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SBN Newsletter
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June, 2014
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Dear SBN Members and Friends,
Thankfully the weather is getting warm! And as the weather is heating up, so are SBN's summer activities. The Third Annual Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest is a unique event-- not only locally, but also nationally. SBN is a national leader in promoting local and independent brewers, as well as actively encouraging the use of local ingredients. It was exciting to see The Boston Globe acknowledge the importance of our work! As has been said before, SBN changes the world and throws a better party in the process! Thanks to the Nicola Williams and The Williams Agency and the SBN staff for making it a fun and meaningful event! It has also been inspirational to work closely with SBN members at our series of B2B events that focus on authentic selling. The first two in this series stimulated much conversation and "outside the box" thinking about what selling looks like in the new relationship economy. If you need new business, make sure someone from your company attends the next SBN B2B. Have a great summer and I hope to see you soon! Laury
Laury Hammel
Executive Director, SBN
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SBN's Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest was a blast!
 | | Photos by Melissa Blackall Photography, www.melissablackallphotography.com |
Last weekend (June 13-14th), SBN hosted its 3rd Annual Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest at the Center for the Arts at the Armory. The fundraising event highlighted and promoted local brewers of beer, cider & mead, artisan beverage makers, home brewers and food vendors. Once again, the
Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest was a high-energy and unique event that not only showcased local beverage producers, but also showcased local brews incorporating local ingredients.
The Boston Globe offered a terrific recap of the event, found here, which called "localism" the new trend in the craft brew market, on display in force during our brewfest.
 
On Friday night, our first session opened with a special Hombrew Showcase co-sponsored by Modern Homebrew Emporium highlighting home-brews and homebrewing with local ingredients. The Showcase, featuring a Homebrew Club Jamboree, brought together aspiring brewers, brew fans and the curious minded to experiment and learn what is available in the New England region for making their products.
Sessions II on Saturaday night was completely sold out, and III later that evening continued the celebration well into the evening. For the third year in a row, the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts threw yet another amazing Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest with over 1000 attendees.
Find the full story, with pictures and tweets here!
Thank you again to our sponsors, volunteers and supporters! For more photos, visit our Facebook page!
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Business Alliance for Local Living Economies Conference 2014
The SBN Staff traveled all the way to sunny Oakland, California from June 11-14th to attend an annual conference, presented by BALLE!
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Mandela Co-op Market
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Our conference experience kicked off with a unique tour of Oakland's urban farm scene on the Oakland Urban Food Justice Tour.
It was both validating and inspiring to see the urban farming movement taking off in Oakland. Boston has also become a leader in urban farming, thanks to the leadership of such groups as City Growers and the Urban Farming Institute that were both founded by SBN member Glynn Lloyd of City Fresh Foods!
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Tour buses for exploring Oakland, CA.
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Wednesday night during the opening session, BALLE co-founders Judy Wicks and SBN's Executive Director, Laury Hammel, received several shout-outs about the vision they held and the work they did to found BALLE and build the local living economy movement.
Day two of the 2014 BALLE Conference began with some incredible vision speakers, Kelly Ryan of Incourage Community Foundation, James Johnson-Piett of Urbane Development LLC, and Noel Poyo of the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders.
According to the official BALLE blogger, "Each speaker shared their pioneering work from the leading edges of finance, policy and supporting entrepreneurs and setting the stage for the afternoon sessions." Sessions included "A Localist Policy Agenda," which was informational and insightful on how policy operates in our country and the role that large corporations play in shaping policy; SBN staff also participated in "Financing Resilient Local Economies," which asked the question-- what happens between the vision of investing, and the actual outcome?
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Inside the Scottish Rite Center
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Thursday evening was a blast, as the entire conference gathered at the American Steel Studios for an eclectic and energizing series of performance art. Local food included wood-fired pizzas, paella, mini cupcake towers, and spiced corn.
