Small businesses make up more than 99 percent of all businesses in the United States and represent a huge economy that can help make green business practices common and widespread as well as benefit from them.

For a recent feature for GreenBiz.com about what groups are trying to help make small businesses greener, I came across the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, or BALLE, a group of 56 networks across the United States and Canada.

Businesses within the networks exchange ideas and experiences with sustainability programs and other efforts, like "buy-local" programs.

GreenBiz.com's assistant editor Jonathan Bardelline spoke with Mary Rick, BALLE's program director, about the present and future of local living economies.

Jonathan Bardelline: The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies has many areas of businesses it focuses on. Where do green business practices and sustainability fit into the goals of BALLE and its networks?

Mary Rick: Well, Jonathan, the sustainability and green business principles of BALLE are really at the core of everything that we do. We do have a focus, as you know, on local ownership, and really want to be connecting with community-based businesses as our primary focus. At the same time, we feel like sustainability and green business are inherent in community-based businesses, although not as explicitly as a lot of these businesses often think. We are really trying to take a systems approach to green business, and starting at the local community level is a very effective way to do that. I think it's built into everything that we look at. However, a lot of these businesses are approaching it from very different places.

JB: Could you give an example or two about either standout programs or efforts by these businesses, or what kind of places they're coming from?

MR: Yeah, definitely. Again, we're really trying to develop a platform for exchange, and in giving these local business networks an opportunity to connect with each other and share a lot of their best practices and different programs. One of the unique programs that is being developed in Philadelphia by our network there, the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, is something that another partner of ours, the Social Venture Network, has been working on for some time, called Social Venture Institutes. What that is, is it's a learning exchange whereby seasoned entrepreneurs are advising newer entrepreneurs on business practices and challenges of all kinds.

Now that really does get into the heart of green business and sustainability, and how to really integrate socially responsible, sustainable practices into your businesses, but at the same time it's addressing the core elements of business success. That's one of the programs that is a peer-to-peer advising opportunity that our local business network is providing for business owners in that community.

Now we do have a lot of different programs that our business networks take on. Another program example might be the Green Power Challenge that our network Sustainable Connections developed up in Bellingham, Washington. They have been educating local businesses on how and why to purchase green energy in their community, and were actually rated one of the top EPA green cities in the nation for the work that they've done there. It's been primarily an education campaign, but it's activated hundreds of businesses to buy green power.

Now, one of the most exciting elements of that is that they're recognizing the demand for this power in their community. It's really inspiring a lot of new entrepreneurship. That's kind of the model we're really going for, is with this systems approach, we're able to see the gaps in a local economy, and where are the opportunities for new entrepreneurs and new green businesses to really emerge.

JB: What could businesses outside of BALLE and its networks learn from the experiences and initiatives they've had? You spoke a lot about education and peer-to-peer programs. Is that part of it, this spreading of the information about what's available and what's out there?

MR: Yeah. Yeah, there are many different opportunities for engagement from businesses inside and outside the BALLE community. A number of our principles include those of friendly competition and cooperation. It's the belief of the BALLE network that if we're a network of strong community-based businesses, there's no reason why we shouldn't be cooperating with one another and learning from each other.

Another successful campaign that we've had is called the Local First campaign. It's got a couple different levels, one being the cooperative marketing component, and the buy-local focus, so community members and business owners are coming together to say, "These are the elements of our community that we really value. Let's educate and encourage community members to purchase from local businesses." And vice versa, the business owners essentially have the onus to be a solid community member, and understand why it's important for them to remain within the community, provide good jobs.

Then, the further you go down the line with the Local First campaign, you get into economic development leakage analysis studies, and multiplier effects. Again, the deeper you go, there's really a great understanding around how supporting local businesses multiples the economic development impact in your community. I would say other businesses can learn from our cooperative marketing approach, as well as the different tools that we use to share resources between businesses. I already provided the example about the seasoned entrepreneurs advising newer entrepreneurs. We also have peer-to-peer advising programs, whereby just by the mere fact of business owners coming together, they're recognizing new business opportunities and waste reduction opportunities between their businesses.

There's a popular organization in Chicago that we've been talking to called the Waste to Profit Network. That is an incredible model that businesses have been coming together and really expanding their profitability, and saving money by reducing waste just by the nature of talking to one another and exploring what are the byproducts that each of the companies needs, and the inputs and outputs between them that could be better shared.

JB: Waste obviously seems like an issue that would apply to any business. Are there any other common topics or issues that just seem to be widespread across all the networks?

MR: Yeah. We have four primary areas that we're working in on the sustainable business front. Sustainable agriculture, green building, renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as zero waste manufacturing, are all kind of top on our radar right now. We do have businesses and networks that are going far beyond those areas, but those are some of the primary areas of focus that we have as an organization, and feel that as the new economy, the new green economy, is developing, those are some of the areas that are ripe for economic development and new business opportunity.

Those are the sectors that we're currently concentrating on in helping our networks and our business members within those networks build out new programs, new businesses, new ways to incorporate clean energy; remanufacture their products, redesign their products, create holistic sustainable agriculture systems that include local distributors, local manufacturers and processors, as well as connections between urban and rural parts of that community or across different regions; and helping one another understand what issues are at stake.

