Shift happens. Especially during the holidays. That's the message from local community-building non-profit Go Local Tacoma, as it joins more than 150 communities across North America in the Shift Your Shopping holiday campaign, an unprecedented national effort that encourages residents to take job creation and economic concerns into their own hands by shifting their shopping to local, independent businesses. The goals is simple - start an annual tradition that strengthens local economies, expands employment, nurtures a sense of community and provides a more relaxed, intimate and rewarding gift-buying experience.

"We're asking community residents to shift your purchases of food, cards, gifts, flowers and other holiday purchases to where it matters most, from your friends and neighbors at locally owned businesses. And while you're at it, see some familiar faces and enjoy the experience," says one of the program's progenitors, Joe Grafton, director of Somerville Local First in Massachusetts.

If you're going to make a shift, this is the time of year when it's likely to have a tremendous impact. Americans will spend a substantial portion of their annual shopping budget between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. The National Retail Federation predicts about $700 per shopper. A family of studies suggest that if those dollars are shifted to locally-owned, independent businesses, they'll generate two to three times as much economic activity in local communities than if the money is spent at national chains or online.

Locally-owned businesses typically generate up to three times the local economic activity of their giant corporate counterparts because independents spend more money in the local area, including using more local goods and services - such as banking, printing, advertising, legal services, furnishings and so on. Through this so-called multiplier effect, the added taxes collected from local expenditures provide support for local schools, parks, law enforcement and more.

Based on statistical formulas, if just 10 percent of Tacomans shifted their spending to local, independent businesses, it would add up to tens of millions of dollars in local economic impact, and more than a thousand new jobs. And that's a conservative estimate. Moreover, annual surveys conducted in cities that are making the shift suggest these Go Local movements more than doubled revenue gains for local independent businesses on an annual basis.

And while Tacoma may be one of many cities across the nation endeavoring to make shift happen, the Tacoma Shift Happens movement represents a particularly bold effort, says Go Local President Patricia Lecy-Davis.

"As much as we would like to think we're unique in this mindset, we're not," Lecy-Davis says. "We're just breathing Tacoma life into it, and making it relevant to us. Usually this movement occurs in smaller communities, and a lot of them start as a survival attempt, like when a Walmart threatens their local economy. Tacoma is a fairly large city, with 250,000 people and 5,000 independent businesses. We're trying to do with a population of 250,000 what many people are doing in towns of 30,000 to 40,000 people."

As a general rule, the Shift Your Shopping movement is predicated on encouraging shoppers to shift 10 percent of their spending. In Tacoma, Go Local has worked to provide a less amorphous goal with the 10x10 Pledge.

Here's how it works. Local shoppers are encouraged do one or all of the following: spend $10 at 10 local, independent businesses; donate $10 to 10 local, independent non-profits; visit 10 local business districts and/or farmers markets; and/or attend 10 Go Local sponsored events.

Visit TacomaShiftHappens.com to make the pledge, and download a nice card that will allow you to track your progress.