Rotary Presentation -- February 13, Sean O'Shea

A great deal of research has been done on the potential economic benefits of people buying items through local businesses and keeping more money in the borough.  Even a small increase in the number of purchases made locally will increase economic activity in the Fairbanks North Star Borough by hundreds of millions of dollars.  To this end, the "Fairbanks First" program has been created to take advantage of this.

The program includes not only advocating local purchasing habits to shoppers, but also to the development of more local businesses.  Education both for consumers and business owners to generate more local buying is also a large part of it.  Transportation, advertising and business development programs are all included in the effort to promote the economic well-being of our community.