant remember the exact number).
I am planning to bring this information to the Walkerville BIA and Residents association as the Residents association has identified supporting local businesses as one of its priorities. (Awesome). If we don’t have enough support yet to start a BALLE chapter than maybe we can at least try to integrate some of their material into our own local efforts.
Thanks for the link and info, Mark – sounds like a really positive and promising idea, and I hope it’s possible to get something going with the Walkerville groups. From what I’ve seen, the community (Walkerville, that is) seems pretty progressive and open to creative ideas! Laurel Regan recently posted… Windsor Square Column: A Challenge To Make Windsor Better
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Buying local is a great way to support our community.
A great website for resources on the subject can be found here
http://www.livingeconomies.org/local-first
Included is a manual on how to have a local first campaign in our community
I first discovered BALLE when I was in a dispute with our local chamber of commerce and realized that they supported developers and big businesses far more than local independent businesses. I then learned that communities throughout North America are creating BALLE chapters for this very reason and they’re gaining memberships at a far faster rate than local chamber of Commerces
Its not about opposing big box either. The current campaign is called “Shift your shopping”. I believe they have statistics that show that if a community the size of Windsor shifted only 10% of their shopping from big Box and national chains to Local independent retailers we could create something like over 1000 new jobs (cant remember the exact number).
I am planning to bring this information to the Walkerville BIA and Residents association as the Residents association has identified supporting local businesses as one of its priorities. (Awesome). If we don’t have enough support yet to start a BALLE chapter than maybe we can at least try to integrate some of their material into our own local efforts.
Thanks for the link and info, Mark – sounds like a really positive and promising idea, and I hope it’s possible to get something going with the Walkerville groups. From what I’ve seen, the community (Walkerville, that is) seems pretty progressive and open to creative ideas!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Windsor Square Column: A Challenge To Make Windsor Better
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