Buy Local SW Ohio​

2012
​In 2012, Energize Clinton County received a USDA “Rural Business Opportunity Grant” (RBOG) that enabled to providing training and technical assistance to seven rural, south-central Ohio counties – Adams, Brown, Fayette, Highland, Pike, and Scioto – to help them develop or expand upon their own Buy Local programs. 

Over the year long effort, ECC worked with community leaders and local business owners in each county on – what we like to refer to as – the “Buy Local in a Box” initiative. Primarily working with Chamber of Commerce directors and other local development leaders, we explored topics like “consumer education,” “buy local branding,” “web development and presence,” “holiday promotions,” and “long term strategies.” While we used our own Clinton County model as a foundation, we worked closely with each community to make sure that their campaign fit their county’s unique personality. 

Building upon our collaboration with JP Morgan Chase to study the effectiveness of the Buy Local First Clinton County program, we extended our analysis to consider the patterns of local shopping throughout the seven county region we served. The analysis found that a 10% shift of outside spending to local businesses within the seven county region of SW Ohio would have generated $300 million in economic activity in 2012. Read a summary of the findings here.