Local Business Institute

Shopping locally is more than a transaction. At its heart, it is a choice to keep our everyday spending connected to the people and places that make a community feel like home.

When we buy a loaf of bread from a neighborhood bakery, pick up a gift from an independent shop, hire a local repair person, or choose produce from a nearby farmer, we are doing more than purchasing something we need. We are helping support a neighbor’s livelihood. We are contributing to local jobs, helping small businesses stay open, and keeping more money circulating through the community.

Shopping Locally-Owned is an Intentional Investment in Community - Local Business Institute Value of local business is human to human

Live Local means you participate in your local community as much as possible—from where you choose to shop to getting involved in local policy. It’s choosing to play an active role in the direction of your community and exercising your choices to embrace your local culture, economy and lifestyle. Living Local creates a life of authentic experiences, genuine to your community rather than national cookie cutters. Choose to Live Local!
Take the Live Local Pledge: https://localbusinessinstitute.org/live-local-pledge

Your involvement matters. Our days are made up of choices in where to spend your time, energy, focus, resources and more. Make the choice to Live Local whenever and wherever possible. Take the Live Local Pledge: https://localbusinessinstitute.org/live-local-pledge

Trump’s New SBA Size Standards Call Big Business “Small” — And Main Street Will Pay

From our friends at the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR)—The Small Business Administration (SBA) is proposing to radically overhaul the standards the federal government uses to decide which companies count as small. The change would immediately bring more than 114,000 additional firms under that designation, making them eligible for federal loan guarantees, contract set-asides, and other support earmarked for small businesses.

Public comments on the proposal are due Sept. 21, 2026.

localbusinessinstitute.org

Every dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of businesses and services you want in your community. It’s easy to see that your dollars support the local businesses you’d like to have in your neighborhood, but look closer at what supports your community. From governmental policies to volunteerism—all help, hinder, support or direct the elements that make your community a wonderful place to live.
Take the Live Local Pledge: https://localbusinessinstitute.org/live-local-pledge

The Local Business Institute has long joined with our national allies in working to protect the interests of small business across the nation. We are members of Small Business Rising and support the work of the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) in their continued policy work. We join them now in reigning in Amazon’s monopoly by asking you to consider lending your voice to this effort.

We’ve seen Amazon use their influence to skirt accountability before. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — we must show our support for this lawsuit and trial to discourage the Federal Trade Commission and states from backing down — either through settlement or dropping the case. Don’t let Amazon get away with a slap on the wrist.

We invite independent business owners and small businesses associations to join hundreds of companies and organizations across the country to sign-on to our letter to make your voice heard.

Reining in Amazon - Local Business Institute Value of local business is human to human

Utilities Are Breaking Records on Rate Hike Requests

When economists talk about what businesses contribute to a community, they’re usually talking about wages, local purchasing, and charitable giving. Those things are real, and they matter. But they are only one of four forms of capital that local business owners actually invest—and the other three are almost entirely invisible to the people who make policy.

The Capital Small, Local Businesses Invest That No One Measures - Local Business Institute Value of local business is human to human

https://localbusinessinstitute.org/2026/08/using-ai-doesnt-mean-you-abandon-h2h/

Using Ai Doesn't Mean You Abandon H2H - Local Business Institute Value of local business is human to human