This website provides a comprehensive data source for state government policies and budgetary information. The main Rockefeller website has additional available publications on state and local government and community economic development issues.
This web site provides examples of nearly 50 different instances of public-private partnerships in such areas as wastewater management, transportation, and real estate and economic development.
MuniNet Guide is an online guide and directory to municipal-related content on the Internet. Its emphasis on municipal bonds, state and local government, and public finance serves people in a number of fields, including government administration, municipal investment, municipal research, and urban affairs.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a nonprofit educational organization that provides research, analysis, and education in the areas of land taxation, land markets, and land as common property.
In the Public Interest provides educational resources on privatization and its impacts on service quality, infrastructure maintenance and costs, and works to ensure that public contracts with private entities are transparent, fair, well-managed and effectively monitored, and that they meet the long-term needs of the community. As a resource center for citizens, public officials, and public interest groups, In the Public Interest is focused on guaranteeing that public goods and services are provided to those who need them, managed by people who are publicly accountable, and affordable to all.
This web site, hosted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance, focuses on the efforts to preserve independently owned retail establishments and resist the proliferation of “big box” retailers. On this site, you will find both articles on local disputes, as well as a number of economic impact studies that document the greater local economic multiplier effect of locally owned retail establishments.
Economic development corporations play a critical role in developing many city, county, and regional economic development efforts — everything from traditional business incentives to more innovative efforts based on developing local capacity. This web site contains a directory of websites of over 2000 economic development agencies, consultants and associations worldwide.
The Center for State and Local Government Excellence assists municipal governments become better employers, allowing them to attract and retain better individuals in public service jobs. Connecting state and local leaders with respected researchers, the Center works to identify and promote best practices for a variety of issues, including how to address the expanding costs of public employee pensions and retiree health care benefits.
The Baller-Herbst Law Group has specialized in representing municipal utilities in litigation regarding broadband development. Their web site contains a number of presentations and articles regarding municipal broadband and related legal issues.
As Becca Vargo Daggett of Institute for Local Self-Reliance notes, the U.S. has fallen in recent years from first to 15th in high-speed Internet access. But municipal electric utilities are filling the gap. Today over 650 cities own broadband systems, ranging from fiber optic networks that connect public buildings and major businesses to citywide Wi-Fi networks.
