Muchas felicidades a la 1ra Generación y 18a Generación y un agradecimiento muy especial para todos los líderes comunitarios y patrocinadores del programa por creer en nuestros empresarios locales.

Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) is an employer-led, demand-driven process that brings together employers from the same industries in a specific region to collectively address shared workforce challenges.

It’s Black History Month! One of our favorite ways to celebrate is by supporting Black-owned businesses – especially those in our We Rise program. It’s all about helping businesses get started or expand and we want to be a part of that growth.

Meet January’s new and renewing Local First Arizona members!

In Fall 2021, SCALE UP Cohorts 5 and 6 came together to participate in the 6-week sustainability project planning series to share knowledge and resources to help each of them achieve efficiency savings and add to our growing network of green businesses. After coming together, each participant is launching a unique project that addresses energy, water, waste, and/or transportation in their operations alongside commitments to environmental and community stewardship. Here is a sneak peek of the participants and the projects they are launching here in Arizona!

What better way to start off 2022 than with a celebration! First up: 45 Fuerza Local participants!. After six months of hard work, these incredible entrepreneurs are completing their program.

The second group to go through the We Rise program is made up of a diverse group of businesses. Meet just a few and join us in celebrating them all at the graduation ceremony on January 29, 2022.

United States consumers spent $12.7 billion on gift wrap in 2017, and it’s estimated that 2.3 million pounds of wrapping paper ends up in the nation’s landfills. For something that looks pretty for a short time and then gets ripped up, gift wrap has a big impact. This holiday season, get creative with reusable wrapping ideas and keep the joy without the environmental burden.

Founded at the home of the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market, this event is an all-inclusive and slightly quirky December celebration that values locally-owned businesses, locally-made products and our community. It is also the largest fundraiser of the year for Community Food Connections, which manages the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market.

Kalila Martinez de Aragon es socia de Coldwater Coffeehouse and Bakery, LLC, una pequeña empresa local ubicada en el centro de la ciudad de Avondale, AZ, que ofrece café con estilo farm-to-table, cafés artesanales, panadería americana, bocadillos y ensaladas frescas.

Establecieron su negocio en 2017, pero su primer proyecto fue desarrollar un huerto urbano que se estableció en el terreno baldío que se encuentra detrás de su actual cafetería en el verano de 2018 y tuvieron su primer mercado en enero de 2019.

I'm bringing this to you today as a request. We have to use our critical thinking, our emotional intelligence, and our compassion to continue to dialogue with those we don't agree with and to hang on to reality while understanding diverse lived experiences.

I’ve spent my time at Local First working to address root causes. Many call it leadership, but what I really think we're talking about is accountability

Meet Ebony, co-owner of Hussle and Meditate LLC. She has some gift ideas for the holiday season! Check out what is on her list.

Rosalinda Birrueta es una empresaria local y una orgullosa graduada del Acelerador de Negocios de Fuerza Local de la 16a Generación de la ciudad de Avondale, Az.

El sueño de ser empresaria nació cuando era pequeña y conoció el arte de la paletería artesanal michoacana, una tradición que ha pasado generación tras generación en su familia, y que hoy en día sigue floreciendo en Arizona. Un sueño que tomó forma después de 25 años de paciencia y superación.

Es así como nació Paleta’s La Michoakana LLC al abrir sus puertas por primera vez en junio de 2018, se especializan en la producción y venta de paletas artesanales con frutas frescas, además de ofrecer nieves y antojitos mexicanos….

The new episode of Project Greenprint focused on Conservation by Social Television Network is available on the free STN App starting November 3rd. In this episode, host Kristen Keogh introduces several advocates for conservation in Arizona who offer opportunities to get involved and speak up for our few remaining wild spaces.

We are excited to announce the latest businesses to become certified through the Arizona Green Business Program. Read on to discover Local First Arizona members SWIYYAH, LLC and Wok This Way; two businesses whose sourcing and operating standards prioritize clean air, zero waste, water conservation, and sustaining livable communities for generations to come.

In late July 2021, Local First Arizona’s Rural Development team held a meeting with the US Forest Service to discuss potential volunteer opportunities to address the devastation of the Telegraph fire in Superior. With the recent merger of Local First Arizona and Keep Arizona Beautiful, this was the perfect opportunity to engage in rural Arizona.

Water – Plant It Wisely is your handy resource to provide landscaping guidance, advice, and ideas on what to plant. What you plant affects more than your yard; it helps create a more sustainable future. By selecting low-water-use plants, you help conserve our precious water supply for generations to come.

We Rise’s business model development curriculum features two modules that helps participants attain these skills: introduction to business model development and understanding your value proposition and target customer. By the end of both modules, participants have refined their respective business models to ensure maximum product-market fit, in collaboration with their mentors, instructors and fellow entrepreneurs.

This month, we began hosting capacity-building workshops for Gila Valley producers starting with a ‘Funding for Farmers’ workshop. Hosted at the Eastern Arizona College Discovery Park Campus with a beautiful backdrop of Mt. Graham, community members gathered in the early morning to learn about funding opportunities to start an agriculture business or improve their existing business. Speakers from the USDA, Small Business Development Center, Arizona Economic Recovery Center, Graham & Greenlee Microloan program, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Prestamos CDFI, Graham County Government, and Farm Credit West delivered short rapid-fire presentations to the crowd before transitioning to individual tables as community members walked around to network and find out more about different organizations. 

The business finance portion of the We Rise Accelerator Program focuses on three main topic modules: personal finance; debt, equity, and grant financing; and understanding credit and creditworthiness. The purpose of these modules is to expose entrepreneurs to different financing options for small businesses -- including the less familiar ones like equity and grants -- and to come together to develop strategies to improve both their personal and business creditworthiness.