This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Building an Independent Business Alliance® in College Park

Did you know that College Park now has its very own Independent Business Alliance®?

The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) defines an "Independent Business Alliance®" (IBA) based on the following criteria:

  1. Private, worker, community or cooperative ownership.
  2. At least 50% locally-owned 
  3. Decision-making authority is vested in the local owners and not subject to conditions dictated remotely.
  4. The business has a limited number of outlets and limited geographic range 

 

IBAs strive to bring locally-owned independent businesses, citizens and community organizations together to help build sustainable local economies. This is achieved through a combination of:

Find out what's happening in College Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Public education about the overall value of locally-owned independent businesses
  • Cooperative promotion, advertising, purchasing, sharing of skills and resources among IBA members
  • Creating a voice for independent businesses with local government and media

 

Did you know that College Park now has its very own IBA? The College Park Neighborhood Business Alliance grew out of a collaborative effort between local business owners and the City of College Park to promote and give support to College Park businesses. In the months following that, the group met on a pretty regular basis, and discussed issues important to locally-owned businesses. Since then CPNBA has:

Find out what's happening in College Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Unanimously voted to become an Independent Business Alliance® in May 2011
  • Affiliated with the American Independent Business Alliance in July 2011
  • Incorporated as a Maryland non-profit, to represent the interests of locally-owned independent business in College Park, in August 2011
  • Had our first official board meeting in September 2011
  • Attended several local events to start spreading the word about the organization

 

We are holding our second board meeting on October 7th, where we expect to ratify our bylaws and hold our first election of officers. 

In the coming weeks, we will start accepting memberships from locally-owned independent businesses in College Park, and soon after we will start accepting memberships from individuals that are excited about helping us build a vibrant local economy in College Park (plus we'll probably offer discounts for individual members at member businesses!).

If you'd like to learn more about CPNBA, please visit our web site. We'd also love to get your input in the , which will run through October 31, 2011.

Also, for business owners that aren't already on the CPNBA mailing list, you can sign up to keep informed of upcoming events. You don't need to be a CPNBA member, or even a business owner, to be on the mailing list; it's open to everyone.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?