by Craig Cox

New Reasons for optimism on Main Street

It may seem that there's little to celebrate on Main Street these days as hometown businesses lose out to chain stores, catalog shopping, e-commerce, and other out-of-town businesses.  But flying beneath the radar of conventional economic wisdom are dozens of innovative efforts to boost the prospects of locally owned and civic-minded businesses.  These projects take many forms, from direct challenges to big box outlets to ambitious plans for an alternative stock market, but together they offer a new economic vision.  Focusing on socially conscious business principles and homegrown ingenuity, they offer hope that we can overcome current development trends that suck all the resources out of our local communities and despoil the environment.

The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) operates nationally, regionally, and locally in its mission to build a "living economy" - one that "works in harmony with natural systems, supports both biological and cultural diversity, and fosters fulfilling and enjoyable community life for all people".  Seventeen regional "nodes" created to serve local businesses with information, education, local sourcing, and other services have sprouted since a February organizing meeting...BALLE's northwest Washington node, called Sustainable Connections, links volunteers from the business community with local environmental and community causes.  Participants pledge "to take continuous steps to incorporate sustainable personal and business practices; to promote economic, ecological, and cultural diversity; to foster healthy communication; and to choose local sourcing and purchasing." In Minneapolis, the group Responsible Business Minnesota promotes business as a vehicle for economic and social justice with educational programs and community-building activities...