Toledo Choose Local

Toledo Choose Local's $2 Bill Economic Stimulus Plan
We are empowering Toledo area residents to take our economic condition in our own hands. Consumers can commit to spending their money at only locally-owned businesses by trading in any amount of US Dollar bills for the equivalent amount in $2 bills. These valid $2 bills, stamped with Toledo Choose Local's logo, will be pledged to remain circulating in the Toledo area economy.
"Times are tough, but we're all still spending money," says Paula Ross, a research associate at the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center who serves on the board of Toledo Choose Local. "By choosing to spend our dollars at a locally owned store, we can have a real impact. Money spent at local, homegrown businesses is going to re-circulate in Toledo's economy through their use of local labor, local suppliers, and profit. Dollars spent at a national chain usually stay within the community only through wages to employees. Through taxes, wages, charitable donations, use of local suppliers and other local business service providers, money spent at a local store circulates in our community. The multiplier effect will continue to stimulate our local economy until it is spent and lost at a national chain."
TCL is confident that businesses will soon see the impact of this stimulus plan. A 2004 study by the UT Urban Affairs Center concluded that if each household in Lucas County re-directed $100 of spending to a locally-owned business (instead of a chain), the economic impact would be $8 million. Let's get these dollars rolling!
Total amount of TCL $2 bills exchanged: $3,038
Number of signees on the "I'm a Local Lover" Pledge: 139
8/19/09

A list of locally-owned business can be found on the Business Directory.
Follow these links for more information:
Press Release
Local Currencies:
www.ithacahours.com
www.hourexchange.org
Local Currencies
Detroit & Massachusetts

Roberta de Boer's column in the Toledo Blade about TCL's $2 Bill Plan

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