JB: What are some of the challenges in keeping all the networks with BALLE thriving, bringing in new businesses, or even just keeping current businesses involved and motivated and active?

MR: Some of the challenges to keeping BALLE businesses thriving is really helping them stay focused on their market, helping them define their market. In terms of sustainability, a lot of the BALLE businesses are coming from very different places. As I said, a lot of smaller, locally owned businesses haven't necessarily thought about sustainability in their everyday life, and in their common business practices. One of our challenges is really to educate these business owners around why it makes business sense for these folks to turn towards sustainability, and that understanding the business case for sustainability is incredibly powerful for these locally owned businesses.

We've been digging into a lot of the education components, including coaching these businesses on how they can reapply what they're already doing in order to have a higher systems level impact. You know, if you bring five businesses together and get them to start recycling and composting, and really having an impact on their local community that way, it often has a multiplier effect throughout the whole system. You'll get municipal government participating at a higher level, and recognizing that now this is something that businesses are asking for by way of city services, community participation, and on down the line.

One of the other challenges that BALLE businesses face in terms of addressing and diving further into sustainability and green practices is certainly capital. All small businesses - all businesses - really need capital inflows in order to make new investments. Sustainability oftentimes requires a new investment. Not always, but sometimes there needs to be new capital purchases or system restructuring in order to make these practices really, really successful. Now, BALLE is working with a number of progressive financial institutions that are in the green investment space. We've been talking to a number of national organizations that are doing green business investment, green business lending, as well as trying to tap into community banks and community development corporations, and really educating those types of local institutions on why it's a good investment to go green.

In terms of building BALLE networks, we haven't had a lot of real challenges there. There's just so much demand right now to build BALLE networks in communities across the world, really. Our focus right now is on the U.S. and Canada. However, we have had inquiries from all across the globe. It's our challenge to be screening the networks in order to help the best group really take off in each community, and make sure that they have a good grounding and a good steering committee, and a board that is going to look at all of the pieces of this puzzle, including local ownership and sustainability, and making sure that all community members and business owners within that space will have a place at the table.

JB: To go back to what you were talking about before regarding investment of money, it seems that a lot of these green business practices also include an investment of time, whereas if a business was trying to do things alone, it might not go into certain programs if it was trying to do all the research and figure out what it could do on its own. Being part of a network seems like it obviously cuts down on that time investment, where there are other businesses or groups involved in finding out what's available and out there in helping the businesses get things in place.

MR: Yes. Definitely. That is definitely a factor. The less time it takes to get these businesses up to speed, the better. I think our networks and our network leaders locally are getting better and better at providing really quick tips to these networks. One of our networks up in Bellingham, Washington, again, has developed a handbook called The Busy Business Owner's Handbook for Sustainability. That's one of the examples of just the framework that a lot of these business owners are operating in; time is of the essence for a small shop, or any business owner that is trying to have a sustainable bottom line, a financial bottom line, social and green bottom line. It can be overwhelming, but there are a lot of really simple things that business owners are doing, and can do, that can make a big change.

I would also add to that that as these business owners are talking to one another more and more, and really developing relationships within their community, the trust factor is a big element of all of this work. As these business owners are sharing their best practices, it becomes easier and easier for that multiplier effect to really have a lasting impact.

JB: Does BALLE have any interaction with other business groups or larger business-related groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?

MR: BALLE is very connected to a number of different business networks. We don't explicitly have a relationship with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. However, locally we are working with a number of chambers of commerce. In fact, two of our networks are currently local chambers of commerce. The way that that works is that organizations that have already been formed can join as a BALLE network if they're willing to provide a number of core services to the locally owned, independent businesses within their community. Now, these chambers are a great launching pad for BALLE networks because they're already providing so many different programs.

Now similarly, we have also been working with a number of local economic development corporations, and there are a number of national organizations that we have been working with. The American Independent Business Alliance is another network of independent businesses. Co-op America is organizing green businesses. The Social Venture Network, that I already mentioned. We're also developing partnerships with folks like the Association of Enterprise Opportunity, which is a group that is organizing micro-enterprise-based organizations across the U.S.

There are a lot of different angles that we're taking, and it's a really exciting, unique space to be in, and working and partnering with so many of the national business networks. The excitement that we feel is building these local business networks from the ground up, and seeing how green business can really have an impact on their day-to-day, and the mom-and-pop shop down the street, your local deli, or your local hardware store is now engaged in a green business conversation that is having a huge impact on the community.

JB: You spoke a bit earlier about worldwide interest in more networks looking to join BALLE. What does the near future hold for BALLE and its networks?

MR: Well, BALLE is going to keep cranking. We have had a lot of interest, as I said, and the two primary areas that we're gonna focus on is continuing to build our core networking services, providing this platform for exchange for all of these different business networks to connect with one another, and talk to each other and share best practices. That means developing opportunities to connect in person through our annual conference, through regional trainings, through webinars and conference calls, as well as developing a solid online platform for these folks to really come together every day and share their stories with one another.

The other side moving forward for BALLE is to really develop the field of sustainable community economic development in the BALLE context. We feel like we're really uniquely positioned to move these local businesses forward in a sustainable community-based approach, and really digging into the language of economic development is going to be a very powerful tool for all of these businesses and these local business networks moving forward.

JB: Mary, thank you very much for your time.

MR: No problem.