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LPMN State Download 🏘️ | State Strategy Meeting Recap, Community Protection, Just Cause | Winter 2025

LPMN State Download Graphic

As election season closes, elected bodies shift, and the night grows longer, the season invites reflection on the year behind us and the work to come. When I look past the overwhelm and uncertainty of our current political climate, I see one thing quite clearly: We have learned so much this year together. This learning has come the hard way, through defending our neighbors and meeting unprecedented threats, but here we are. Even in our weariness, we are better prepared now than we were a year ago to meet the challenges of authoritarianism and corporate greed. At LP, our hope is to meet these moments together, to make the impact we can make together greater than just the sum of what each of us can do alone. However you are hoping to make an impact in the coming year, I hope you envision a role for how LP works alongside you. 

Let’s talk: Local Progress members have access to a slew of policy and strategic resources, but sometimes it can be hard to know where to start, so let’s talk about it.  I am based in Saint Paul and I would love to meet with you online or wherever you are. (Schedule a virtual meeting, or schedule an in-person meeting). 

What We've Been Up To

❤️ Statewide Strategy Meeting

On Friday, September 26, more than 40 Local Progress members and partners from across Minnesota met for our State Strategy Meeting in the beautiful Minneapolis Central Library to build relationships, learn from one another, and make concrete commitments for how we wield our collective power. We met at the close of a summer plagued by political violence, with ever-growing threats of the federal administration encroaching on local power.

Still, we gathered with the clarity that local electeds have an instrumental role in supporting the daily needs of residents, that we need to build now for the wins we need far in the future, and that we are stronger and safer together. 

Read more about the statewide meeting here!  You can find a variety of resources from the meeting here.

🛡️ Community Defense Resources

Federal immigration enforcement continues to threaten our communities as Minnesota is seeing an escalation in raids and direct targeting of the Somali community. If you want to take local action to support your residents, please let us know how we can support you. Through ongoing support to impacted cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Local Progress Impact Lab has updated the Policy Bulletin on Protecting Communities During Federal Deployment. This resource outlines some of the local actions available that local governments can use in response to raids or proactively ahead of a federal escalation.

Locally, we know that we are safer and stronger together. So far this year, we’ve seen LP members host constitutional observer trainings, put their bodies between ICE and neighbors, participate in court accompaniment, and lead legislative actions to protect local residents from the economic burden of SNAP cuts and Federal raids. 

As this work continues and evolves, please be in touch about what you are doing and what you need to stand up for your community. Complete this quick form to connect to what other LPMN members are moving. 

A person facing off against a masked officer.

🏫 School Board Training

School Board members who have been labor endorsed are invited to join the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation and Education Minnesota in a training Saturday, December 13 in Brooklyn Park. This training effort has been led by LPMN member Saint Paul School Board member Uriah Ward, who also serves on the LP School Board Steering Committee. Whether you are new on your board or have been serving for awhile, this is a valuable opportunity for connecting with other school board members, regrounding in practices for effective governance, and tackling sticky situations powerfully and in a values-grounded way. Though this is not a Local Progress led training, our team and members are supporting and will be excited to see you there!

🪧 LPMN Just Cause Workgroup

Everyone deserves a safe, stable home, but right now, too many renters are facing rent hikes, non-renewals, or unfair evictions that are forcing them out of their homes and neighborhoods. Just Cause policies establish basic standards so that tenants are protected from unfair non-renewals of leases and evictions. Following a presentation from partners ACER, HOMEline, and CURA at the LPMN State Strategy Meeting about Just Cause Eviction Policy, several LPMN members are meeting monthly to support the introduction of local Just Cause policies and coordinate messaging and strategy. To learn more about Just Cause policy or join the workgroup, sign up here. 

Resources and Actions

➡️ From Campaigns to Governance: A Partner’s Guide to Building Our Base Together

Since January, Local Progress has welcomed more than 400 new members, and with elections over, we need your support to ensure new and returning officials know there is a place for them! You can help by identifying local elected officials to join the Local Progress network — leaders who are centering racial and economic justice in their local work, building with and collaborating with movement and labor partners, and ready to govern with vision and integrity in the face of opposition. Check out our partner’s guide. 

 

⚖️ Help Map Preemption Threats: Nationwide Survey for Local Attorneys

State preemption attacks are increasing and disproportionately harming cities and counties. Our partners at the Local Solutions Support Center are conducting a national survey of city and county attorneys to better understand these challenges and to develop strategies for coordinated pushback. Please share this survey with your city or county attorney.

 

☕ Take Action Today, stand with Starbucks Workers United!

Starbucks workers have been organizing for years, with the Starbucks Workers United movement kicking off in 2021 in Buffalo, NY, where they won their first successful unionization campaign. Across the country, Starbucks baristas are fighting for a fair first contract that increases take-home pay, improves hours and scheduling, and resolves labor violations. We are standing strong with these workers who are bravely striking and calling on Starbucks to stop their union-busting activities and come back to the table. Here’s how you can help: 

 

💰 Join Working Families Power’s Affordability Briefing 

Everyone is talking about “affordability” now, but what are the real populist solutions that will make life affordable for working-class people? What are the biggest economic concerns of working families, and who do they think is responsible for their struggles? 

This briefing, put on by our friends at Working Families Power, is geared towards elected officials and candidates for office. It will cover the results of our recent working-class polling, which focused on current events, populist economic policy solutions, and narrative frameworks for describing the current economic situation in the United States. They’ll share effective messages for reaching working-class voters in language they relate to and about issues they care about. The briefing is on December 14 at 4:00 PM ET.

Member Spotlight

Paula Mielke (right, with Robin Wonsley) serves on the Falcon Heights City Council and is a champion for tenants, students, and public safety. Falcon Heights is home to not only the State Fair, but a swath of University of Minnesota housing and property, making development and housing issues central to Paula’s leadership on the council. In 2016, Paula organized Falcon Heights residents to demand accountability after the murder of Philando Castille in Falcon Heights by St. Anthony Police. Through grassroots efforts, residents advocated for a task force on Inclusion and Policing, and a police contract that incorporated the city’s values on policing, policies and procedures. Paula is a member of the LPMN Just Cause Workgroup. 

save the date

We are excited to share that our 2026 National Convening will be in Baltimore, MD on July 9-11! Local Progress’s annual National Convening is a space to exchange ideas, seek inspiration, and strategize together. It’s the place to feel seen in our struggles and affirmed in our resolve and resilience, and, most importantly, to find support and share joy – especially in the darkest moments. More details and registration information will be coming in the new year, but for now we are excited to share the dates so you can plan ahead. 

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