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Hyndai and Kia logos side by side (ABC News)

Philly councilmember among group calling for recall Kia, Hyundai vehicles due to alarming theft rate

Philadelphia City Councilmember Kendra Brooks has joined a group of elected leaders from around the country, demanding a federal recall of Kia and Hyundai vehicles over the alarming theft rate nationwide.
Members of the Fe Y Justice Worker Center hold signs to protest House Bill 2127, dubbed the "Death Star bill," during a press conference at Houston’s City Hall on July 14. Credit: Douglas Sweet Jr. for The Texas Tribune

Texas local electeds are not giving up their fight for local democracy

Yesterday, nearly 60 local electeds from across the state of Texas banded together to once again tell the courts that they will NOT stand for the Death Star Law or any of the Texas Legislature’s efforts to undermine local democracy.

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.

📬 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.

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.

What it means to be an LP School Board Member

As we start 2024, we’re proud to share our School Board Cohort Statement of Values. This statement of values unites school board members in Local Progress under a set of shared values that guides our work together.

New Resource Helps Local Electeds Create Real Traffic Safety

To support local elected officials in taking action to create real traffic safety the Local Progress Impact Lab created a new resource: Creating Traffic Safety: A Policy Memo for Local Elected Leaders.

Hundreds of Local Elected Officials Call for a Ceasefire

Today, more than 300 local elected officials across the country released an open letter to the Biden-Harris administration and Congress calling for a ceasefire. 

LPNY State Download ❄ | Progressive Governance Academy in MA, update on new voting machines & more! | December 2023

This edition of the Local Progress New York newsletter covers our end-of-session legislative push and budget roundup!
A delivery person rides an electric bike through the streets of Manhattan on Nov. 15, 2022.Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America

Gig Worker Protections Find Testing Ground in NYC, Seattle

Delivery drivers and others in the app economy made major labor strides in 2023. LP's LiJia Gong explains why continued local efforts to protect gig workers are so critical.

Our 2023 Year in Review

What we do at the local level matters – now more than ever. That’s why Local Progress & the Local Progress Impact Lab are proud to share the impact of our work from this past year in this Year in Review.
Two construction workers wearing hard hats looking at a project and speaking with one another.

Newly Proposed Federal Rule Change Would Enable Local Governments to Further Invest in Good Jobs for their Communities

This week, nearly 40 local elected officials across the country showed their support for the newly proposed federal rule change in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget.

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:

Small child receiving medical care reaching out from a bed (Photo by Dzulhaidy Abdul Rahim / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

I’m the Mayor of St. Paul. Here’s How Our City Is Erasing $100 Million in Medical Debt.

More and more local governments are using federal funds to relieve residents’ medical debt. Mayor of Saint Paul Melvin Carter explains why it's a simple, straightforward way to meet our communities’ needs.
Congressman Greg Casar speaks to protesters at the Governor’s Mansion against the Death Star Bill on Sept. 7, 2023. The protest was organized by the Workers Defense Project who want to protect the mandated rest breaks for workers outlined in local Austin ordinance. | Photo received from Kevin Kim (The Daily Texan)

Opinion: One Year Later, Local Leaders Must Be Bold Despite “Death Star” Law

July 1, 2024 marks one year since the City of Houston sued the state of Texas over the Death Star law. San Marcos City Councilmember Alyssa Garza makes the case that now is the time to be bold – to advance policies that uplift the very communities our legislature wants to silence.
social housing in Vienna, Austria

Is this European city a model for Philadelphia’s affordable housing? One Council member thinks so

Philadelphia City Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier and Kendra Brooks visited Vienna earlier this year with Local Progress to learn about its housing polices.
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.

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.

press Releases

After Grants Pass: organizing to house all our neighbors

In response to the Supreme Court's cruel decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, we will continue to organize for housing for all.

Local Progress Condemns Cruel Supreme Court Decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, Local Progress put out the following statement.

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. 

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.

📬 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.