Chris Harlan

Barb Gallivan

 

Jennifer Rybicki

 

Tom Carrino

Joe Duchene

Ian Goldberg

Carl Hill

Ted Jeurissen

Ellen Kirsanoff

Brian McKay

Paul Wirth

What results do you want to see by the end of the week? Write them down and rank them.

The Urbana Business Association in partnership with the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, the Mahomet, Rantoul and St. Joseph Chambers of Commerce are excited to announce a united effort to encourage cash flow in our county through our Save Jobs. Shop Local. Spend Now. campaign. We are encouraging our residents to understand the consequences for a community when consumers hold back on their spending or they turn to the Internet as a means for saving money.

We are a community blessed with a diverse mix of business and it's that mix that makes our economy work. With this campaign, we are urging our residents to spend their dollars locally; and, to communicate the message that it is all right to invest in yourself, your family, your home and your business. Because when you invest in all these things by making purchases locally, you are investing in public safety and basic services.

When collectively, a community holds back on spending or shops the Internet, our cities have trouble paying our basic services like roads, and fire and police protection. When collectively we hold back, we see businesses that have served our community close their doors and we see people -- our neighbors, our family, our friends lose their jobs. This is not a cycle we can break at the national level, but it is a cycle that we can help break in our local community if we all make a concentrated effort to purchase those extra items or services that we have eliminated from our daily lives - and to certainly not buy them online when possible.