Every day we vote with our wallets. We choose where to shop and what companies we’ll use for services. Making the choice to buy local and support business that value people is a tangible way to fight unemployment and poverty in our cities. Use your money to invest in the community in which you live.

Especially during the holiday season, you have many choices to make. Often it’s an easier choice, and sometimes even cheaper, to find a corporate, profit-driven online store and buy every present you need for every family member and friend all in one swoop. But what is the cost to local businesses who can’t compete with corporate giants? The hidden cost of spending our dollars with companies that skirt paying taxes to increase their profit? And the societal cost of patronizing businesses that refuse to pay their employees a living wage?

When you choose to Use Your Money, you are choosing to invest in your community, create jobs for your neighbors, and vote with your dollars. At the Ella Baker Center, we see the Use Your Money campaign as a next step to build on the growing momentum of the Occupy and Move Your Money movements.

Between now and the end of the year, that Ella Baker Center will highlight Use Your Money (#useyourmoney) businesses. These are locally-based, progressive businesses where your dollar stands behind the belief that people and the planet are more important than profits.

We hope to start a national conversation about how people committed to social justice can Use Your Money to promote economic prosperity in all of our communities. In the comments below, please suggest Use Your Money businesses in your community, as well as other ideas for we can continue to stand for people over profits. Learn more about the Use Your Money campaign now!