Local First Arizona News

Shop Local!

The November issue of Phoenix Magazine begins its highlights of 130 Local First Arizona business members.

If you missed the article in print, read their story online. Just in time for holiday shopping and don’t forget to buy yourself something!

Make the Shift

Their “Make the Shift” article also has great pointers on moving your spending into the local economy. Just a small change in your buying habits makes a big difference!

A recent piece in the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Impact Magazine highlights some of the key points of the upcoming 10% Shift campaign.  Stay tuned for more details!

Shifting Sands

The Local First Arizona Foundation (LFAF) hopes to shift consumers’ spending habits and contribute to the state’s economic recovery with a new program it is about to launch. Known as “The 10% Shift,” it is a campaign aimed at strengthening the local economy, increasing civic pride and changing consumer buying patterns to increase the economic and cultural sustainability of this region while improving the environment, creating jobs and enhancing community development.

A recent study of spending patterns of residents and businesses in Grand Rapids, Michigan determined if all 600,000 people in Grand Rapids simply shifted 10 percent of their spending from national to local businesses, the result would be 1600 new jobs, an additional $130 million in the local economy  and an increase of $50 million in local wages in one year. This model is currently being tested in Boston, Massachusetts.

Local First Arizona Foundation has a plan to create an on-line calculator so residents can visit the Local First Web site, enter their monthly expenditures and find out how much they personally could put back into the local economy by simply shifting 10% of their spending habits.

BusinessWeek has a nice posting on the Local First movement and 10% Shift:

“The elegance of the 10 percent shift right now is that it doesn’t ask people to expand their budgets and spend more. It asks people to be more conscious about where they spend what they’ve already budgeted for.

If returns on local spending are as dramatic as as the Grand Rapids study suggests, the 10 percent shift might be a way out for local economies devastated by mass layoffs.”

View the whole article at 10 percent: The Local Stimulus – BusinessWeek.

Kimber gets an interview in Shift Across America: an attempt at modern storytelling.

“There is a movement underway in America.  A movement to reshape and reform our communities and economies.  Leaders from coast to coast are doing amazing and transformational work, and I will help them share their stories.”

Read and view Kimber’s interview at: Shift Across America: Kimber Lanning.