According to a BALLE blogger, "Friday was all about the future of ownership, leadership development and the new food economy... The Super Sessions featured cutting-edge thinkers and doers in the realms of ownership, the new food economy and leadership development." We heard fascinating stories of leaders and their "ah-ha!" moments when they realized the value they could add to their community. A wonderful example is Judy Wicks, owner of The White Dog Café, who sought to make it the most equitable and sustainable cafe in the area. After realizing the good she was doing (paying living wages, sourcing locally and organically, etc), she decided to share her practices with other local businesses because "there is no such thing as a sustainable business, but rather only a sustainable system."
BALLE 2015 will be in Phoenix, Arizona! We can't wait to relive the BALLE experience all over again, and we hope to see some of you there!
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View of Lake Merritt outside of the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland, Ca.
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SBN New & Returning Member Announcement 
SBN's network is growing in leaps and bounds! A big welcome to our newest SBN Members:
DcN Consulting, Newton, MA: Deb Nemetz, Independent HR Consultant, has over 20 years of experience in the human resource profession with an emphasis on both corporate and consulting settings. While her specialty is compensation, she has a strong generalist experience and has worked in a variety of for-profit and non-profit organizations. Deb particularly enjoys working with small/emerging companies. She offers an attractive alternative to these organizations that need high quality HR expertise at affordable prices.
Great Sky Solar, Brookline, MA: Boston's only employee-owned solar installer. Every member of the team has a vested interest in providing the greatest possible experience for the people they work with. They care about the best materials, the highest quality racking, and providing everything at match-or-beat rates so you can afford it. Welcome back to renewing SBN Members:
Intelligent Labor and Moving, North Cambridge, MA: A four-crew moving company serving Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington and the greater Boston area. Intelligent Labor and Moving firmly believes in businesses participating in the communities they serve, and recycles as much of their waste as possible. Scopa Group, Boston, MA: Scopa Group helps communities, businesses an non-profits create positive sustainable impact by strategically aligning their values and resources with local and global community needs. Scopa Group founder, Andrea Atkinson, is giving a workshop an "Regenerative Development" on June 23 in the SBN board room, which is free for all SBN members to attend.
Interested in becoming a member?
Take a look and see what you think! Feel free to reach out to Charlotte with any questions regarding your individual, student or business membership!
Thank you all for your partnership and commitment to building a Massachusetts economy that is Local, Green and Fair!
Remember: Think Members First! What better way to support the local economy and each other than to support SBN members who share your values and commitment to the principals of Local, Green and Fair. SBN is working on new programs to encourage and support greater B2B exchange within the network. Stay tuned for ways to get engaged!
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Vendor Registration is Still Open for the BLFF 2014!
Regular vendor and sponsor registration is open, and we invite all interested farmers, restaurants, specialty food producers, and local food related organizations to participate!
Don't forget that the 5th Annual Boston Local Food Festival is coming up with its new, earlier date of September 14th! We are still looking for participants, including restaurants, food trucks, specialty food producers, farms, fishermen, non-profits, and food or fitness related organizations to join in the fun! The regular registration period ends on July 1st. Make sure to sign-up before the end of the month to avoid the $50 late fee. Register today, and mark your calendars for our best festival yet on Sunday, September 14th, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. !
SBN's Boston Local Food Festival, considered New England's largest one day farmers market, is Boston's premier food event connecting eaters and consumers to healthy sustainable foods grown and produced close to home. Attracting thousands of residents and visitors, it provides an ideal opportunity for local food growers and producers to showcase their products and connect with new and existing costumers while growing and supporting the local food movement.
Please help us spread the word to all local food businesses you think might benefit from participating.
*There is an additional $25 discount for SBN members or SBLP participants on all vendor fees. For prices and to register as a vendor, click the button above and fill out our online application!
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Businesses Acting on Rising Seas: Boston Networking & Panel Discussion, Tonight from 6-8 p.m.
