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 decarceral policies and protecting abortion access.
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
El Paso City Representative and Mayor Pro Tempore
DAVID STOUT
El Paso County Commissioner
STEPHANIE GHARAKHANIAN
Austin Community College Board Trustee
BRIAN ROWLAND
Former Prairie View Mayor
TARTISHA HILL
Former Balch Springs Councilmember
DEB ARMINTOR
Former Denton City Councilmember
TARSHA JACKSON
Houston City Councilmember
CRYSTAL DAVILA
Pasadena Independent School District Trustee
TERI CASTILLO
San Antonio City Councilmember
Our State work
DECARCERATE 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.
FEATURED NEWS & Stories
- News Article ▹ October 17, 2022
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.
- Public Safety
- ▹ May 1, 2023
How this election is putting real safety on the ballot in Texas
LP members Austin City Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes and San Antonio City Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez highlight the growing trend of community-driven ballot initiatives seeking to advance and invest in real safety across Texas.
- Home Rule
- ▹ April 17, 2023
State Interference Threatens Local Power, Safety, and Support
Dallas City Councilmember Adam Bazaldua details how TX HB 2127 would stifle local democracy and put workers' lives in danger.
- ▹ April 4, 2023
LPTX Members and Partners Convene in Austin to Fight for Local Communities
Local electeds have a critical perspective that state legislators must hear. That’s why LPTX members representing localities across Texas gathered together in Austin last week.
