Alaska SBDC Relaunches BuyAlaska Program to Support Local Businesses

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global economic recession unlike any in recent memory. It has negatively impacted all sectors and communities across the state almost without exception, forcing businesses to close or restrict operations severely. Alaska’s businesses and core industries of tourism, retail, service, and hospitality are particularly susceptible to financial damage from restrictions.

The Alaska Small Business Development Center (Alaska SBDC) has partnered with Alaska Communications, Alaska MEP (Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership), Edible Alaska, and dozens of other organizations across the state to launch the BuyAlaska program. This partnership focuses on a simple goal: encouraging Alaskans to support the businesses that are the backbone of their communities by buying local.

BuyAlaska encourages Alaskans to shop “Local First.” Alaskans who choose to BuyAlaska will help businesses survive the COVID-19 economic downturn and ultimately build long-term economic resilience for our state. It has never been more important to support buy-local efforts and to make it easy for Alaskans to find and purchase from local vendors. The BuyAlaska webpage at www.buyalaska.com seeks to provide access to statewide small businesses and to educate consumers about the direct benefits of keeping our dollars in Alaska. 

The BuyAlaska group is made up of organizations and individuals from all over the state, and new members are always welcome to join in the effort. The program will promote and support existing buy local efforts and will create new initiatives where necessary. Alaska SBDC Executive Director, Jon Bitter, expanded on this motivation with, “Alaskans know that when we buy local goods and services, our local economies prosper. When local businesses succeed, our community’s opportunities for jobs, programs, and partnerships grow.” We invite you to BuyAlaska.