Cross-posted from wiseeconomy.com
In January 2020, I agreed to help my longtime colleague Derek Peebles with his efforts to revitalize and reposition the organization that helped create the Buy Local movement. For me, this was an opportunity to help advance thinking and doing around the creation of resilient local economies, a central theme of my first book, The Local Economy Revolution: What’s Changed and How You Can Help.
Then we got a pandemic. Which showed everyone how important – and how fragile – our beloved independent local businesses really are. So it’s been a little busy at AMIBA.
You can watch our conversation above, or listen to it on Soundcloud here. You can also pick up this and other AccelerateUs interviews on Stitcher or Spotify as part of the Building a Wise Local Economy podcast.
Repositioning any organization is hard, but respositioning one that has been focused on a relatively narrow issue for 19 years is a special kind of challenge. As Derek describes here, AMIBA’s future builds on the popular awareness that Shopping Local campaigns have created. And it strives to expand that understanding to related and interconnected issues vital to building Resilient Local Economies — places that can bounce back from setbacks and benefit from strong networks of businesses, residents and organizations. Issues like public policy, fair competition, community banking, social equity and more. All of which has only increased in importance since this interview was recorded.
You can learn more about AMIBA, and subscribe to AMIBA’s newsletter for updates on new events and trainings, at AMIBA.net