New State & Local Policies

Apollo Alliance

Founded in 2004, this effort, which has brought together environmentalists, politicians, and labor activities across the country, is promoting a national effort on renewable energy commensurate with the single-minded pursuit of space travel under President Kennedy's Apollo Project. The Alliance's goal is to have renewable sources of energy providing 15 percent of the nation's energy by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020. Read more about Apollo Alliance...

Make the Road New York

Formed in 2007 by the merger of Make the Road by Walking and the Latin American Integration Center, Make the Road New York is a grassroots organization dedicated to addressing issues of inequality and economic injustice through community and electoral organizing, strategic policy advocacy, leadership development, youth and adult education, and high quality legal and support services. Read more about Make the Road New York...

Harlem Children's Zone

Providing free services and resources to children from before birth through college, Harlem Children's Zone is a community-based organization focused on breaking the cycle of generational poverty in Harlem. Read more about Harlem Children's Zone...

Wireless Minnesota

Minneapolis’ “Wireless Minnesota” network covers 59 square miles of the city, making it one of the largest areas covered by wireless worldwide. To create the network, the city partnered with USI Wireless, which now offers free accounts to community sites that provide computer access to the public, technology literacy training, and/or technology support to underserved communities.  The network also includes 117 "Wireless Minneapolis" hotspots throughout the city from which anyone can access the Internet for free. Five percent of USI Wireless’ profits support a “digital inclusion fund” which since 2007 has granted a total of $400,000 to groups working to promote digital literacy and bridge the digital divide.

The Miami Workers Center

The Miami Workers Center is based in the Liberty City area and was founded as a volunteer organization in 1999 by former union organizers. The Center helps working class people build grassroots organizations and develop their leadership capacity through aggressive community organizing campaigns and education programs. The Center also actively builds coalitions and enters alliances to amplify progressive power and win racial, community, social, and economic justice. Read more about The Miami Workers Center...

Catalyst Miami

With a mission to develop and support individual leadership and strong organizations that collaborate to improve health, education, and economic opportunity, Catalyst Miami focuses on identifying and launching innovative community building strategies.  In 2016, it helped nearly 5,443 people access financial or health services, engaged 268 people in two-generation leadership development programs, and mobilized over 700 residents through community events. Read more about Catalyst Miami...

Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center

Founded in 1996, FIAC not only provides legal representation for immigrants , but also aims to influence policy decisions and challenge patterns and practices of abuse. In the eight years since its founding, FIAC has closed nearly 47,000 cases and has become a national trendsetter in the immigration field. Over the years, FIAC has grown from ten employees and a $400,000 budget to 38 employees with a $3.5 million budget. Read more about Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center...

Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy

LAANE addresses issues affecting the working poor. It was one of the first groups to develop the concept of community benefit agreements starting with the Staples Center sports arena negotiations in 2001, wherein developers receiving public subsidies make corresponding commitments to provide quality jobs and other community benefits. In 2004, LAANE helped pass the groundbreaking Los Angeles Superstore Ordinance, giving communities more control over the construction of big-box stores. Read more about Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy...

Mayor's New Tools Task Force

Mayor's New Tools Task Force is an initiative to develop a tool box for the distressed areas of Kansas City that have not benefitted fully from the development investments made in selected areas. The Task Force has 30 appointed members with a mission to create and support self-sufficient, sustainable communities while engaging the community in these efforts. The Task Force analyzes policy implementations and other financial considerations to assess the barriers to community development in all perspectives. Read more about Mayor's New Tools Task Force...

NEXT Detroit Initiative

Launched by the City in 2006, the Next Detroit initiative is a five-year strategy designed to improve the quality of life in six neighborhoods-East English Village, Osborn, North End, Brightmoor, 7 Mile-Livernois, and Grand River-Greenfield-by coordinating city services around the neighborhood work plans and leveraging private investment in the targeted communities. The city has committed $125 million to the effort and aims to raise $100 million in matching corporate and philanthropic support. Read more about NEXT Detroit Initiative...

Front Range Economic Strategy Center

Front Range Economic Strategy Center (FRESC) seeks to educate, organize, and empower the working families of Denver and the Front Range to hold governments and corporations accountable for responsible community-centered development. A community benefits agreement is the core strategy of FRESC’s Campaign for Responsible Development. The efforts of the CRD coalition have been focused on the CBA goals of quality jobs, affordable housing, union construction, workers rights, and neighborhood improvements. Read more about Front Range Economic Strategy Center...

