Over the past three months, the Creston Valley-Kootenay Lake Economic Action Partnership (CV-KL EAP) has been asking community members, business owners and leaders for their ideas on how to improve the local economy.
From surveys, kitchen table meetings, school workshops and other activities, communities contributed over 1,000 action ideas. In addition, a treasure trove of other valuable information was brought forward. The CV-KL EAP project team combed through this information - looking for common themes, areas of agreement or disagreement, and actions we can get started on right away. One of the “quick starts” chosen is local participation in BC Buy Local Week from November 27th to December 3rd, 2017. BC Buy Local is a campaign that celebrates local business to promote the contributions that BC businesses make to our economy and communities.
On November 8th, around 50 community and business leaders came together to review community input and ideas. They spent the afternoon analyzing ideas received from the community and evaluating their impact on the local economy. For both community members and businesses, two goals emerged to the top for improving our local economy: resident attraction of families and young people, and, building a thriving local business sector (which includes attracting new business and investment).
In the next few weeks, the CV-KL EAP team will continue to examine feedback and outreach to more businesses and employers to get their take on the emerging priorities.
Follow us on Facebook @CrestonValleyKootenayLake to view updates, information about the local economy, and how to get involved in this initiative. Remember to support local businesses during BC Buy Local week! Stay tuned for more information.
Survey Prize Winner: Local purchasing in action
Almost 700 people responded to a paper and online survey, and one lucky participant – Robert Agnew of Crawford Bay – won a $50 voucher to a local business of his choice. Robert chose BareFoot Handweaving in Crawford Bay. This survey prize is a great example of how shopping locally has more impact than shopping in other towns or online. Based on a study by The Institute for Local Self-Reliance in 2003, results indicated (on average) 48% of each purchase at a locally owned business is recirculated locally, compared to less than 14 percent of purchases at chain stores. These numbers are nearly identical to later results across other Civic Economic studies.
Can you shift 10% of your spending to local businesses? Tell us where you will shop locally this holiday season @CrestonValleyKootenayLake on Facebook or at economy@kes.bc.ca.