The Business Beat: Stacy Mitchell - New Rules Project.

The New Rules Project, a program of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, started in 1998 and continues to bring fresh, new policy solutions to communities and states to ensure that they are "designing rules as if community matters". The New Rules Projects features a number of policy areas and several key programs and initiatives, including: The Hometown Advantage, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative, Biofuels and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, and Climate Neutral Bonding.

Stacy Mitchell is a senior researcher with the New Rules Project and directs its initiative to curb the power of big-box retailers and strengthen locally owned businesses. She has served as an advisor to numerous community and small business organizations, and has helped dozens of cities and towns implement new land-use and economic-development policies. Stacy’s latest book, Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses, has appeared on several top-10 lists -- and was described by Bill McKibben, a nationally acclaimed author, educator, and environmentalist, as "the ultimate account of the single most important economic trend in our country."In addition to her work with the New Rules Project, Stacy chairs the American Independent Business Alliance and is a founding board member of the Portland Independent Business & Community Alliance in Maine.