I have been working on the 2010 Local Economy Summit that will take place in Fairfield on Saturday, February 13 at 9:30 a.m. The current national and international economic has highlighted the need for boosting local economies. The Huffington Post has advocated moving funds from national banks to community banks. Even the State of New Mexico has decided to move all state funds to local banks.
The summit will feature presentations from many of the organizations that are catalysts for boosting Fairfield's economy including the Mayor of Fairfield, Ed Malloy, Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association, Fairfield First!, City of Fairfield Go-Green Plan, Sustainable Living Coalition, FEDA and Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa. We'll be announcing the 2010 Local Economy Stimulus program that includes new micro-enterprise and private equity funding for entrepreneurs and startup businesses.
The good news for Fairfield is housing pricing is stable and on an uptick. This is good news for the local tax base. Retail sales and local option sales taxes are 2.5 higher than the Iowa per capita average. But, on the flip side, unemployment mirrors the national average of 9%, fifty percent higher than the Iowa Average.
The new Green Business Council will talk about what businesses are doing to conserve energy by 10% by the end of the year. The new full-time coordinator of Hometown Harvest, Elisabet Humble, will talk about new local food programs including farm-to-school. Our goal is to increase local food consumption and production by 10% this year.
I will also be premiering my new short film, Finding Fairfield, that shares some of the interesting stories about people who who found Fairfield on the Interne including TruckStop Souvenir, Troy Van Beek, Savannah Quinn and David Patterson.
I have also been working on the 2010 Fairfield Business Review that tells the entrepreneurial stories of Fairfield area businesses. Two of the most dynamic clusters are "clean and green" and "online media and performing arts." Businesses that would like to be included can contact me at Burt@FairfieldIowa.biz. I'll send you a mockup, samples and all the details.