Badges
 | Complaint-Free | We provide a method for anyone in the community to give feedback about businesses, as well as a means to resolve complaints when one of our member businesses receives them. If a company has this symbol it means they have either received no complaints on our directory or have resolved the complaint to that person's satisfaction. |
 | Local Purchasing Program | This business has implemented a program to ensure that local producers and providers receive first consideration in their procurement process. Obviously, not all goods and services are available locally, but this company gives preference to local providers, and chooses local goods and services even when they might be more expensive. |
 | Handicap Accessible Facilities | This business has provided a facility that is more easily accessible for persons with disabilities. This may include adaptations to better serve the blind, deaf, and physically disabled. |
 | Arbitration/Mediation | This company has a standard clause in all their business agreements to exhaust all means of mediation prior to pursuing litigation against another party. We appreciate and wish to encourage a business climate of mutual accountability, communication and problem solving, rather than immediately defaulting to litigation. |
 | Employee Owned | A company with this icon actively supports ownership opportunities for its employees. This is important for our community because it indicates a long-term commitment to this region and its people. Local employee-owners will also help keep the business in touch with the needs of the community. |
 | Fair Trade | This company uses the fair trade certification standards as minimum requirements for purchasing goods from other countries directly and through their vendors. Fair Trade seeks to promote livable wages, equality, transparency, capacity building and health & environmental standards to fairly support the people and communities exporting goods, rather than exploiting poor workers to make better profits. |
 | Green Energy | The businesses with this icon source some or all of their electrical needs through renewable and clean energy sources. This can range from buying "green" power from a utility provider or installing solar panels, wind turbines or other technologies to produce clean energy. |
 | High Transparency | We give our members an extremely detailed questionnaire about many aspects of their business and operations. Completing this questionnaire is a note-worthy accomplishment because it requires significant work and may involve new processes to collect data about the various things we measure. A company with this icon shows they have done the work to provide over 90% of the information on our questionnaire, and are willing to make that information public. |
 | Livable Wage | A company with this icon pays a minimum LIVING wage to all its employees, demonstrating a commitment to its employees and community. A livable wage is when a person working 40 hours a week spends no more than 30% of their earnings on adequate housing. This definition various by geographic region; for the Denver metro area, the current minimum livable wage is $11.67 See www.universallivingwage.com for current data about your area. |
 | Microbusiness | This is a business with 5 or fewer employees. They are typically very rooted in the community and are often innovators. These businesses are anxious to connect with and leverage community resources. What resources might you have to share? |
 | Minority Owned | Women or individuals of minority groups own more than 51% of this business. |
 | Production from Recycled Matierials | This business produces products from recycled materials. We especially love the direct reuse of materials with little or no industrial re-processing. (i.e., using old clothing to create shopping bags, etc) |
 | Recycling Program | This company has standard operating policies and programs to recycle as many materials as possible, such as paper, glass, aluminum, cardboard, food waste, plastic and production by-products. |
 | Zero Waste Program | A business with this icon has policies and/or programs to actively eliminate unnecessary waste from its production and/or operations, and recycles, reuses or composts as much of its wastes as possible, with the goal of reaching 100% no-waste. |
 | Unresolved Complaints | Member has unresolved complaints submitted through our directory. |
 | EPA Citations | This company or organization has received citations from the Environmental Protection Agency, which monitors compliance with federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act. |
 | Labor Citations | Company has received citations from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which regulates and monitors laws and regulations governing wages, minimum wage, working conditions, youth employment, certain union issues and grievances, and employment-related immigration laws. |
 | Litigious | This organization has been involved in law suits in the past year, either as plaintiffs or defendants. |
 | Low Transparency | We give our members a detailed questionnaire to learn more about their business practices, which informs the accolades and advisories found on this directory. A business receives the Low Transparency advisory when they have answered fewer than 50% of the questions in this survey. This is significant because we think transparency is a vital aspect of building trust in our community. |
 | Multinational | A Multinational corporation (or transnational corporation) (MNC/TNC) is a corporation or enterprise that manages production establishments or delivers services in at least two countries. Although this company is headquartered in Colorado, they have a vested interest in communities outside our region, and are therefore less tied to ours. |
 | Non-Renewable Production | Relies upon non-renewable products for their business, i.e., a company who's primary product is based on petroleum. |
 | Offshoring | This company outsources labor, production or other employees to locations outside the USA. These policies, designed to maximize efficiencies and profits often result in employment insecurity and may contribute to the overall reduction of wages for local employees. |
 | Publicly Traded | This business is publicly traded, meaning some of its ownership is not rooted in our community. This also means that this company receives capital from issuance of stocks or bonds, an option rarely available to locally-based businesses. |
 | Steep Pay Variants | This company has steep pay variants, where upper management makes more than 7 times as much as the lowest paid employee. |
 | Tax Subsidies | Has received tax reductions or subsidies from municipal, state or federal governments, depleting the tax base of these areas. |
 | Green Building | This icon indicates a company's commitment to creating physical structures that are more socially and environmentally sustainable. Green Building addresses the areas of sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation and design process. The facility MAY be LEED certified, but lack of LEED certification does not exclude businesses from receiving this badge if they have demonstrated real commitment to leveraging resources effectively and adopting practices and materials that are healthier for us and our environment. |
 | Outsourcing | |
 | No Carbon Offset | |
 | Polluter | |
 | Health Citations |
Thanks to our Colorado Local First campaign underwriters:
