Local First Chicago

Local First Chicago’s (LFC) mission is to educate the public on the importance of choosing locally owned, independent businesses. LFC works primarily through public education, business support, and advocacy.

Local First Chicago (LFC) is an inclusive network consisting of business owners, economic development professionals, and community representatives in the Chicago region joined in the belief that locally owned, independent businesses are a crucial feature of economically and environmentally sustainable neighborhoods. Today’s marketplace directly disadvantages locally owned independent businesses through oversized corporate marketing budgets, bureaucratic public policy, and lack of citizen awareness.

Through promotion, education, technical assistance and advocacy, LFC protects the benefits provided by locally owned businesses: living wage jobs; economic vitality through local circulation of profits; environmental sustainability; community-specific goods and services; and a unique sense of place that allows communities to attract patrons, keeping sales tax dollars in the city’s economy.

LFC provides a voice for small businesses to influence the governmental issues that affect them directly by advocating for policies at the local, state, and national level.