As part of an initiative launched earlier this month, AAN members from Hawaii to New York are running inventive marketing programs to get their readers to shop locally this holiday season. The papers are urging readers to spend at least $100 of their holiday money this fall at locally owned stores in their communities — a move that could pump more than $2.9 billion into urban economies during this recession-plagued season.

Here’s what some papers are doing:

Albany, N.Y.: Shopping for Your Community

Athens, Ga.: Shop Your ATH Off

Austin:
Alt-Weeklies Encourage Readers to Go Local
And check out the Austin Chronicle’s Shop Local Gift Pages

Berkeley/Oakland: Make the Pledge

Chicago: Have Yourself a Local Little Christmas…

Columbia, S.C.: Shop Local and Win

Eugene, Ore.: Recycling Our Bucks

Honolulu, Hawaii: Stay Local!

Jackson, Miss.: Think Global, Buy Local

Long Island, N.Y.: Keep It On Long Island

Madison, Wisc.: Isthmus Asks Consumers to Shop Local This Holiday Season

Monterey County, Calif.: Building an Economic Stimulus Package from the Ground Up

New Orleans:
Help the Economy by Shopping Local
Financial Statement

Oklahoma City: National Organization, Gazette Team Up for ‘America Unchained’ Event

Reno, Nev.: All in This Together

Sacramento: Shop Local!

San Francisco: Saving the Economy One Gift at a Time

San Jose, Calif.: Why Shop Local?

Toronto: NOW Magazine has teamed up with the local Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) Green Enterprise Toronto in supporting a Buy Local initiative. NOW editor and CEO Alice Klein is a co-founder of Green Enterprise Toronto.

A local merchants association in San Francisco is even getting into the act: The Potrero Hill Association of Merchants and Businesses

MORE:
Editor & Publisher weighs in on the effort: Alt-Papers Promote Local Shops as Holiday Gift-Giving ‘Alternatives’