Monadnock Buy Local recently received a grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund to support the launch of the Complete Economy Project in Keene, NH.

The Complete Economy Project will support the adoption of local policies that level the playing field for locally owned businesses in our region and spark business models that contribute to our local living economy. This project includes an innovative effort to re-frame local economy policy work into a movement in our region and beyond.

While the "Buy Local" trend gains momentum in the Monadnock Region, work at the policy level is needed to support a local economy that works for all.  Such policies can cultivate a more resilient community and help the City of Keene reach some of its Comprehensive Master Plan goals.

"What we really need to do is change the underlying policies that shape our economy," states Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  "We can't do that through the sum of our individual behavior in the marketplace. We can only do it by exercising our collective power as citizens."

For more information, visit monadnocklocal.org/completeeconomy or contact Monadnock Buy Local at 603-499-7950.

The New England Grassroots Environment Fund energizes and nurtures long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and sustainable communities using stories, tools and dollars to fuel local activism and social change. Since 1996, the Grassroots Fund's core grantmaking program continues to fund nearly 150 grants annually, giving more than $4 million in 20 years to initiatives by better than 1,700 community groups covering more than 60 percent of New England's cities and towns.  For more information, please visit grassrootsfund.org or call 603-905-9915.

Monadnock Buy Local is a regional network of citizens, businesses and organizations that promotes the positive economic and community benefits of spending dollars locally, while supporting programs and policies that forward a local, green and fair economy. For more information, contact jen@monadnocklocal.org.