Welcome to our first MN State Download of 2025! As we wade knee-deep into a new era of challenges, I’m buoyed by emerging leaders that I see all around us. While our opponents double-down on authoritarianism, in concentrating power at the top, we can meet the moment by expanding leadership and investing in one another. I’m excited to introduce myself as a new member of the Local Progress team, and to invest in new and existing leadership of this network.
Do you remember your first day in office? Do you remember the first time your ideas and values were deemed “too ambitious”? Now, do you remember what it felt like to find other LP members who shared your hopes and drive? You have colleagues, barely a month into elected office, who are experiencing those moments right now. Don’t wait, invite them to join LP today.
I’m thrilled to be joining the Local Progress team as Midwest Regional Director because I have seen and felt the need for local electeds organizing, and I have treasured seeing the wins we can win together. In this role, I will pick up where Jillia left off in organizing with our Minnesota Chapter, as well as continue building out the Local Progress network in Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
In 2014, I was on staff at OutFront MN and together with TakeAction Minnesota, we were participating in a training then called “The Dirty Dozen.” Through this training, we used yarn in a huge web to show the connections between CEOs of the top twelve corporations in Minnesota and how money, board seats, and even marriages connected them all together into a powerful force that lobbied, intimidated, and exploited workers to maintain the status quo. When I think of the work that Local Progress members do, I think of the weight I felt in that training, where the reality of what we are up against felt so heavy.
So many of you, when you put your name on the ballot, committed to taking on the status quo to fight for racial, gender, and economic justice. The weight of the role you have taken on is not one that you should have to hold alone. In order for us to be at our most strategic, effective, and powerful, we all need co-conspirators, resources, and people who we can trust to have our backs. As a partner with Local Progress in my former role at TakeAction Minnesota, I was grateful to be with you in fights for earned sick and safe time, supporting our public schools and reimagining public safety, and I’m so excited to get to dive deeper now. In past roles, I’ve supported organizing in the Twin Cities, Rochester, Duluth, Saint Cloud, Brainerd, and the South Metro and I am eager to connect across the state.
Over the next several months, I will be working hard to connect with each of you, to support our Organizing Committee in strategically leading this chapter, and to recruit even more to join our ranks. I am based in Saint Paul and I would love to meet with you online or wherever you are. (Schedule a virtual meeting. Schedule an in-person meeting).
Elliot Payne, Minneapolis City Council President, has served as a member of our Minnesota Organizing Committee since 2023, and now is moving to serve on the national Board of Directors!
Elliott began his time in work in city government in 2016 as a member of the Office of Performance and Innovation before being elected to the City Council in 2021. During his first term, he led the charge on expanding alternative responses to public safety through budget amendments to expand the city’s mental health response and to create a Public Safety Ambassador Program. Last year, he was elected as City Council President and secured the passage of one of the most equitable budgets the city has ever had. Elliot has also served on LP’s Public Safety Steering Committee, helping to inform and drive the network’s work on community-led safety solutions.
❤️ Fund our Communities. Protect our Neighbors.
Congress is soon expected to consider H.R. 32 – the “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities” Act – a bill that would force localities and states to choose between facilitating mass deportations or losing otherwise unrelated health, education, transportation, and other local funding. This bill is a blatant attempt to scapegoat immigrant communities and punish localities that stand up for them. We need local electeds to take bold action—this means speaking out, rallying your communities, and holding your members of Congress accountable. Check out our Fund Our Communities Digital Toolkit and accompanying talking points.
Please also add your name to our sign-on letter for state and local officials to demand Congress reject this harmful and divisive bill.
💪🏾 Public School Strong Training Series
Our partners at HEAL Together have kicked off Solidarity 2025 – an eight-week training series designed to equip activist parents, educators, school board members, students, and allies to unite against the attacks on public education outlined in Project 2025. The training series is part of the Public School Strong campaign and is designed to empower participants to advocate for students, schools, and communities at local school boards and beyond. Participants will gain critical insights into federal policy proposals, actionable strategies for mobilizing around shared values, and tools like model policies, school board resolutions, and organizing lessons. Register here.
📣 Communications Resources for YOU
Need a quick brush up on interviewing best practices before an interview? Want to engage with your community on social media, but not sure what platform is best for you? Check out LP’s new Communications Tools & Guides!
From the full-time city council member to the part-time school board member, every local elected official uses communication tools. But not all members and staff have the same resources and knowledge at their disposal to take advantage of news cycles, viral moments, or respond to bad faith attacks. The above resources are now live, so you can build confidence and skill using communications tools at your own pace!
Have additional questions or need 1:1 comms support? Reach out to helpdesk@localprogress.org to get in touch with the comms team!
🏡 Your New Caucus Home
Introducing our one stop shop for caucus events! Trying to remember when that next Women’s Caucus meeting is? Looking for the link to complete your Pride Caucus Survey? Look no further! This link will continuously be updated with all upcoming Caucus events and asks so that you can constantly refer to it and make sure you’re up to date on when your next caucus meetings are.
On the calendar for March
- 📆 Pride Caucus Listening Session – Tuesday, March 4 at 12pm ET/9am PT
- 📆 Black Caucus general membership meeting: Wednesday, March 12 at 7pm ET/4pm PT
- 📆 Nuestro Caucus general membership meeting: Monday, March 24 at 5pm ET/2pm PT
- 📆 Women’s Caucus general membership meeting: Thursday, March 27 at 5pm ET/2pm PT
⚡️ National Convening Registration OPEN for Members & Alumni!
Join us in Chicago on July 10-12! We’re bringing together Local Progress members, partners, and movement allies from across the country for a weekend of strategy building, peer learning, and leadership development – complete with dozens of workshops, sharing sessions, community spaces, and site visits! As local elected leaders in this moment, we must continue organizing in our communities and across the country. And in the face of hostile state and federal actors that have shown us they will only govern for the wealthy few, it is our moral responsibility and democratic duty to govern for everyone. That’s why we are proud to share the theme for this year’s convening: Organize Together. Govern for All. Members, check your email for your invite and register by March 3 for an Early Bird Discount!
We are organizing a partners pipeline briefing to connect the existing movement pipeline to support the transition from candidate to elected as they step in these new roles to lead and govern. During this briefing, partners will:
- Learn about LP and the Impact Lab’s network and our strategic framework.
- Learn about the impact of LP and the Impact Lab’s work.
- Gain an understanding of how they can support the movement pipeline from candidate to governance.