DATE: TONIGHT, June 24th, 2014 TIME: 6:00-8:00PM LOCATION: District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston, MA. 02210 Join Brian Swett, Boston's Chief of Environment, and a group of climate-savvy businesses who are taking action to prepare for rising tides and moving their data to higher ground. The speakers will discuss preventative strategies to combat climate change and you can learn simple actions to help overcome extreme weather events. We will have a networking session where businesses can interact with exhibitors and obtain tips on how to keep your company afloat when extreme weather hits. SPEAKERS Jim Newman, LEED AP, Principal, Linnean Solutions Jim will discuss the recent report on building resilience that he and Linnean Solutions co-wrote with the Built Environment Coalition and the Resilient Design Institute prepared for the Boston Society of Architects and the Green Ribbon Commission Climate Preparedness Working Group. Susan Labandibar, President, Tech Networks of Boston. Susan will discuss how teaming up with Tech Networks and moving your data to the cloud by use of Office 365 will be the first and most important step in avoiding data loss during an extreme weather event. Brian R. Swett, Chief of Environment and Energy, City of Boston. Brian will discuss the City's efforts to prepare Boston for the changing climate and rising seas. Agenda 6:00-6:30pm Networking 6:30-7:30pm Presentations and Speakers 7:30-8:00pm Networking There will be a cocktail reception before and after the presentations with food and drink available. For more information, e-mail james.billman@climateactioncoalition.org |
Join us in July for Sales B2B Networking Meeting: Part Three!
On July 29, 2014 from 6-8:30 p.m., SBN will host our July B2B Networking Meeting at the SBN Offices! To continue our goal to fill your need, we invite you to join us in Part Three of our sales series! Based on your feedback from Part 1 & 2, we've narrowed the next theme down to four choices: Please take a few seconds to respond to our 1-Question Survey and cast your vote for July's topic of conversation!
Some positive take-aways from the June workshop included: (1) have the confidence in your product to make an authentic presentation, (2) change "me" into "we" when representing the sale, (3) the importance of creating a meaningful partnership rather than simply a business transaction, and (4) make an accurate assessment of your customer's needs.
Mark your calendars! Registration will open soon.
WHEN: July 29, 2014 @ 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
WHERE: SBN Offices, 2nd Level Boardroom
99 Bishop Allen Drive
Cambridge,MA 02139
COST: $10 for Members; $20 for Non-Members
CONTACT: Taryn, 617-395-0250 E-mail
Refreshments:
If you're interested in sponsoring refreshments, please contact Taryn
Johnson at taryn@sbnmass.org, or call 617-395-0250 for questions.
B2B Sponsorship includes: logo on all future invitations, plus additional communications and event listings; as well as the opportunity to give a promo in the introduction of the meeting.
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Steve Grossman Visits Greenest Health Club in America!
 | | Craig Huntley, Solect Energy, Dinesh Wadhwani, ThinkLite, Massachusetts State Treasuer Steve Grossman, Laury Hammel and Myke Farricker, The Longfellow Clubs, Michael Green and Quinton Zondervan, CALC. |
Massachusetts State Treasurer Steve Grossman visited The Longfellow Club in Wayland appropriately on the day before the Summer Solstice. For many good reasons, Longfellow is widely accepted as the "greenest indoor health club" in America, and Treasurer Grossman was impressed with the nearly forty years of work Longfellow has done to green its business-- including its leading work in solar power!
The "green things" of Longfellow are too long to list, but near the top is that Longfellow was the first graduate of SBN's Sustainable Business Leader Program. One of the reasons Longfellow's carbon footprint is so low is directly related to the partnerships it has with several local green businesses, two of which were present at the club tour. ThinkLite founder, Dinesh Wadhwani, talked about their innovative work in developing the energy-saving HammelLites, as well as their Tube LED's that were both on display at Longfellow! Solect Energy founder, Craig Huntley, shared the work they are doing to bring solar electric panels to Longfellow and the importance to this project of state support. The Treasurer was very impressed and supportive of these innovations and commented on how important the work of these three local businesses is to our local economy (major job- creators Longfellow has 700 staff members) as well as to our environment. Michael Green and CALC organized the event and CALC representatives also presented their ideas about how the state could continue to improve it's support of green initiatives throughout the commonwealth. The conversation with the Treasurer after the tour was significant, as it became clear that Steve Grossman is a green leader among State Treasurers. Massachusetts is definitely fortunate to have a small business owner like Steve Grossman be our Treasurer. He shares SBN's mission of building a strong economy that is local, green, and fair and is working on this mission every day.
