January 16 – 18, 2008
YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – December 21, 2008 – This January, economic development expert Michael Shuman will come to Yellow Springs to give a presentation and workshop aimed at strengthening the local economy and enhancing local self-reliance.
Participants will explore how to develop new (and expand already existing) local businesses, grow and support new local entrepreneurs, mobilize local finance, and spearhead “local first” campaigns so that the Yellow Springs economy can become more secure and sustainable.
Organized by the Yellow Springs Smart Growth Task Force and sponsored by Village Council, the weekend will include a public presentation on Friday, January 16th at 7:30pm at the Glen Helen Building that is free and open to the public.
The presentation will be followed by a two day workshop on Saturday, January 17th from 9:30am to 4:30pm and Sunday, January 18th from 10:00am to 1:00pm at the Mills Lawn Elementary School auditorium with local business owners, government officials, economic development organizations and citizen-leaders. There is a suggested donation of $25 for the workshop training and materials. Immediately following the workshop on Sunday there will be a reception with Shuman from 1:00pm to 2:30pm, also at the Mills Lawn auditorium.
“Given the very difficult state of the world economy, it will be important for Yellow Springers pull together and support our businesses as we seek to build a more sustainable local economy which creates jobs for our citizens and meets more of our needs locally,” said Judith Hempfling, Yellow Springs Village Council President. “We especially urge large and small business owners, educators, and those who dream of beginning a business, investing locally, or both living and working in our village to find the time to attend,” she said.
The principles and benefits of a local economic development approach, which is based upon supporting locally-owned businesses in their efforts to meet local needs with local resources as fully as possible, will be covered extensively at the presentation and workshop. In addition, workshop participants will discuss strategies that could be employed within Yellow Springs and Miami Township to increase local jobs, wealth, and our tax base.
Shuman will also prepare a leakage analysis, which shows the flow of money into and out of our community, for workshop participants to utilize in accessing future local business opportunities. At the end of the workshop an action plan for implementing the local economic development strategies will be created and will include ideas for revenue-generating projects.
Michael Shuman is an attorney, economist and author of The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition and Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in the Global Age. He has been promoting local-economy concepts through a variety of projects, including consulting with St. Lawrence County, NY and the Katahdin Region in Maine to study opportunities for import replacement, and building the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).
For the past three years the Yellow Springs Smart Growth Task Force has sponsored educational events and candidates forums around issues related to sustainable and environmentally-sensitive economic growth. In 2005 they organized a weekend conference and 500 local participants, “Smart Growth for a Small Town,” which focused on land use, community design, planning, and zoning.
For information, contact:
Megan Quinn Bachman
937-767-2161