AT A GLANCE
Local Progress Texas (LPTX) drives progressive change through collaborative governance with local partners and communities. Since becoming an official state chapter in 2019, we have mobilized elected officials from five cities to coordinate a legal strategy to fight back against SB4, connected elected officials from Austin, San Antonio and Dallas to coordinate strategies with community and labor partners to pass paid sick days policies, and organized elected officials from more than a dozen municipalities to work together on raising wages for municipal workers. See our Statement of Principles here.
LPTX currently has more than 90 members across the state, representing nearly 50 jurisdictions.
We are proud to work closely with the Texas AFL-CIO, Workers Defense Project, Texas Organizing Project, and other movement allies.
Our Work & Priorities
In Texas, our work is driven by community needs – both long-standing ones driven by historically harmful policies and exacerbated by climate change and emerging ones driven by our state’s conservative agenda.
Right now, our statewide policy work is heavily focused on fighting abusive state preemption and standing up for immigrant justice.
Organizing Committee
As a member-led network, our state work is led by an incredible state organizing committee – a group of LPTX members that meet regularly to weigh in on policy priorities, propose statewide campaigns, and drive the strategic vision for our work.
VANESSA FUENTES
Austin City Councilmember
LPTX Organizing Committee Co-Chair
ADAM BAZALDUA
Dallas City Councilmember
LPTX Organizing Committee Co-Chair
ALEXSANDRA ANNELLO
former El Paso City Representative
DAVID STOUT
El Paso County Commissioner
STEPHANIE GHARAKHANIAN
Austin Community College Board Trustee
BRIAN ROWLAND
Former Prairie View Mayor
TARTISHA HILL
Balch Springs Councilmember
DEXTER L. MCCOY
Fort Bend County Commissioner
ZOHAIB "ZO" QADRI
Austin City Councilmember
CRYSTAL DAVILA
Pasadena Independent School District Trustee
TERI CASTILLO
San Antonio City Councilmember
ALYSSA GARZA
San Marcos City Councilmember
ALYSSA CIGARROA
Laredo City Councilmember
Our State work
REFORM / TRANSFORM TEXAS
Texas relies heavily on incarceration and policing. Across the state, we are working to prioritize community needs and end mass criminalization and mass incarceration.
ABORTION & REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In deep collaboration with local advocates, we are working at the local level to protect bodily autonomy and support abortion access – including creating practical support funds and implementing decriminalization policies.
LOCAL CONTROL
No matter the issue, local electeds are a critical voice on protecting local control and against abusive state preemption that negatively impacts communities. We develop and implement statewide campaigns to fight abusive state interference.
CLIMATE RESILIENCY
We need action at all levels of government to build resilient communities in the face of our climate crisis. In Texas, that means decentralizing our state’s power grid, creating public ownership of our energy industry, and supporting the growth of our green energy sectors.
Report
How Local Government Can Stand Up for Workers When States Try to Stand in Their Way
FEATURED NEWS & Stories
- News Article ▹
LPTX Chapter Manager Witnesses Dehumanizing ‘Operation Lone Star’ at Texas-Mexico Border
Last week, Local Progress Texas Chapter Manager, Kara Sheehan, spent two days at the Texas-Mexico border to witness Operation Lone Star (OLS) firsthand. Here are her reflections.
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LPTX State Download ❄️ | Looking back at our wins and gearing up for the fight ahead | December 2024
See how our LPTX Chapter has been expanding their reach across the state and learn how you can get involved with us in the new year!
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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!
- Home Rule
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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.
