February Indie Business News Highlights
Do Thriving Small Businesses Yield Healthier Residents? Communities with a greater concentration of small, locally-owned businesses have healthier populations -- with lower rates of mortality, obesity and diabetes -- than do those that rely more on large companies with absentee owners, according to a national study from Louisiana State and Baylor Universities. Read more. Want Your Prescription Drugs Handled Safely? Make Your Pharmacy an Independent! Contact us for help generating coverage of this remarkable news in your community. It's a great story about the value of independents -- especially if combined with a human profile of a conscientious local pharmacist (who may be become a great ally). In Oregon, a statewide survey revealed just 26% of pharmacists working at chain drug stores think the work environment is "conducive to providing safe and effective patient care," compared to 76% of pharmacists at independents. An outright majority of chain pharmacists do not think their conditions enable safe care. The Oregonian has the full story. See full-size graph of the results here. Crowdfunding News Why is the EPA Aiding Corporate Greenwashing?
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News for Business OwnersHow Natural Products Retailers Can Compete with Whole Foods Market Do Yelp Ratings Matter? Harvard Business Review Says Yes Lessons from Amazon |
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News from Local AlliancesVisit the Austin Independent Business Alliance home page and you'll see some fine examples to consider emulating. AIBA was one of many IBAs rolling out Valentine's Day-themed with Love Your Locals, and they used the promotion to add many Facebook fans. Also, AIBA highlights their long-lasting impact by noting their 10th anniversary (the nation's third IBA). Notably, AIBA follows our mantra of tell stories from the first screen shot, with profiles and faces from AIBA member businesses. Speaking of storytelling, Storyteller Uprising, a recent book by Hanson Hosein, known to many for producing Independent America and Rising from Ruins (now available for free via those stream links), offers a wealth of ideas on the topic. If you wish to sample it before purchase, a generous portion of it is available to download free. The Fresno Regional Independent Business Alliance partnered with city government to get 65,000 copies of their indie business directory to the public. Learn how they did it from Amy Huerta at the Louisville conference! Sustain-a-Bull in Durham and Shop Local Raleigh are among many local groups who effectively used our press release template announcing the compelling survey by the ILSR about the impact of sustained "Buy Indie/Buy Local" campaigns. If you help run a local business alliance and haven't yet used it for a local press release, contact us for help. The Imperial Valley IBA, one of the newest, wasted no time in advancing pro-local public policy and soon expects to pass a local purchasing preference it pushed into consideration in late 2011. The Portland Independent Business & Community Alliance (Maine) invited mayoral candidates to share their views on several questions, including what initiatives they would pursue to strengthen independent businesses and whether they favor moving the City’s bank account to a locally owned financial institution.
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 New Member ResourcesAccessible to affiliates. Be sure to log in prior to clicking links below.
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 Welcome to the Newest AMIBA Affiliates:Keep Saint Petersburg Local (FL)Wyandotte Downtown Development Authority (MI) |