The Greater Des Moines Partnership and Catch Des Moines have announced a 7-Day DSM Local Challenge to encourage residents to shop local for seven days, from June 25 to July 1. According to a news release from the organizations, residents can take a pledge to support local businesses by completing an online form. Participants are asked to post pictures on social media using #DSMlocalchallenge and share why and where they shopped locally. Greg Edwards, CEO of Catch Des Moines, said supporting local businesses is important as they begin to reopen after being closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Now that many local businesses are beginning to re-open, they need more support to make up for the last few months,” Edwards said in the release. Jay Byers, CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, said that the new 7-Day Challenge builds off the success of previous challenges to support local restaurants, and that the shop local challenge “is designed to leverage the shopping season leading up to the July 4 holiday weekend.”