Here’s a look at what’s been happening across the Local Progress network:Â
Hundreds of Local Electeds Stand Strong For Our Immigrant Neighbors
Nearly 400 local and state elected officials sent a letter to the House of Representatives opposing H.R. 32 – a bill that would strip our communities of critical funding simply for undertaking reasonable policy measures that protect our neighbors and make all of us safer. Elected state government officials from Pennsylvania to Colorado warned that if passed, the bill could put everything from the National School Lunch Program to emergency medical care and disaster response services at risk. Thanks in part to our united front, the bill has not moved forward and our network remains committed to protecting our neighbors and funding our communities.
Minneapolis Becomes Fourth City to Protect Renters from Algorithmic Rental Price Fixing
On Thursday, March 27, Minneapolis City Council pushed back against corporate greed by banning algorithmic rental price fixing tools, like those used by RealPage. RealPage uses algorithms that enable landlords to collude, resulting in hiked up rents on seniors, students, working families, and other renters, oftentimes increasing rent by double digits. As the cost of living skyrockets, banning practices like rental price fixing is an important step to keep renters in their homes. Minneapolis joins Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Berkeley in successfully banning the practice. Portland, Chicago, Providence, San Diego, and San Jose have also introduced bans, while Hoboken and Jersey City have passed resolutions calling on the state to ban the practice. Learn more and take action here →
Louisville Rolls Out New Tool to Prioritize Local Residents
Two years ago, Louisville passed an innovative bill that would prioritize public dollars to protect local residents from displacement – essentially requiring projects that request city subsidies to meet certain income criteria and prove it will not contribute to resident displacement. Now, after a year of development by researchers at Boston University, a new tool designed to help implement the law will be ready for use on upcoming development proposals. The open-source tool analyzes housing development proposals to ensure they meet the actual needs of city residents in the neighborhood and provide truly affordable housing. A tool like this is a meaningful step in building thriving neighborhoods in Kentucky and could serve as a model for other localities.Â
🤝 From Campaigns to Governance: A Partner’s Guide to Building Our Base Together
Every year, hundreds of movement organizations, c4s, political committees, state alignment tables and labor identify, cultivate and support hundreds of progressive candidates, many who go on to win their races. Last month, we hosted a 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. We want to ensure these new and returning local elected officials know there is a place for them in a network of values-aligned elected officials ready to support them as they tread this new path. That’s why we created this new guide for partners with resources on how you can connect values-aligned local elected officials to our network!Â
đź“Ł Tell Congress to Put Families Over Billionaires
The Trump Administration and its billionaire allies are planning to cut taxes for the rich at the expense of working people, and we have to stop them. Their plan is to use tax and budget pieces of the annual budget reconciliation bill to cut funding for essential services such as Medicaid, food assistance, and many other services everyday Americans rely on to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. These cuts jeopardize all of our communities – including people without healthcare, students who have lunch at school, and seniors relying on Social Security – and would shift massive costs to localities. Now is the time to speak out against these cuts. Contact your representatives, plan a local action with community partners, and tell them to choose families over billionaires. Use this digital toolkit to speak up and join us on April 8th at 3PM ET / Noon PT for a network-wide strategy call to learn how budget reconciliation works and key upcoming moments in the process, understand how the reconciliation proposal will impact local and state budgets in 2026 and beyond, and strategize together to take action.
đź“š Resource Hub on Privatization of Public GoodsÂ
We’re currently seeing an attack on public goods and services related to our education, health care, and community well-being. Our friends at In the Public Interest have helpfully compiled a guide that provides background and context that will support elected officials and partners in learning more about and advocating against the privatization of public goods and services.
✍️ Happening Wednesday: How You Can Preserve DEI Practices
Webinar: Preserving DEI Practices
Wednesday, April 2, 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern
Join our friends at the Public Rights Project along with experts from the NAACP LDF, the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund to learn more about the state of the law on government contracting and procurement in order to better understand how to safeguard and protect DEI initiatives. Register here.Â
🏫 LP School Board Members Say: Hands Off Our Public SchoolsÂ
The Local Progress School Board Steering Committee is made up of local leaders and educators from big cities to small towns. Together, we advocate every day for the millions of students and thousands of communities who rely on the public school system. In response to the Trump administration’s proposal to dismantle the Department of Education, we spoke with one voice to say: hands off our public schools.
🫶 Santa Monica City Council Affirms Support for Gender-Diverse, Trans, and Intersex Communities
Santa Monica passed a resolution, similar to the one that affirmed the city’s protection for immigrants, that underscored that no city resources would be weaponized to track and prosecute patients who seek gender affirming care. In a statement introducing and supporting the measure, Councilmember Dan Hall shared: “We want to ensure that the City of Santa Monica will not assist in any effort that seeks to intimidate or harm transgender, gender diverse, and intersex individuals or collect their data. We believe in bodily autonomy. We believe in privacy. We believe that access to healthcare is a right, not a privilege.”
⚡️ 2025 National Convening
We know that protecting our communities is feeling especially difficult right now. In July, we will gather local elected officials, movement partners, and donors who believe in the strength of bringing together people from different backgrounds and communities to build a country – city by city, county by county – where each of us can thrive. Join us in Chicago on July 10-12 to strategize toward this vision with a community of values-aligned peers and partners! Check your email for your invite and register by our May 21 deadline!
