Council to provide feedback on the Flagstaff Local - My Actions Matter campaign so staff can begin sharing the program with the community.

The Flagstaff Local - My Actions Matter campaign was created as a request from our previous city manager, Barbara Goodrich. Up until the time of her retirement, Barbara was holding meetings that included several council member meetings with business partners who shared their struggles and desire to have more attention placed on their businesses. With that said, Barbara asked the Economic Vitality Division, the marketing arm for the City, to work on messaging to our community on the importance of shopping locally.

The Economic Vitality Director gathered a team consisting of staff from the Convention and Visitor Bureau, Community Investment, and Library programs to begin working on the request. To gain more insight into the subject, we included other partners in the discussion, such as the Downtown Business Alliance and Northern Arizona University. Additional meetings with partners such as the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (NAIPTA), and more also occurred where we sought input and shared the concept of the program we were putting together.

After a series of team meetings, it was decided that a campaign on shopping local is important, but there are additional issues and actions that also need attention and can be included in our overall messaging to the community. From that, we came up with the following actions: shop Flagstaff, volunteer, be eco-friendly, donate, support education, mentor, and vote. While putting together the campaign, the team realized it was more than a campaign; it needed to be a real movement. A movement where our community shares and works toward common goals for a stronger outcome.

Summary: During the presentation to Council, staff will go over a PowerPoint and share two videos to help with the overall discussion and the Council's introduction to the movement.

Background: The following explains the  Flagstaff Local - My Actions Matter movement: (This information will reside on the flagstafflocal.com website)

Flagstaff Local - My Actions Matter is a community movement that encourages and celebrates residents that choose to shop Flagstaff, volunteer, be eco-friendly, donate, support education, mentor, and vote. By taking part in the Flagstaff Local movement, you are connecting what you love about Flagstaff and living here, with your everyday actions.

Choosing to buy coffee from a neighborhood coffee house or buying your next vehicle from a Flagstaff dealer directly results in your money staying here. Simply said, when you spend in Flagstaff, your money stays in Flagstaff. Equally important, when you volunteer, be eco-friendly, donate, support education, mentor, and vote you are also contributing to everyone's overall quality of life.

You love Flagstaff. We love Flagstaff. Let's come together, share our actions, and be the city where people continue to visit, discover, grow, and thrive.

Shop Flagstaff: By shopping Flagstaff you support all of the working people of this amazing community. Experience the excellent and readily available customer service, plus that unexpected “find”. Whether you want information on a product or need to return merchandise, brick-and-mortar stores are generally faster and easier to deal with compared to online stores.
You can: Learn about the local businesses and get to know the community members that work there, use local services whenever possible, support restaurants that source part or all of their product locally which makes a smaller carbon footprint, bank locally which translates to more personal service, and the list of reasons to shop local goes on.

Volunteer: By volunteering you learn new skills, connect to your community, and make it a better place. People who engage in altruistic activities report a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. 
You can: Connect with any of our 300+ non-profit organizations, care for a rescue animal, be company for a senior, lend time
to our libraries, and offer your professional skill set to a charity.

Be Eco-friendly: Environmentally friendly people recycle, conserve water and fuel, and make conscious choices
that lessen their impact on the environment.
You can: Purchase sustainable products, re-use and recycle, pick up trash when walking or hiking, work with our
sustainability organizations on how to make your home or office eco-friendlier, choose to bike, carpool or take the bus when possible.

Donate: Giving makes you happy. Donating to the causes you care about not only benefits the charities themselves, but it can be deeply rewarding for you, too. Millions of people give to charity with time, talent, and treasure to support causes they believe in, as well as for the positive effect it has on their own lives and community.
You can: Donate to a non-profit, school, or organization of your choice.

Support Education: Education benefits children, society, and the world as a whole. It enables children to thrive and
adults to read, learn, reason, communicate, and make informed choices about their lives.
You can: Volunteer in a classroom or a lunchroom, serve as a chaperone on a school field trip
or assist in a technology lab, and encourage students to utilize library resources.

Mentor: Be a source of wisdom, knowledge, and support. Share your experiences to foster professional
development and positive growth.
You can: Enhance relationships within your community, gain a better understanding of other cultures, develop a greater  appreciation for diversity, and help change someone else’s life for cultures, and help change someone else's life for the better.

Vote: Voting matters. Your vote is your voice. Vote so you can support the ideas, philosophy and public policy you believe in and be the change you want to see.
You can: Register to vote, educate yourself about the candidates and issues, cast your vote in
person or by mail.

The effort going forward: To help our community understand the Flagstaff Local - My Actions Matter movement, we will be performing marketing and outreach that will share how community members can get involved, why they want to be involved, and the steps to share their actions. We will also explain how a local can sign up, log their actions, earn points and be rewarded which are elements to the overall movement. We will also share stories from our locals about the reward of giving back. The movement will go from mid-November 2019 to June 2020. After this time, we will access the program for the future.

Geographic boundaries: The team is suggesting we allow the boundary for participation to be further then our Flagstaff city boundaries. This is a discussion item with council.