Printed in the Durango Herald February 22, 2020 Centura Backs out of Southwest Health Alliance In response to the growing support of the Southwest Health Alliance, a community-based health insurance cooperative in affiliation with the Peak Health Alliance, Centura Health announced today a “new plan” to lower the cost of hospital services by 20%. [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald January 25, 2020 Here's how to help your Local First Foundation Local First, the non-profit organization that is the voice of local, independent businesses in La Plata County, has been serving the business community for 12 years now. We are approaching 300 business members in 2020. This is a [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald December 28, 2019 ’Tis the season for the Be Local Coupon Book You’ve seen it around town - the bright teal book with the close-up of a Local First board member, donning cool shades with a reflective Local First logo encouraging us to hone our 20/20 vision and “Look [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald November 30, 2019 Look Local: Amazon enters the public sector At Local First we talk a lot about the impacts of shopping online to our local economy. And, to remind our readers, our name is “Local First,” not “Local, or Death!” So, we encourage all community members and institutions [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald November 2, 2019 Health care co-op saves money, helps people Have you heard about the Southwest Health Alliance? We recently teamed up with Peak Health Alliance to bring affordable and effective health care to the La Plata County region. This partnership evolved from a year-long community needs assessment that [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald October 5, 2019 How is the Creative District coming along? In my February 23rd column on the Durango Creative District, I had just finished a 30-day trip down the Grand Canyon and spoke to the inspiration of the outdoors and a burgeoning initiative to establish a Creative District in [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald September 7, 2019 Setting Goals is a positive first step “If you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time.” This famous quote coined by Zig Ziglar was taken to heart by the City of Durango on August 20th at their regularly scheduled board meeting (see Herald August 27th [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald August 10, 2019 Farm to Table to Farm: The Eat Local Movement You may have heard the term “Eat Local” around town, and with the harvest season drawing near, this call to action becomes more relevant than ever. Local First has a long track record of advocating for the [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald July 13, 2019 Brand your business as local and independent Last month’s Local First column discussed business as a force for good and the next generation’s estimated $1 trillion in impact investing by the end of 2020. While the positive social and environmental impact that these businesses have gives [...]
Printed in the Durango Herald June 15, 2019 Business as a force for good Can business be a force for positive change in the world? Taking a step further, can business address the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges? The next generation appears to think so. A 2018 study by Fidelity Charitable suggests [...]