Thinking Local During the Holidays
Dec 18 // Lily Brislen // Roseburg, Oregon
CATEGORY: Small Town Economies
You are watching the special ‘behind the scenes footage’ of the filming of the Think Local Umpqua holiday greeting. That’s me in the blue and white hat, running around like a loon, and those other smiling people are a sampling of the Think Local Umpqua ‘posse.’ I love this video, because I feel it really captures the spirit of Think Local Umpqua, and explains a lot of why I’m so enthusiastic about our mission.
Think Local Umpqua is an Independent Business Alliance, which is a particular type of ‘buy local’ initiative that focuses exclusively on local, independently owned businesses. The initiative is run out of Umpqua Community Development Corporation's Micro Enteprise Development and Learning Program (which I am the manager of). We’re a group of farmers, entrepreneurs, educators, business people, public officials and consumers who are dedicated to fostering a vibrant, self reliant community in the Umpqua valley by encouraging people to Think Local First when selecting goods and services. We’re not ‘anti’ anything, and we’re enthusiastic supporters of the unique local businesses, farmers, and artisans that make Douglas County the special place we’re proud to call home. We’re eclectic, positive, proactive, and, most importantly, we have a lot of fun.
Our initiative brings local, independent business owners (farms are businesses too!) together to share ideas, leverage resources, engage in collaborative branding and marketing, and educate the community members about the positive effect they have on our economy when they ‘Think Local First.’
Other such organizations are springing up all around the state, and having an impact in their communities. CIBA is a fellow ‘Independent Business Alliance’ out of Corvallis, THRIVE is a BALLE affiliate based out of Ashland, Buy Local Lincoln County got its start the same time that we did, and I’m sure there’s many nascent groups around the state that I’m unaware of. What we all have in common is pride in our community, a savvy approach to economic revitalization, and a belief that an individual’s choices make a difference.
If you know of a ‘buy local’ group in your community, or are looking for good resources to start one up, I’d love to start a discussion.
(An example of one of the 'public education' ads we ran in one of our local newspapers.)
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