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Illustration by Lincoln Agnew of the Texas flag with black and white photos collaged within it, including an image of an eye.
  • Home Rule

Texas Lege’s ‘Death Star’ Bill Is the Latest to Target Austin

“It is important to me as a local policymaker to keep the faith that we will continue to fight for our communities despite all the barriers that the state Legislature wants to put on localities,” said Austin City Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes.
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A photograph of downtown Ithaca, New York featuring old buildings and pedestrians walking and biking along the street.
  • Climate Justice, Economic Justice, Leveraging Federal Resources

New Resource Helps Local Electeds Maximize Federal Funds for Equity

Our newly released memo shares tools and best practices to help local electeds maximize federal funding opportunities to advance equity.
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A masked person holding up a sign that says "not going back."
  • Home Rule

Texas Cities Are Getting Ready For The State’s ‘Death Star’ Law

Three LP members representing El Paso, Austin, and San Antonio speak out against the Death Star Law -- warning of the detrimental local, state, and national implications of such a far-reaching power grab.
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  • Leveraging Federal Resources

Using Federal Funds to Create More Just Communities in North Carolina

ARPA provided localities with a historic level of funding. Local electeds across North Carolina have allocated those funds towards a just recovery and look towards the future on how to leverage other federal programs to best support their communities.
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  • Housing

74 Local Elected Leaders Urge Federal Government to Protect Tenants

Over 70 local elected officials submitted a comment calling on the federal government to pass tenant protections for enterprise-backed multifamily properties.
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A photo of a group of people holding a sign saying "SA STANDS" in Bexar County, Texas after the creation of an immigrant legal defense fund.
  • Immigrant Justice

📬 The Network Download | Immigrant justice edition | July 2023

Check out the work our network is doing to advance immigrant justice!
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Arial view of the Texas State Capitol lit up at night.
  • Home Rule

The ‘Death Star’ Bill is About Kneecapping Democracy in Texas

LP's Kara Sheehan weighs in on what the Death Star Law means for localities across Texas.
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Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd) reacts at a City Council meeting on March 15, 2023.
  • Public Safety

Cops Should Not Respond To Mental Health Emergencies, Experts Say As City Weighs Ordinance

Chicago Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez's “Treatment Not Trauma” ordinance would enable the city to handle mental health emergencies without police officers.
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Federal Advocacy Roundup | July 2023

The July2023 Local Progress Federal Advocacy Roundup breaks down recent troubling SCOTUS decisions that advance the interests of right-wing billionaires at the expense of working people and communities of color.
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Close-up image of a person's hand highlighting text.
  • School Boards

Plainfield BOE Debates Cultural Responsiveness of its Textbooks, Votes to Resurface Hub Stine

Plainfield Board of Education Commissioner Azim Gray stands up for culturally responsive curriculums.
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  • Economic Justice

Workers’ Rights Local Government Round Up | July 2023

Check out some of the landmark workers’ rights policies that passed across the country over the last few months, as well as news of recent enforcement actions!
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Photo of Brad Lander standing at the bottom of a staircase by Maria Spann/The Guardian.

‘Suit up for the backlash!’: The battle to regulate New York’s gig economy

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander says efforts to establish a minimum wage for food delivery workers have met well-funded resistance from the sector’s leading players.
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Have a Media Inquiry?

Local Progress is a movement of local elected officials advancing a racial and economic justice agenda through all levels of local government. We are elected leaders who build power with underrepresented communities and fight to reshape what is possible in our localities all across the country. 

Want to get in touch with us for a story? Reach us at press@localprogress.org.

In The News

At Local Progress, we seek to make the aspirational pragmatic by showing how government can be a tool to create just and equitable outcomes and reshaping peoples’ understanding of governing from an institution to a collective responsibility. Here are some highlights of our media coverage:

Photo: Josh Katz| The state should no longer design roads where pedestrians are just an afterthought, like this entrance to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
  • Climate Justice

New York Pols Back Gounardes’s Bill to Cut Driving by 20%

For decades, transit planners have widened roads and expanded highways as cities have grown. But these interventions have only increased traffic and worsened pollution. LP members in New York wrote to legislative leaders demanding state DOT take a new approach to planning.
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Factory workers and UAW union members form a picket line outside the Ford Motor Co. Kentucky Truck Plant in the early morning hours on October 14, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Michael Swensen / Getty Images)
  • Economic Justice

Workplace Militancy Isn’t Enough for Labor

Progressive labor movement must collaborate with like-minded local, state, and federal elected officials through networks such as Local Progress, the State Innovation Exchange, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus to expand and sustain hard-won gains.
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US Citizenship and Immigration Services has been asked to extend the work eligibility period for people with pending renewals on their permits to work in the states. Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images

Immigrant Advocates Push Work Permit Fix as Deadlines Near

LP member Pious Ali – a city council member in Portland, Maine – stresses the importance of work authorization for new arrivals. “They are transforming the face of the workforce and the face of the community in a very positive way,” he said.
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Image of a hammer smashing a city (TAP)
  • Home Rule

Pre-Preemption

Conservative states have now taken to blocking liberal cities from even thinking about legislating on behalf of their residents. LP's Francesca Menes weighs in.
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press Releases

  • Climate Justice, Economic Justice, Home Rule

180+ State and Local Elected Officials Urge Congress to Reject the EATS Act

LP and the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) released letters calling on Congress to protect local and state governments ability to create policy that is responsive to the issues their own communities face in the agricultural industry. 
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  • Immigrant Justice

Local Leaders Denounce Senate Deal That Would Gut Asylum

In response to the Senate’s proposed border deal that would gut asylum in exchange for foreign military spending, Local Progress released this statement.
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📬 LP Network Download | Traffic safety, ceasefire, history in Minnesota, & more! | January 2024

Here’s a look at some of what’s happening across the Local Progress network this month.
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  • Public Safety

Local Electeds Call on NHTSA to Recall Kia & Hyundai with Theft Vulnerabilities

A coalition representing elected officials from 8 municipalities across the country – including Baltimore, New York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Austin – called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a recall of Kia and Hyundai models with theft vulnerabilities.
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  • Housing

Local Progress joins 100 tenants in DC at Homes Guarantee’s Tenant Takeover

Local Progress joined over 100 tenants at Homes Guarantee's Tenant Takeover to urge the federal government for vital tenant protections.
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