- By -Staff
- Business & Technology
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Local First Ithaca has been accepted as the newest member of BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.Local First Ithaca formed in the fall of 2008, when local business owners Jan Rhodes Norman, Autumn Newell, and Kelly Moreland, along with Leslie Ackerman of Alternatives Federal Credit Union, joined forces to create a holiday “Buy Local” campaign.
“The focus of our initial campaign was on encouraging the community to support locally owned businesses during the big holiday shopping season,” says Rhodes Norman. “But it has always been our intent for the organization to engage in a broader, ongoing effort."
BALLE, formed in 2001, is a network of 71 local organizations spread throughout the United States and Canada. Rhodes Norman and Ackerman attended BALLE’s annual conference in June 2008 in Boston and became committed to pursuing the vision of a “local, living economy” in the Ithaca area. “The idea is that a healthy, thriving economy is the foundation of a healthy, thriving community,” says Ackerman. “But this vision encompasses a great deal; local, independent business ownership is just the beginning, and it requires engaging into a community-wide discussion.”
BALLE organizations often begin with “Buy Local” campaigns, as did Local First Ithaca, and then expand their efforts into other realms of a living economy: fair trade and living wage employment, affordable health care, sustainable agriculture, green building and renewable energy, community finance, independent media, and more.
“What makes BALLE unique,” Rhodes Norman points out, “is that BALLE networks engage the business community to develop and promote sustainability initiatives.” Such efforts have typically been undertaken by not-for-profit organizations, and businesses have been seen as enemies of sustainability. “But they don't have to be,” says Ackerman. “It is in the interest of a local, independent business to promote efforts that keep money circulating within the community. This enriches us all- pocketbooks and quality of life alike.”
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