Those who follow the VMS blog are well aware of the benefits of sustaining local investment by urging consumers to eat local foods and to shop in local stores. Amy Cortese insists that this same approach is applicable to portfolio investments. Her most recent publication, Locavesting: the Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit … More Locavesting: “Investing in Main Street instead of Wall Street”

In a time of tight public budgets and program cuts, the most important task a publicly-funded program can do is show results.  Bring people downtown, attract private investment, increase sales and fill vacancies; i.e. increase the tax base.  These are the hard, quantifiable outcomes that a Main Street program should be working toward and that … More Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance named “Best Use of Taxpayer Money”