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Local First: Michelle Long

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Local First Indiana is a new chapter of a national network of grassroots non-profits focused on supporting locally-owned independent businesses and local economies. Local First Indiana launched Monday night in Bloomington with a talk by Michelle Long, executive director of the Business Alliance of Local Living Economies. Long was formerly the director of Sustainable Connections, a local business network in Bellingham, Washington, which has grown over the past seven years to be the most effective economic development driver in that region. She says local economies survive and even thrive in economic downturns when local populations shift even a small percentage of their spending to locally-owned businesses rather than chain stores. Michelle Long talks about promoting local business as a matter of sustainability and as an economic multiplier in this WFHB exclusive.

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