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Sustainable Business Leader Program Updates 
Hundred Mile Market Please join us in welcoming Hundred Mile Market to the Sustainable Business Leader Program! Bob Perry, founder and long-time President of The Elephant Walk restaurants will soon be opening Hundred Mile Market in Waltham. The Market will sell local products exclusively, using the Mini Grocery concept to sell both perishable and non-perishable foods, as well as an array of non-food items. As a registered Benefit Corporation, Hundred Mile Market operate with a focus on the Triple Bottom Line to strengthen the local economy, work to minimize it's carbon footprint, as well as ongoing donations to non-profits mitigating aspects of poverty. We are exited to work with Hundred Mile Market on their journey through development and opening in October. Tasting Counter Similarly, we are excited to welcome the Tasting Counter into the program! The Tasting Counter is an experiential dining experience where guests face an open kitchen and watch the chefs as they carefully construct delicious, balanced tasting menus using locally sourced ingredients. With guiding principles of "0 Carbon, 50 Local, 100 Natural" SBLP is excited to work with Tasting Counter through it's build out phase and is eagerly anticipating the opening date! Tasting Counter has recently just signed a lease in Somerville, and will be joining the new collaborative workspace with Aeronaut Brewery, Brooklyn Boulders Somerville and many more. Manchester Essex Please help us welcome Manchester Essex Regional High School to the Sustainable Community Leader Program. We are working with the Green Team at the school, a group that works to inspire Manchester Essex students, staff and community members to embrace environmental sustainability and focus on reducing each individual's negative impact on the earth-to think and act globally, not just locally! The high school has received many awards as one of the "Greenest Schools" not only in the state, but also in the country! SCLP is happy to help further the Green Team's commitment to sustainability and certify the school as a Sustainable Community leader. Interested in learning more about the Sustainable Business Leader Program? Contact Alex Barber at Alex@sbnmass.org to learn more about the opportunities and how you can reduce your business' carbon footprint and save money. SBLP is also seeking new participants who are committed to local, green and fair. |
| Local First Update: News from Waltham Local First
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Pictured are Waltham Local First co-founders Aravinda Ananda & Joseph Rotella.
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Waltham Local First is the youngest of Massachusetts' 7 Local First organizations.
More than 20 people attended WLF's first member networking event on June 3rd in the beautiful showroom of Watch City Kitchens, owned by WLF Co-Chair Tom LeBlanc.
This past Saturday Waltham Local First had it's real "coming out party" when they staffed a table at the Waltham Farmers' Market at its new home on School Street. Volunteers staffing the table were engaged by several dozen Farmers' Market shoppers, fielding questions about Waltham Local First and the virtues of shopping local, as well as the progress of the movement regionally and nationally.
Waltham Local First will be present at the Waltham Farmers' Market one Saturday each month throughout the season, which runs into November.
Waltham's next great event is its first Waltham Local Thirst scheduled for 5:30-7:30pm on Wednesday, July 9th at Waltham Sports Pub (a new member of WLF!), 619 Main Street in Waltham, MA. Come for great refreshments, networking, and casual conversation! |
 Progress made on Massachusetts Minimum Wage! By Business for a F air Minimum Wage, June 12, 2014 Massachusetts House and Senate negotiators have reached a compromise on raising the minimum wage to $11 by January 2017, the rate we advocated. This is higher than the $10.50 the House voted for earlier, but drops the Senate provision for future cost of living adjustments. Without strong business support, MA would not be taking this big step forward. We want to thank you and ask you to assure final passage and constructive business voices in the media by: - Contacting your senators and representatives, identifying yourself as a businessperson and constituent, and asking them to vote for the $11 minimum wage legislation - you can add that you favor tying future increases to the cost of living. (Legislator lookup below.)
