Vicki Pozzebon and Alan Webber There’s a new conversation, a new set of practices and a new vocabulary in the evolving effort to support local economies: Anchor institutions. Local procurement. Procurement policies. Impact investing. What do these terms mean? And…
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Microeconomics (from Greek prefix mikro- meaning “small”) is a branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of limited resources. This is in contrast to macroeconomics, which involves the “sum total…
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I’ve just returned from a whirlwind convening of the annual Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) conference of localists in Phoenix, Arizona. I say whirlwind because I got swept up in the energy and excitement of this year’s theme,…
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Full disclosure: I am no soil expert. I fancy myself more of an expert on water quality, having grown up with a water well-drilling father who was, in fact, a soil tester and certified geologist. I was the kid who…
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Back when I was running the Santa Fe Alliance for locally owned independent businesses, we had this membership rule: 51 percent or more of the business had to be owned by the person living in Santa Fe. Every now and…
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True confession: I don’t do crafts. I’m not really a DIY person who makes scrapbooks or crafts or Mason jars full of pretty, colorful stacks of beans as gifts for my friends. I’m much more practical in my gift giving.…
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Many years ago, over a locally sourced meal of free range chicken and roasted root veggies, while sampling New Mexico wines, a group of food activists and nonprofit leaders came together in my kitchen to discuss how we might further…
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If you are a foodie, or maybe not even a foodie but just care about where your food comes from, chances are you also care where your beer, wine and spirits come from. Maybe you just like to impress your…
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In a struggling economy, I believe (call me crazy) that starting with the lowest-hanging fruit is how you rebuild. Our local food movement is booming with more farmers’ markets, more new products on the shelves and restaurants committed to sourcing…
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This article appeared in the December 2012 issue of Green Fire Times. “What is your theory of change?” a friend and colleague asked me recently. The question caught me so off guard I paused for several seconds to form a…
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This article appeared in the July 2012 edition of Green Fire Times. Walking into the warehouse at The Way We Grow, I was struck by the overwhelming tasks at hand for start-up entrepreneurs. Perhaps it was this comment from owner…
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This article appeared in the April 2012 edition of Green Fire Times. I’m one of those people who brings a box of New Mexico goodies with me when I visit former New Mexicans or friends who haven’t been here yet.…
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Except for a couple of brief stints in the for-profit world (more on this later) I have lived nearly my entire adult life in the non-profit world. The work I was doing within the non-profit world always made me happy—from…
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“Hello, this is Grant, from CitiMortgage.” If you have been following the saga of my house (November and May GFT) then you know that this sentence, uttered straight from the mouth of the Loss Mitigator himself was MIRACULOUS and a…
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This article appeared in the January 2011 edition of Green Fire Times. Raise your hand if you’ve ever been arrested. No? Me neither. Ok, well almost. I was in eleventh grade, an award winning, budding young writer, inspired by a…
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This article appeared in the December 2010 edition of Green Fire Times. I admit it: I’m a victim of the economy. But I was also a contributor to its demise. In 2006 while still married, I purchased a home with…
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My Mom, Santa Fe Farmers Market Originally published in Green Fire Times, Sept 2010 When I started my journey with the Santa Fe Alliance in 2006 it didn’t occur to me that my family background would have such a big…
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