Skip to content
We're Open Sign

RSS Local First Arizona – News Blog

  • Reclaiming Local Choice: How Arizona Can Fight Consolidation January 23, 2026
    Across this series, we have traced how consolidation reshaped our food system, our local economies and daily life in ways that often feel disconnected at first glance. This section brings those threads together. What is at stake is not one industry or one policy, but the fabric of our communities themselves. The choices available to […]
    Alyssa Crijns
  • Welcome Our January New and Renewing Business Coalition Members January 22, 2026
    Every month, we highlight the businesses and organizations that choose to stay invested in local ownership and community connection. This month’s new and renewing Business Coalition members reflect the many ways local leadership shows up, from care and service to creativity and experience. Their work strengthens communities through commitment, purpose and long-term impact.
    Lori Cothrun
  • Green Business Boot Camp Helps a Flagstaff Farm Cut Costs and Build Resiliency January 21, 2026
    Forestdale Farm, a Flagstaff-based regenerative farm, is reducing energy costs and strengthening long-term resilience by installing a solar array with support from Local First Arizona. Through the Green Business Boot Camp, a federal REAP grant and a low-interest bridge loan, farm owner Rylan Morton-Starner is replacing costly generator fuel with clean energy — lowering expenses, […]
    Kat Meyer
  • How A We Rise Demo Day Winner Is Supporting Arizona’s Healthcare Pipeline January 21, 2026
    After nearly two decades as an EEG technologist, Agnes Adams understood Arizona’s healthcare workforce gaps from the inside. Essential roles were understaffed, and for many women — particularly women of color — the pathway into healthcare careers was limited. In 2021, Adams and her business partner, Miss Gigi, launched the Yond Institute of Learning, a […]
    Kat Meyer
  • Markets That Only Look Free: Amazon and Wal-Mart January 16, 2026
    In the first installments of this series, we explored increasing consolidation and how it has reshaped the food system and why it matters so deeply in Arizona. But food is only one place where this pattern shows itself. The same forces that determine what ends up on our plates also shape where we shop, what […]
    Alyssa Crijns