Eating Fresh Publications

Economist Michael Shuman to Speak on the Community Benefits of Supporting Local Businesses

May 21, 2007; Princeton, New Jersey… Michael Shuman, nationally known economist and guru of the ‘going local’ movement, will give a public lecture entitled The Small-Mart Revolution: How Independently Owned Local Businesses Enrich and Support Community Life. The free lecture, presented by Eating Fresh Publications, will be held on Tuesday, June 12 at 7:30PM in 145 Peyton Hall on the Princeton University campus and is being hosted by Professor John Ikenberry and the Project on the Future of Multilateralism.

Author of Going Local and The Small-Mart Revolution, Michael has gained national attention for his work engaging consumers, investors, policy makers, and community organizers in the revitalization of their communities through support of local and independently owned businesses and through the development of import-substituting industries. Through his years of research and involvement in buy-local programs and campaigns, Michael has tracked the trends that are increasing the competitiveness of small businesses and quantified the economic and social benefits that local, independently owned businesses offer communities. He is credited for exploding the myth that attracting large-scale retailers and paying millions in incentives are the only viable alternatives for creating secure communities. As a result of his research, public policymakers nationwide are beginning to realize that smart reforms of their economic development can save millions by ending incentives to nonlocal businesses and, instead, redirecting funds to support municipal programs to buy, invest, hire, or train local.

The “going local’ movement has gained considerable traction in towns, cities, and rural communities across the country; and nowhere more so than the Princeton area, where the business environment, the landscape, and the demographics have changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Those changes have presented a host of challenges for planners, schools, and the residents of the region, many of whom value the sense of community that Princeton offers and are concerned about maintaining the community’s economic capacity without compromising its quality of life.

Michael is expected to present findings from his research, much of which is presented in his most recent book, The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses are Beating the Global Competition (Berrett-Koehler 2006). The former director of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, and recipient of the Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship will discuss the value of refocusing economic development policies on homegrown enterprises. He will share evidence that, compared to their multinational counterparts, locally owned firms are more reliable contributors to community income, wealth, jobs, and charity, better positioned to attract smart entrepreneurs, and more consistent promoters of smart growth, sustainability, social equality, and participatory democracy.

On Tuesday, June 12, Michael Shuman, will also be the guest speaker at a private luncheon at Mediterra in Princeton. The luncheon is part of Eating Fresh Publications' Living Local Initiative and will bring together local business leaders, policy makers, and community activists to address strategies for strengthening Princeton’s local economy through support of local, independently owned businesses.

The luncheon is being hosted by Mediterra and is being sponsored by Eating Fresh Publications, The Bank of Princeton, bent spoon, Honey Brook Organic Farm, the MacLean Agency, Palmer Square, small world coffee, Twin Hens, and the Whole Earth Center.

Many thanks to our sponsors for this event: