Our Texas chapter members have been hard at work this fall as we make strides on our key priority issues: public safety, worker rights, and immigrant justice. In a time when local government is more important than ever, proving that we have the impact to change people’s lives from our city halls and school board daises, Local Progress Texas members have been leading with vision and working each day to improve Texans’ lives!
Want to get more involved with our chapter? 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 connect about it. I am based in Laredo, and I would love to meet with you online or wherever you are. Schedule a meeting with me!
❤️ Every Texan Celebrates 40 Years!
On October 30, our partners at Every Texan gathered partner organizations from across the state to celebrate 40 years of work to shape policies that improve equity in and access to healthcare, food security, public education, worker protections, and achieve economic justice. As part of the celebration to commemorate 40 years, three policy panels provided an overview of the state of healthcare access, the fight for public schools, and the creation of the People’s Budget, where partners like the Intercultural Development Research Association and the Texas American Federation of Teachers were featured in sharing their policy achievements, challenges, and opportunities. Congratulations, Every Texan!
👓 Hays County Ends Its Automated License Plate Reader Contract with Flock
After months of conversations and following suit from their colleagues on the San Marcos City Council, the Hays County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to cancel all contracts with Flock Safety and to have the company deactivate and take down its cameras. Our partners at Mano Amiga SM and Ground Game Texas have been running a multi-month organizing campaign to raise awareness of the dangers posed by automated license plate readers. LPTX member leaders, San Marcos City Council Members Alyssa Garza (LPTX Organizing Committee) and Amanda Rodriguez (Immigrant Justice Steering Committee), have been standing with their Hays County community members and supporting their organizing efforts to continue defeating ALPRs across the Interstate-35 Highway Corridor and keep our residents safe.
🧊Fuera ICE! Dallas City Council Rejects Entering into a 287(g) Agreement
Early in November, the Dallas City Council moved to indefinitely table the conversation of the Dallas Police Department (DPD) entering into a $25 million 287(g) agreement with ICE. Texas cities still retain the authority to decide whether to collaborate with ICE, and Dallas is a powerful example of exercising that local authority. Our LPTX members, Adam Bazaldua (LPTX Organizing Committee Co-chair) and Jaime Resendez, stood with the many community members who spoke out against the city taking ICE’s money in exchange for 50 daily arrests that would have been required of DPD, saying that the program would have “wreaked havoc across communities.” We applaud our LPTX members for centering impacted communities and listening to advocates in these decisions!
🦺 Harris County Commissioners’ Court Passes First-of-Its-Kind Worksite Safety Policy
In a great display of collaborative governance in action, LPTX member, Commissioner Rodney Ellis championed a newly passed worksite safety policy in Harris County with Gulf Coast AFL-CIO, Workers Defense Project, Demos, & Texas Organizing Project.
“Every worker deserves to come home safe at the end of the day. Harris County has the opportunity to lead by example and become one of the leading counties across the country to implement a worksite safety program,” Commissioner Ellis said ahead of the vote that made it official.
After being the lead county in worker-related deaths in the state of Texas, Harris County will now be the largest county to adopt a comprehensive worksite safety policy that enumerates multiple protections, including mandatory paid rest breaks and heat illness prevention and response plans, amongst others, for all county workers and contractors!
2026 Progressive Governance Lab
The Progressive Governance Labs, originally launched in 2016 as the New Leaders Bootcamp, exists to ensure that values-aligned local elected officials have the resources, assets, tools, and skills that are needed to become powerful and effective leaders. Our sessions explore how to navigate bureaucracy effectively, build an effective office, and collaborate within the organizing ecosystem. Topics covered in previous PGLs in other localities include: Working with your City Administrator/City Solicitor /Superintendent; Budgets and Revenue; Media Relationships and Communication; and Legislation/Policy Creation and Implementation Planning. In 2026, we’ll be launching a PGL specifically for Texas school board members. If you are interested in learning more about the 2026 Texas PGL, please email me.
➡️ 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:
- Sign our Solidarity Letter calling for Starbucks to end union busting and settle a fair union contract.
- Share the “No Contract, No Coffee” pledge to not buy Starbucks while baristas are on ULP strike.
- Stand with baristas on the picket line! Local actions will be continually added to this map.
- Repost us across your social media platforms today to tell your audience, don’t cross the picket line! Use the hashtag #NoContractNoCoffee and repost from the Starbucks Workers United feed.
💰 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.
Vanessa Fuentes, City of Austin Mayor Pro-Tem & former Co-Chair of our LPTX Organizing Committee, proudly represents District 2 on the Austin City Council. Since 2021, she’s led efforts to advance health equity, affordability, childcare access, and the creative arts. Her achievements include raising the city’s minimum wage to $20/hour, expanding affordable housing, and improving access to healthy food, flood mitigation, and dual-language pre-K.
As Chair of the National League of Cities’ Transportation Committee, she advocates for over 14,000 cities and recently testified before Congress. She also serves on the CAMPO Transportation Planning Board, where she connects Austin’s local needs to regional transportation strategies.
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.