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A construction worker shelters from the sun during a water break. Local government ordinances mandating such breaks have been preempted in some states.(Al Diaz/TNS)
  • Economic Justice

When States and Localities Disagree On Worker Protections, What’s the Way Forward?

Local governments across the country are enacting policies that protect workers. Unfortunately, state governments have increasingly acted to preempt these efforts. That's why some local leaders are finding ways to work around such barriers, demonstrating how local power can influence policy even constrained by state preemption.
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LPPA State Download 🌲| Your first Pennsylvania newsletter! | Fall 2024

Check out what LPPA has been up to!
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The LPMN delegation at the LP National Convening standing in front of a Local Progress step and repeat.

LPMN State Download 📣 | LPMN at the National Convening, Saint Paul climate action case study & more! | September 2024

Check out what LPMN is up to!
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A group photo of the LPTX delegation at the 2024 Local Progress National Convening.

LPTX State Download 📣 | Building community and fighting for a better Texas! | September 2024

See what our LPTX Chapter has been up to and how you can get involved this fall!
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A group of LPNC members and partners posing for a photo in front of the LP step and repeat at the 2024 National Convening in Oakland, CA.

LPNC State Download 📣 | LPNC at the National Convening, recent policy wins & more! | September 2024

Check out what LPNC has been up to!
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  • Public Safety

We Can Create Real Safety One Step At a Time. Here’s How.

To support our collective work and continue building the world we want to see, we have a variety of communications, budgeting, and policy resources available. Check them out!
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Porchá Perry demonstrates with other workers in Lansing, Michigan, in favor of bills restoring local control to pass workforce and labor policies on Sept.13, 2023. A new report finds growing union organizing across the country has triggered an anti-labor legislative response in some states, but cities and counties are increasingly pushing back. (Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 1)
  • Economic Justice

States are pushing back with anti-labor laws as union popularity grows, policy experts say

A new report co-authored by New York University Wagner Labor Initiative and Local Progress Impact Lab details how localities are fighting back against state anti-labor legislation.
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The Chevron Richmond Refinery is seen in 2023. In the summer of 2012, a massive blaze broke out at the refinery. | Eric Risberg/AP
  • Climate Justice

California city’s $550m deal with Chevron could be a national model for environmentalists

California cities have a new playbook for beating Big Oil. In mid-August, Chevron caved in the face of a local initiative that would have taxed every barrel it produced within Richmond’s city limits at its century-old, 3,000-acre plant just north of San Francisco.
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Photograph of police sirens in the dark (Photo by Michael Förtsch / Unsplash)
  • Public Safety

Traffic Violence Is Up. Policing Isn’t the Answer.

Traffic enforcement has a place in reducing traffic violence. But LP Legal Fellow Kat Kerwin explains that without a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy, it will fail to reduce fatalities and only put Black and Brown drivers in harm’s way.
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Aaron Peskin and campaign events manager Hana Haber distributing information about the RealPage legislation in the Mission on July 29, 2024. Photo by HR Smith.
  • Housing

S.F. poised to beat Dept. of Justice to the punch, ban rent-fixing software

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance banning rental price fixing. If it’s signed by Mayor London Breed, which seems likely, San Francisco will be the first city in the country with legislation of this kind.
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  • Economic Justice

NEW REPORT: How Local Government Can Stand Up for Workers When States Try to Stand in Their Way

This new report for Labor Day 2024 highlights ways local elected officials can advance workers rights even when facing both hostile state preemption and federal labor law preemption.
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📬 LP Network Download | Eviction protections, advancing CRE, new public safety video tool & more! | Aug 2024

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

Casar has always approached political work with the same mindset forged as a labor organizer. (Robin Jerstad)

Greg Casar Is Organizing to Win

A must-read feature of former LP Co-Chair and now Congressman Greg Casar.
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  • Housing

Multiple Cities Across the Country Are Resisting Rent Algorithms

Hoboken and Jersey city are two of the latest localities to join the nationwide movement to tackle corporate greed in the rental market and ban algorithmic rental price fixing.
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Portland Street Response crisis worker Angela Sands and EMT Kaya Ascott respond to a 911 call in Portland, Ore. (Kaia Sand)
  • Public Safety

This Organization Proved There Was an Alternative to the Police. Now It’s Being Defunded.

Portland, OR proved what we all know to be true: we keep us safe. LP's Reynold Graham talks to The Nation about Portland's program.
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A black and white image of Trump with a yellow background.

Ivan Luevanos-Elms and Sarah Johnson: This Is What Authoritarian Intimidation Looks Like

In this op-ed, LP ED Ivan Luevanos-Elms and former LP ED Sarah Johnson make the case that Trump's attempts to bully and intimidate local leaders is yet another sign of growing authoritarianism.
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press Releases

Group photo

Local Progress Carries Faith’s Legacy Forward

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A group of local elected officials holding a letter in the Colorado state capitol
  • Housing

LP Members & Union Leaders Call To Overturn WPA Veto

Municipal Officials join labor leaders to call out the Governor for rejecting this Common-Sense legislation
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An image of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
  • Public Safety

Statement: National Network of Local Officials Denounce Unjustified Arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka

In response to the reported arrest and subsequent release of Newark Mayor and Local Progress member Ras Baraka, Essex County Commissioner and Local Progress Board Member A’Dorian Murray-Thomas released the following statement. 
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Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty who was sworn into office on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023 speaking at the All Square restaurant in Minneapolis on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023 where supporters gathered to celebrate her election. Mshale Staff Photo by Panashe Matemba-Mutasa
  • Public Safety

Statement: Amid Federal Threats, Local Leaders Stand Strong for True Civil Rights

In response to the Trump Administration’s so-called “civil rights” investigation into Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s Office, Local Progress released this statement.
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A large group standing around while one person speaks at a podium.
  • Housing

Road To Good Cause Campaign Scores 11 Victories Across Upstate New York

The coordinated campaign of local officials expand critical renter protections to thousands of tenants, setting their sights on Rochester next.
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