Lots and lots of stories have been written about the loss of our Main Streets and the unending advance of urban sprawl. But there is an antisprawl movement that is working diligently behind the scenes. These are the small community-based groups, preserving and encouraging small businesses and sustainable development. While there are groups in Warwick and Newburgh, I'm going to focus on Sustainable Montgomery, in my hometown. Our group began last summer when Supervisor Susan Cockburn invited Melissa Everett of Sustainable Hudson Valley to a Town Board meeting. After Cockburn's energizing presentation about simple and effective ways to revitalize our town, a small group of residents decided to meet regularly. We're not funded or sponsored by anyone, and we're diverse in terms of politics and how we earn our livings: a developer, historian, equestrian, New Age healer, and two small-business owners. Our aim is to develop an asset-based strategy to encourage a more sustainable economy. Simply put, we are studying ways to encourage our local businesses, save our farms and create new economic opportunities so that people who work here can afford to live here. And the opposite, too: People who live here can afford to work here. Sounds like a tall order, but remember we are the same community that pushed back Target from dropping an unsightly warehouse on a farm and have staved off large-scale development for several years. If we can do it, so can you. What Sustainable Montgomery has done so far is to create and distribute a survey to find out what our residents are buying and where. Having that information allows us to attract those types of businesses to our Main Streets. It also means that our residents don't have to drive eight miles to Middletown or Newburgh. The biggest problem, we've discovered, is the advantage huge stores have in being able to advertise extensively and sell below retail. When a store is selling bananas for 29 cents a pound, someone else is suffering because of it. We want residents, and all people, to earn a living wage so that they can feed their families and afford the ever-increasing school taxes. So how do we encourage the small businesses that rent our historic storefronts on Union Avenue? The first step is creating a "buy local" initiative. We educate ourselves about the need to keep our retail dollars flowing in our own community. For every $50 spent at the corporate box store, only $13 circulates locally. If you spend that same $50 at a small mart, like one of our small marts on Union Avenue, $47 of that amount circulates locally, according to Melissa Everett. Sustainability starts small, but spreads quickly, because most people can easily grasp the need for it. The fact is, all successful political movements have started by a single person talking to another single person, and forming a small group with a good idea. Shawn Dell Joyce is a Montgomery-based sustainable artist and activist, and founder of the Wallkill River School and Art Gallery. Visit her at www.shawndelljoyce.com, or e-mail her at shawn@shawndelljoyce.com

What you can do1. Buy local. Support your Main Street stores, even if they're a little pricier.2. Attend the screening of "Independent America" at 7 p.m. June 28 in Town Hall on Bracken Road in Montgomery. The film documents the devastation of America's mom-and-pop stores and what we can to do reverse the trend. Free. Kids welcome.3. Have an "eco party" in your neighborhood. Go to www.sustainhv.org for ideas.4. Visit Sustainable Montgomery's "Wellness Fair," 1-4 p.m. June 17, Town Park at Benedict Farm, Montgomery. It's free and kids are welcome.5. Ask your town board to invite Melissa Everett from Sustainable Hudson Valley to make a presentation, for a nominal fee.6. Ask your town to stop allowing corporate box stores in your community. 7. Ask your town to rezone the Main Street to allow live/work or multi-use buildings.

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