Somerville Local First

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Our Partners

Somerville Local First is a member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). BALLE is North America’s fastest growing network of socially responsible businesses, comprised of over 80 community networks representing over 22,000 independent business members across 30 U.S. States and Canadian provinces. BALLE networks create local living economies through the building blocks of independent retail, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, green building, local zero-waste manufacturing, community capital, independent media, and local arts and culture. We encourage you to learn more about BALLE by checking out their website  here.


The Sustainable Business Network (SBN) engages business and community leaders in building economies that are green, local, and fair. The SBN has 20-years of experience in bringing business leaders together along with others interested in topics such as business ethics, the multiple-stakeholder model, and sustainable workplaces to share information and take action. We encourage you to check out their website here.

Somerville Local First is applying for our own 501(c)3 nonprofit designation and, like other Local First networks around New England, is currently a project of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston


The New England Local Business Forum
The New England Local Business Forum (NELBF) is a resource for local business organizations in New England made up of more than a dozen local business alliances. By connecting local business leaders on a regional level, NELBF strives to promote independents and strengthen local economies. To find out more about NELBF, visit their website here.



Cambridge Local First
is SLF’s affiliate organization in neighboring Cambridge, MA. Like SLF, CLF is committed to building a strong local economy and a vibrant, distinct community. First formed in October 2005, CLF’s network of locally owned and independent businesses has grown to over 250 member. Find out more about CLF by visiting their website here.


The Sustainable Business Leader Program (SBLP) is a comprehensive certification program that supports local businesses in improving their environmental business practices and reducing their carbon footprint. For more information on becoming a Sustainable Business Leader please visit their website www.sustainablebusinessleader.org.


The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) is a non-profit organization helping communities to launch and successfully operate programs to support community-based enterprise and entrepreneurism, build local economic vitality, and prevent the displacement of independent businesses by large corporations. AMIBA has helped dozens of communities across the U.S. and Canada to launch Independent Business Alliances and assisted many more with Buy Local campaigns, policy initiatives and more. They offer a wide range of outreach tools and trainings, and publish a free monthly newsletter that provides a steady flow of new ideas and tools. For more information, visit their website http://amiba.net/.  (Note: SLF has not yet joined AMIBA as members, though we support their work)


The Move Your Money project is a nonprofit campaign that encourages individuals and institutions to divest from the nation’s largest Wall Street banks and move to local financial institutions. To find out more about Move Your Money, check out http://moveyourmoney.info/.



The New Rules Project & Stacy Mitchell

Stacy Mitchell is a senior researcher with the New Rules Project and directs its initiative to curb the power of big-box retailers and strengthen locally owned businesses. She’s the author of Big-Box Swindle, writes regularly for a variety of publications, and produces a monthly email bulletin, The Hometown Advantage. We encourage you to check out her website http://www.newrules.org/.


On Saturday, October 2nd from 11 AM to 5 PM, the first-ever Boston Local Food Festival will take place outdoors along the Boston Waterfront and Fort Point Channel.  Themed Healthy Food for All!, it is a zero waste, free festival celebrating the virtues of eating local food produced in the Boston area, Massachusetts, and New England. The festival will feature freshly harvested produce, delicious dishes ($5 or less) created with locally grown ingredients and take-away from Made in Massachusetts producers.  Festival-goers can engage with farmers, chefs and entrepreneurs, learn from workshops and demonstrations about gardening, cooking, nutrition, health and exercise while enjoying art and festive music. For more information: www.bostonlocalfoodfestival.com

Photos from The Boston Local Food Festival

by Joe Grafton

It’s pretty safe to say that The Boston Local Food Festival presented by The Sustainable  Business Network of Great Boston exceeded everyones expectations.  While estimates have yet to be announced, I was there and think the number is at least 10,000 people, and likely many many more.

Here’s a selection of images from the day

A view from behind the stage....the festival was supposed to close down one of the bridges, but the night before the permit was not approved by the city. Instead, a dense network of vendor tents on the lawn made things a little tight but packed with local love.

A view from behind the stage....the festival was supposed to close down one of the bridges, but the night before the permit was not approved by the city. Instead, a dense network of vendor tents on the lawn made things a little tight but packed with local love.

Festival Sponsor, Katsiroubas Brothers Fruit & Produce

Festival Sponsor, Katsiroubas Brothers Fruit & Produce

Unsurprisingly, the area in front of the Taza Chocolate booth was packed

Unsurprisingly, the area in front of the Taza Chocolate booth was packed

Cooking Demos, like this one by friend & SLF Blogger JJ Gonson, were a hit....

Cooking Demos, like this one by friend & SLF Blogger JJ Gonson, were a hit....

...as were butchering demos

...as were butchering demos. Bringing meat eaters closer to their food.

The festival was packed all day long.  This was taken the @ 3:00 PM.

The festival was packed all day long. This was taken the @ 3:00 PM.

Some great roots music took the stage to close things out

Some great roots music took the stage to close things out

The festival organizing team:  Emily Kanter (Festival Organizer), Laury Hammel (SBN Executive Director), Erwin (Festival Organizer), Fan Watkinson (Festival Organizer), Nicola Williams (Lead Festival Organizer)

The festival organizing team: Emily Kanter (Festival Organizer), Laury Hammel (SBN Executive Director), Erwin (Festival Organizer), Fan Watkinson (Festival Organizer), Nicola Williams (Lead Festival Organizer)

Finally, here’s an interview with festival organizers (with a late appearance form me) from a documentarian traveling across the country on a cross country, called the Sustainable 1000,  doing 1,000 interviews in 250 days.

Originally posted on...October 3rd, 2010
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