Our mission
We aim to build Kootenai County into a stronger, more resilient place that residents will be proud to call home.
We bring together civic-minded innovators to pursue high-quality, independent research, find creative solutions to local issues, and provide practical policy recommendations. We promote a culture of civic engagement, built on principles rooted in localism.
What is Localism?
Localism is a philosophy of life that prioritizes the local above the distant; the small above the large; the organic above the centrally planned. It recognizes that local communities are more fundamental than states or nations. Localism insists that local communities be stable, sustainable, and relatively self-sufficient. Everything from production and consumption to government should be done at the local level as much as possible. Localism is the opposite of globalism.
Human-Scale
Localism prefers small-scale operations over large-scale operations. Mom-and-pop restaurants instead of national franchises. Farmer's markets instead of large grocery stores.
Buying Local
Did you know that only 14% of revenue at big box stores returns to the local economy, but 52% of revenue to local independent stores stays local? The most important way you can support your community is to buy from your neighbors, from locally-owned stores, choosing goods grown or made in Idaho and America over goods from afar.
Domestic Production
Productive households contribute the most to their communities and make us less reliant on far-away corporations. We support a revival ofdomestic crafts, such as gardening, sewing, knitting, baking, canning, and keeping animals; and constructive hobbies, such as woodworking, blacksmithing, and candlemaking.
Food Independence
We literally cannot live without food. Local communities should produce enough food to feed themselves. This doesn’t mean we are limited to what can be grown locally, but we ought to be able to survive should we need to. Support local farmers through direct sales, farmer’s markets, and CSAs (community supported agriculture).
Government
Policy decisions and laws should be made at the smallest level that makes sense—a principle known as subsidiarity or federalism. Communities have different needs, different people, and different circumstances. Accordingly, different decisions and solutions make sense in different communities. Local decisions get us away from one-size-fits-all policies.
Housing and Growth
Suburbs and multi-family housing units are increasingly unaffordable for average Idahoan workers. But what’s the alternative? We are researching innovative, new development models that can help regular citizens escape savage rent/debt cycles, own their own homes, and preserve our community’s character into the future.
Building Communities
Localism builds strong, resilient communities that last generations. Localism invests in the future, rather than plundering the future to feed the present. It resists the urge to change the world and argues we should instead take care of first our families, our neighbors and our communities.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”