May 29, 2026

📬 LP Network Download | Building a future where everyone thrives | May 2026

📢 Make your Voice Heard: Not One More Dollar for ICE!

Congress went home last week without passing the reconciliation bill that would have given an additional $70 billion to support the Trump Administration’s mass deportation agenda. We have now until June 1 to build momentum to ensure not one more dollar goes to terrorizing our communities. NOW is the time to make your voice and the voices of your community heard. We need to be loud and clear about the way ICE is abusing our neighbors, ripping our families apart, and making all of us less safe. Use your unique voice as a local elected official to speak out. Call and email your members of Congress and encourage your constituents to contact their members of Congress too. Post on social media, go live, and make videos. Describe the way ICE has wreaked havoc on your community. We cannot let the Trump Administration and its billionaire allies continue to funnel more and more money to ICE while defunding essential services like healthcare, education, and nutrition. The next week is crucial – speak out now!

Here’s a look at what’s been happening across the Local Progress network:

Tax the Rich, Fund Our Communities!

Imagine if everyone had the healthcare, housing, food, education, and other necessities we need to live safe, healthy lives. As a society, we have more than enough resources to make that a reality. Together with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, we released Tax the Rich, Fund Our Communities: Local Options For Progressive Revenue to explore how taxing the ultrawealthy including billionaires and corporations through income taxes to business taxes can be used to fund vital resources for our communities. In an interview with NextCity, LP member Tiffany Cabán detailed how federal overreach further strains resources just because local governments provide for trans and immigrant communities, “We’ve seen the federal government threaten to cut larger funding because we include those neighbors in our social safety nets, in our public goods, and our social services.” With the federal government gutting Medicaid and SNAP to further enrich billionaires and corporations, local elected officials must wield their power to tax the ultrawealthy to make sure communities can get basic necessities.

Ypsilanti Establishes A Crisis Response Program

The Ypsilanti City Council passed a resolution to establish a city-run unarmed crisis response program! After our Community Responder Cohort in 2025, Ypsilanti City Councilmembers Amber Fellows and Desirae Simmons worked tirelessly to push this issue forward. The proposal will establish a community responder program to address mental health emergencies, substance use, homelessness and other public health calls.

Immigrant Justice at the Local Level

We are so proud of the way our members have stepped up to protect immigrant communities amid the Trump Administration’s continued attacks. Marina, CA passed a ban on ICE activities at city-owned properties, led by City Councilmember Jenny McAdams. City Councilmember Pious Ali led the charge in Portland, ME to ban city employees and resources from being used to assist or cooperate with any immigration enforcement operations. St. Paul, MN strengthened its sanctuary policy, establishing clearer expectations for city employees, and expanding training and reporting requirements and internal accountability measures. Led by Councilmember Gianina Horton and Alison Coombs, Aurora, CO rejected an agreement between the city’s police department and the local ICE detention facility. San Marcos, TX City Council Member Amanda Rodriguez authored an op-ed in the Texas Observer on the importance of taking action against Flock cameras, saying, “We are the leaders who can either build or dismantle the networks that ICE and CBP need to terrorize our communities. We are the ones who can reframe public safety around meeting our neighbors’ needs.”

🗳️ Supreme Court Guts the Voting Rights Act

The recent Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act is a direct attack on Black voting power in this country. LP Black Caucus Co-Chairs Delishia Porterfield (Nashville City Councilmember At-Large) and Justice Rajee (Beaverton School Board Member) said, “This attack on Black voting power reinforces our commitment to the transformation of an anti-democratic Supreme Court and to continue the hard organizing work we know is necessary to win the world we deserve.” Read the full statement.

🤝 Collaborative Governance Academies in WA, PA, and TX!

The Collaborative Governance Academy (CGA) equips local and state elected officials, their staff, and movement leaders with the skills, strategy, and shared language to govern collaboratively and courageously. In early May, we hosted a CGA in Philadelphia with twelve LLPA members to learn how to collaborate to shape and move a shared agenda. In Seattle, fifteen school board members across Washington gathered for a training focused on the unique challenges of public education. In Austin, we gathered with over a dozen members embarking on a five-month journey together as part of our first-ever Texas School Boards CGL Cohort.

⚡ That’s Our Mayor! LP Member Dorcey Applyrs’ First 100 Days

The power of our network is the community that cultivates leadership at every level of government. LP member and former Board member Dorcey Applyrs, mayor of Albany, marked her first 100 days in April, showcasing the results of a survey of 5,000 Albany residents coupled with 30 policy recommendations informed by that very survey! We’re so proud to be a part of Dorcey’s journey in collaborative governance – from her days on Albany’s Common Council to City Auditor and now as the first Black mayor of Albany.

**⚡2026 National Convening: Fearless Leadership * Joyful Liberation**

We can’t wait to see you July 9-11 in Baltimore for a weekend of strategy building, peer learning, and leadership development – complete with dozens of workshops, plenaries, community spaces, and site visits. The community care amongst the incredible Local Progress network in this moment makes crystal clear what we’ve always known: that even in the midst of relentless attacks on our communities, localities are not only at the forefront but serve as the bedrock of transformative change. Look out for updates and FYIs from us soon – including downloading our convening app – for your trip to the Chesapeake Bay in July!

🤖 Data Centers 101

Across the country, the world’s largest corporations are pushing to build massive data centers in our communities. As Local Progress members are facing and fighting these proposals, we want to be sure leaders are armed with the knowledge to understand what these projects are and can cut through corporate misinformation. Any local elected official, in any community, can use our new one-pager to evaluate a proposal and determine whether it truly meets their community’s needs. More resources to come soon!

❤️ Community Responder Resource

Cities across the country are adopting community responder programs for non-violent emergencies like mental health crises, substance use issues, and wellness checks. The momentum is growing – community responders successfully address emergencies, divert calls from the police, and address people’s needs. But as federal budgets tighten, localities have to figure out how to sustainably fund these new programs to keep their communities safe. Read this new resource from our partners at NYU Policing Project on how to design a ballot initiative to fund community responder programs, deeply engage the community, & build in transparency & reporting requirements.

🥕 The Public Grocery Playbook: What City Leaders Need to Know

At a time when cities across the country are facing an affordability crisis and communities are struggling to find healthy, culturally relevant food options for their families, a new solution is gaining momentum: public grocery stores. Done well, it can expand food access in underserved communities, create local jobs, and anchor neighborhood economies for the long term. Join HR&A Advisors, Local Progress Impact Lab, Mayors for America, and the Mayors Innovation Project for a webinar on June 16 where we will convene leading voices to share what they are learning and help cities understand what it takes to get started.

🩺 Join a Seven Days in June Action to Stand Up for Healthcare!

Congress slashed $1 trillion from our healthcare safety net, but they intentionally delayed the pain until after the upcoming November elections. They are trying to hide the devastating consequences from voters, so labor unions, community organizations and activists across the country are mobilizing from June 1-7 to force them to answer for it. Seven Days in June: HEALTH IS PRIMARY is a decentralized, nonpartisan, grassroots-driven campaign to fight back against these cuts and their devastating impact on our healthcare infrastructure. Health cuts kill, and communities across America – from rural towns to large cities – are already paying the price.