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Introducing guest speaker for next Wednesday’s mixer

Last year ASSETS, Lancaster Ventures Partners along with the Community Foundation and other partners took part in creating the Judy Wicks event #LocalGood. We were thrilled to have Judy Wicks share what it took to build the White Dog Cafe and how a Local Living Economy  is something we can all be a part of. Judy also mentioned that she was Co-Founder of BALLE, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. BALLE holds a yearly conference designed specifically for local economy leaders that want to connect with their peers, learn about innovations happening on the ground, and bring valuable insights back to their own communities. As we continue the theme around Business for Good and building our Local economy Lancaster County, we are beyond excited to have the Director of Fellowship and Alumni at BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) Leanne Krueger-Braneky share at our Small Business, Big Impact! Mixer next Wednesday, May 14th. We hope to see you, for more details click here!

Leanne-Krueger-Braneky

One of the things that most excites me about this movement is that BALLE networks are succeeding in all kinds of settings  across North America—urban and rural, low-income and affluent, homogeneous and diverse. As the number of people doing this work grows, we have more opportunities to learn about what works and what doesn’t work. I often tell my team that there are no models for what we are doing, that we are making the models up as we go along, but as more communities jump in, we can identify the models that work and share best practices. When we succeed, I envision an open-source, collaborative community of networks that help each other along towards our ultimate shared goal of transforming our local economies to be socially just, economically vibrant and environmentally responsible.

Leanne Krueger-Braneky was the Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN Philadelphia), a 400+ member business organization working to build a just, green and thriving economy in the Greater Philadelphia region. SBN Philadelphia accomplishes this by educating and growing a broad base of local, independent businesses and educating policy makers and the public. Since 2001, SBN Philadelphia has offered support for local businesses in the Philadelphia region, becoming a key player in the quest to make Philadelphia the most sustainable city in the country.  In 2011, SBN Philadelphia was named the Economic Development Program of the Year by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

Leanne led SBN Philadelphia from 2004-2013 and helped put the organization  on the local economy map through her influence on policy, organizing government and business leaders, and connecting national resources to Philadelphia.  As a BALLE Regional Hub and BALLE Fellow, Leanne  consulted to dozens of communities across North America.  Her goal is to transform economic development practice and policy to recognize and celebrate the essential role of local business in the health of their communities. Leanne now serves as Director of Fellowship and Alumni at BALLE.

Impact

  • More than 63% of SBN Philadelphia member businesses grew jobs by 5% last year; 100% of them recycle at least one output material; 48% hire managers from previously excluded populations; and 71% are leaders who help their industry create social and environmental standards. Through its partnership with B Lab, SBN Philadelphia proves that its members are having a positive impact in their communities.
  • Trained 2,000 social entrepreneurs – specifically targeting people of color from low-income communities – via the PhiladelphiaSocial Venture Institute.
  • Attracted more federal green jobs funding to Philadelphia than any other city in the country by building relationships between diverse stakeholders through the Green Economy Task Force.
  • Published  “Taking Care of Business: Improving Philadelphia’s Small Business Climate,” a report which showed that Philadelphia’s 93,000 small businesses provide 65 percent of the jobs in the city, proving the essential role that local businesses play in job creation.
  • Capturing $20 million in public green infrastructure investments by growing local companies and the local workforce to meet the coming demand for green infrastructure products and services through the Business United for Conservation Industry Partnership.

To learn more about Leanne click here https://bealocalist.org/Leanne-Krueger-Braneky

We leave you with this years BALLE Conference Save the date! video