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Local First is the voice of the local business community

Now, more than ever, supporting local, independent business is critical to bolstering our economy. Local First is proud to be working with La Plata County through their Cares Act ...

La Plata Cares: Support for businesses hit by COVID-19

Well, 2020 couldn’t get any weirder. And just as the business community is buckling down for a long, hard winter, another financial support mechanism has emerged: La Plata Cares. ...

The case for providing a supportive workplace

Researchers have known for several decades that providing a supportive workplace pays dividends. To be more specific, employees form an overall sense of how much their organizatio...

Bringing price relief and accountability to healthcare

It’s been a long, winding road since January 2018 when Local First received impassioned feedback at our annual meeting that the price of healthcare, and health insurance premiums in particul...

Keep doing your part to support local businesses

We are fortunate to live in an area with such a strong and ethical local business community. The vast majority of our local business leaders believe in the old saying, “A rising t...

Now more than ever, look Local First when shopping

These are strange times. The COVID-19 weirding experience that we are all facing personally and professionally continues to hang over our homes and the economy. Reflecting on the ...

How do we go back to ‘normal,’ and should we?

As we enter May, we enter what is normally a time for celebration around Durango – event season begins, Fort Lewis graduation occurs and almost every weekend there are multiple happenings ar...

The COVID mandate: Adapt and survive

The theme song that appears to be emerging from the COVID-19 health crisis is “adapt and survive.” As thousands of businesses come to a screeching halt, we are all scrambling to ...

Supporting local business during the coronavirus

As I sit here trying to write my first column as managing director of Local First, three months into the job, the world is facing a pandemic. Whether we actually get hit hard by coronavirus ...

Centura backs out of Southwest Health Alliance

In response to the growing support of the Southwest Health Alliance, a community-based health insurance cooperative in affiliation with the Peak Health Alliance, Centura Health announced tod...

Here’s how to help your Local First Foundation

Local First, the nonprofit organization that is the voice of local, independent businesses in La Plata County, has been serving the business community for 12 years now. We are ap...

’Tis the season for the Be Local Coupon Book

You’ve seen it around town – the bright teal book with the close-up of a Local First board member donning cool shades with a reflective Local First logo encouraging us to hone our 20/20 visi...