Center For Inclusive Growth Launches BUY NEW HAVEN: Businesses, Anchor Institutions Buy More Goods Locally

NEW HAVEN, CT — The Center for Inclusive Growth launched BUY NEW HAVEN, a strategic initiative designed to encourage New Haven businesses and anchor institutions to purchase more of their goods and services from local vendors and small businesses.

While systemic change is complex, the tools provided by the BUY NEW HAVEN initiative are essential to dismantling procurement structures that have historically excluded local and smaller players, providing procurement officers with the tangible tools needed to drive equity and move the needle toward a more inclusive economy, a news release noted.

The launch featured BUY NEW HAVEN: A Guide to Purchasing Local Art as the inaugural resource in a comprehensive suite of tools. This is the beginning of a rollout that will include toolkits, workshops, and a robust vendor database designed to streamline local procurement. The initiative is intended to be a two-way bridge: making it easier for institutions to source from the community and providing local small businesses and artists with the resources they need to successfully navigate and compete for contracts with larger organizations.

BUY NEW HAVEN: A Guide to Purchasing Local Art provides a strategic framework for organizations to integrate local creatives into their professional sourcing processes by offering inclusive strategies and step-by-step instructions to identify, connect with, and contract New Haven artists. By being intentional about how we procure art, we bridge the gap between large institutions and local entrepreneurs, ensuring that spending circulates wealth back into our neighborhoods and builds a more equitable economic landscape.

"New Haven is powered by small businesses and entrepreneurs — including our local artists," said Dawn Ragsdale, executive director of The Center for Inclusive Growth. "One of the most direct ways to support them is by increasing local procurement. We know that institutional buyers and decision-makers want to engage local vendors, but the process can often feel too complex. BUY NEW HAVEN removes those barriers, creating a clear path for local spending that fuels the success of our small businesses and ensures our city’s growth benefits everyone."

BUY NEW HAVEN’S initial focus on the arts aligns directly with the City's Cultural Equity Plan, which seeks to amplify marginalized voices and provide direct funding opportunities to artists.

"The BUY NEW HAVEN Initiative is a smart, strategic way to support and strengthen our city's economic backbone: our local entrepreneurs and small businesses. By encouraging our larger companies and institutions to buy goods and services locally – including local art – we ensure more dollars flow directly back to our neighborhoods and entrepreneurs," said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.

"BUY NEW HAVEN is a call to our city partners to be intentional: when New Haven buys from New Haven," Elicker said, "We all win and build a more culturally connected and economically vibrant city."

The initiative is being launched with strong support from key community partners who recognize BUY NEW HAVEN’s potential to accelerate equitable economic development.

"Expanding access to small business creation is a strategic priority for The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and our Mission Investment Company," said foundation President & CEO Karen DuBois Walton. "We enthusiastically support The Center for Inclusive Growth’s BUY NEW HAVEN Initiative as it encourages our city’s major institutions to intentionally source their purchasing — including the purchase of local art — from the very small businesses and entrepreneurs we support."

ConnCORP President Philip Rigueur said BUY NEW HAVEN is an important step in driving sustainable, long-term growth and building wealth in New Haven neighborhoods.

"BUY NEW HAVEN and the local art purchasing guide, provides a crucial link, harnessing the enormous purchasing power of our anchor institutions and directing that wealth intentionally back to our local entrepreneurs and creators," Rigueur said. "This is a direct path for greater investments in the success of New Haven."

Garrett Sheehan, President & CEO of the Greater New Haven Chamber, said BUY NEW HAVEN brings well-deserved attention to the diverse local businesses that sustain economic opportunity.

"New Haven is full of incredible small businesses, including an amazingly talented and diverse group of artists," Sheehan said. "By purchasing from them, you are also investing in small businesses in Greater New Haven and making our economy more inclusive."

The Center for Inclusive Growth will continue to release new BUY NEW HAVEN resources and programs through 2026, expanding the ways anchor institutions and businesses can direct their spending toward New Haven’s diverse small business community. The Center encourages all organizations and anchor institutions to begin building a more equitable economy today by utilizing BUY NEW HAVEN: A Guide to Purchasing Local Art and the additional resources found at https://www.ignewhaven.org/buy-new-haven.

About The Center for Inclusive Growth

Founded in 2024 through a partnership between the City of New Haven and Yale University, The Center for Inclusive Growth is an independent, stand-alone organization with a mission to help create a flourishing New Haven where all residents have access to the necessary tools and resources to achieve economic security and contribute positively to a vibrant community.

The Center works with community members, academia, government, and local businesses and organizations to identify economic gaps, strengthen current efforts, and implement high-impact programs that reduce systemic disparities and ensure the city’s growth benefits everyone.