As we round out this year, we are gearing up for the next chapter of Local Progress Colorado. This year so far, over 15 new members joined the network in Colorado, making us over 80 members strong. Our Colorado Organizing Committee has been working hard to show up powerfully for their residents as well as make sure that every progressive local elected has an invitation into our network. If you have someone you’re excited about who has just gotten elected, make sure they join LP today!
Grace Thorvilson, who kicked off staffing the Colorado organizing at LP has transitioned off staff and we send her off with lots of love and respect. We will be bringing on a new Colorado Coordinator mid-January. I’m excited to be supporting the new Colorado Coordinator when they join the team. In the meantime, let’s talk: I’d love to connect and learn about you and your community and how you want to strengthen the network of local electeds in Colorado. Schedule with me here and I’ll be excited to connect!
🛡️ Denver Members Take Stand Against Flock Surveillance
Local Progress Denver members Councilmembers Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady, and Serena Gonzales-Gutiérrez are continuing to lead efforts opposing Mayor Mike Johnston’s push to extend the city’s contract with Flock Safety, a mass surveillance company. Their advocacy—centered on protecting privacy, immigrant rights, and reproductive care access—has drawn national attention and reignited local debate about data-driven policing.
🗣️ Shontel Lewis Champions Civic Assembly for Denver
LPCO Organizing Committee member and Councilmember Shontel Lewis is partnering with community organizations and funders, including the Colorado Health Foundation, to plan a Civic Assembly that would deepen public participation in policymaking. The proposal aims to bring residents directly into dialogue with city leaders to inform decisions on housing, safety, and community investment.
🤝 LPCO Members Support Families Amid SNAP Shutdown
Across Colorado, Local Progress members are standing with local nonprofits and food pantries to ensure families stay fed during the ongoing SNAP benefits shutdown. Members have partnered with community organizations to deliver food, amplify donation drives, and advocate for emergency state support to fill federal gaps.
🚲 Lakewood Advances Safer Streets
In Lakewood, Local Progress member Councilmember Isabel Cruz voted to advance the city’s 2025 Bicycle Plan, a key step toward safer multimodal transportation and sustainability goals. The plan strengthens infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, promoting environmental health and mobility equity across Jefferson County.
❤️ Colorado State Strategy Meeting
In December 2024, we hosted our first-ever state strategy meeting. We brought Local Progress Colorado members and partners together to identify what key issues we would fight for in 2025. After setting our 2025 agenda, this year, we organized and fought to protect immigrant and undocumented communities and we hosted our first-ever advocacy day at the state capital where we focused on advancing workers’ rights and housing justice and so much more. We’re excited to bring members and partners together once again to learn about the incredible work happening across the state and work on shaping the 2026 priorities for the work we will lead together. Whether it be tackling regional housing issues, protecting residents from ICE, or preserving our natural resources, our State Strategy Meeting aims to offer a touchpoint for members to connect and move together so that our collective efforts are greater than the sum of their parts. Watch for a date in the new year!
➡️ 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.
Remembering Faith Winters
In a year where bold leadership has been so necessary, we are grieving the loss of a fighter and a force who served as one of the founding members of Local Progress – State Senator Faith Winters.
Faith was with us from the very beginning, joining over 20 local elected officials as a Westminster City Councilmember in 2012. During that meeting in a basement, Faith and other founding members laid out a vision for a national network committed to racial and economic justice! From that moment, Faith continued to build our amazing membership from Colorado to the rest of the nation. She believed deeply in the mission of Local Progress, seeing this unique network as not just an organized force for good but a caring community grounded in sustainability.
Beyond how Faith championed our mission and values, she was an extraordinary mother and a caring friend who embodied the team sport spirit in her relationships that is necessary to bring forth a future where all people can live, work, learn, and play with dignity and respect. Faith’s leadership and advocacy was always grounded in joy and rooted in a commitment to do good for workers, families, and the communities she served.
Local Progress will carry Faith’s legacy forward by bringing likely and unlikely elected officials together from every level of government, showing up with authenticity, and deeply loving the communities we serve. Read more remembrances of Faith from LP members here.
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.