- Writing a letter to the editor saying why as a businessperson you support raising the minimum wage.
We are also still adding names to our Massachusetts Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Statement if there are business colleagues you think would want to show their support before final passage and bill signing. Click here: http://bit.ly/17wRiux! Look up your legislators: https://malegislature.gov/People/Search info@businessforafairminimumwage.org
Twitter: @MinimumWageBiz |
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Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Micro-lending & Coaching Event for small business owners
Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream is a micro-lending and coaching program for small business owners in food, beverage, craft brewing and hospitality.
The program really stemmed from Jim Koch, Samuel Adams Brewer and Founder's experience in starting a small business 30 years ago. Jim Koch, hasn't forgotten how hard it is to start and run a successful small business. That's why he created Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, a unique program that provides the two things he wishes he had when starting Sam Adams: financing and real-world business advice.
- Impact to Date:
- Coaching/mentoring more than 4,000 small business owners
- Providing nearly $3 million in microloans to more than 330 food, beverage, and hospitality small businesses nationwide, including more than a dozen craft brewers
- Helping create or retain more than 1,900 jobs
Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Speed Coaching is where small business owners will have the opportunity participate in up to six 20-minute, high-impact sessions with coaches in areas such as sales and distribution, packaging, finance and marketing. For example, a small business owner with a packaging question will be able to meet with someone who is an expert in packaging and design. We are hosting an event on Monday, June 30th in Springfield MA.
What: Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Speed Coaching Springfield!
When: 6-8:30pm EST, June 30th, 2014
Where: Springfield Technical Community College Scibelli Hall One Armory Square Springfield, MA 01105
Free networking and mentoring opportunity with food, beverage, and craft brewing business owners. Click here for the EventBrite page for Sam Adams' FREE Speed Coaching event.
Next local Speed Coaching event is Monday, October 6th at the Boston Brewery.
To learn more about the BTAD program, visit:
http://btad.samueladams.com/HowItWorks.aspx.
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SBN Green Tip of the Month: Red, White and Green
July 4th has arrived once again and we're asking you to think GREEN this year! Here are some tips on how to consider the environment on this years holiday:
1. Biodegradable Plates: Barbecues are a must on the 4th. But instead of using plastic or Styrofoam plates, invest in biodegradable Bambu plates. Prices are fairly comparable, and they make a significant difference in reducing hard waste. Simple step to make a concrete impact!
2. Local Meats : Instead of going to the over crowded grocery stores this year, buy from your local market! You'll be supporting your local economy and investing in higher quality meats. If you're looking for a local butcher, try Savenor's. They are known for their commitment to shortening the supply chain between producer and consumer ultimately bringing us closer to our farms.
 3. GO-VEG: If you want to go all the way and try something new, go meatless! Check out these great recipes for a delicious vegetarian option. A Chickpea Burger, Lentil Burger, or a Portobello Mushroom Burger. Veggie options put a great spin on traditional burgers, and offer much more flavor and variety. 4. Outdoor Activities: Instead of celebrating with a big bonfire, try more eco-friendly activities such as corn hole, or swimming! While bonfires may be traditional, they emit major amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere and between grilling and bonfires, it's best to skip the latter and go green!
5. Use Water Containers: Who needs plastic water bottles when you can save money and waste without them? Get big containers of water that people can refill as they please, using reusable cups. This way you're both reducing plastic waste and water consumption.
6. Hardwood Lump Charcoal: Instead of using regular charcoal for your barbecues this year, use this 100% All-Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal. This special charcoal heat's up much faster than traditional charcoal and it doesn't use coal therefore greatly reducing carbon emissions.
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 Save the Date for Upcoming Events!
Check out our Event Calendar for more event information & ticket purchases! RSVP to Taryn Johnson at Taryn@sbnmass.org!
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