diff --git a/scripts/load_local_db.sh b/scripts/load_local_db.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..772739ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/load_local_db.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+
+set -eux
+
+git rev-parse --show-toplevel
+
+APP=$1
+TIMESTAMP=$(date +%s)
+DUMP_FILENAME=$APP.$TIMESTAMP.dump
+
+## Uncomment this if you want the latest data
+# heroku pg:backups:capture
+heroku pg:backups:download --app=mciea-$APP --output=$DUMP_FILENAME
+
+pg_restore --clean --no-acl --no-owner --dbname=mciea_development $DUMP_FILENAME
+
+bundle exec rails db:environment:set RAILS_ENV=development
+
+# clean up after ourselves; comment this out if you want to hold on to dump file
+rm $DUMP_FILENAME