Policy Matters Ohio

Policy Matters Ohio is a non-profit economic policy research organization founded in January 2000, and based in Columbus. Their research focuses on the reinvestment in Ohio’s local economy and people through community development. Policy Matters Ohio had revenues of over $500,000 with total assets of just under $200,000 in 2007. In 2007, they also released over 35 reports and briefs in relation to Ohio’s policies including energy, taxes, and wages. Read more about Policy Matters Ohio...

New State & Local Policies

The American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE)

An outgrowth of the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s “high-road” economic policy think-tank, the Center On Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), The American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE) presents itself as an alternative to the corporate-backed ALEC and promotes economic fairness, environmental sustainability, and effective democratic government. Their website acts as a one-stop public library of model progressive state and local law on a wide range of issues that can be searched by policy area, topic, level of government, and year.

Be a Localist

Founded in 2001, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) supports the growth of sustainable local economies through connecting leaders, spreading solutions that work, and driving investment toward local economies. BALLE promotes localism and believes that ownership, place, opportunity, nature and relationships all matter in creating real prosperity for all. BALLE's website connects members to local business networks and affinity groups, promotes success stories, and provides resources to help local businesses better articulate their economic impact.

Building Regional Power Research Project

Local labor movements in a small but growing number of cities have embarked upon a long-term strategy to gain greater power in their regions. With revitalized central labor councils at the core, unions and allied groups are electing progressive champions, shifting the political debates to economic justice issues, and supporting the right of workers to organize. The Building Regional Power Research Project was established at Wayne State University to document and promote this work and contains a number of studies on efforts in different cities.

Center on Budget & Policy Priorities

The Center conducts research and analysis to inform public debate over proposed budget and tax policies and to help ensure that the needs of low-income families and individuals are considered in these debates. Through its State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, the Center now provides policy research and support in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

Center for Study of Responsive Law

A nonprofit founded by Ralph Nader in 1968, the Center's primary focus is to empower citizens, especially students, to foster reform in areas such as environmental, consumer and worker health and safety issues.  The center has published numerous books, which are listed on the website, conducted a variety of projects and research, and frequently hosts conferences.  Nader and his organization encourage Americans to emphasize government and corporate accountability. 

Complementary Currency Resource Center

The CC Resource Center is an international multi-lingual resource for those interested in local, community, complementary, electronic, commercial barter, and alternative currency systems. The site contains a worldwide registry of CC systems, and open libraries with over 450 documents and 300 images.

Good Jobs First (Washington, D.C.)

Good Jobs First is a national advocacy organization that tracks corporate accountability legislation, including job quality standards (i.e., requirements that economic development subsidies lead to higher paying jobs), disclosure rules (i.e., requirements that the amount of the subsidies that each company receives be displayed in a form that is accessible to the public), and monitoring (i.e., requirements that part of the subsidy money be returned to the government if job employment and job quality commitments are not met). The website includes model legislation, as well as links to descriptions of state disclosure legislation.

Grassroots.org

Grassroots.org serves as an information clearinghouse with links to hundreds of groups involved in education, environmentalism, humanitarian relief, health promotion, reducing homelessness, crime control, political freedom, government reform, consumer protection, youth development, and other like-minded issues.

Hometown Advantage

This website, hosted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance, focuses on efforts to preserve independently owned retail establishments and resist the proliferation of big-box retailers. The site features 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.

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) is the research arm of Citizens for Tax Justice. ITEP provides policymakers, advocates, and the public with timely information regarding state and federal tax regulations and how they affect taxpayers at different income levels.

Levy Institute

The Levy Institute of Bard College serves as one of the leading academic research centers on issues of wealth and income distribution, as well as a wide range of other economic issues.

Living Economies Forum

This is the new web home of David Korten and his work on the New Economy and the Great Turning. This site offers a forum for learning and engaging in the transition to a global system of local-rooted, self-organizing, real-wealth living economies that mimic the structure and dynamics of the Earth’s biosphere.

Michigan Land Use Institute

The Michigan Land Use Institute promotes local economic self-reliance that is consistent with conserving open land and protecting clean air and clean water. The website includes a wide variety of publications on smart growth, economic development, and related issues, both in Michigan and nationally.

National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce

The National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce is a project of the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI), a nonprofit organization based in the South Bronx, New York. PHI's work is guided by the belief that creating quality jobs with living wages for direct-care workers is essential to providing high-quality, cost-effective services to long-term care consumers. The website tracks best practices in the industry and policy innovations at the state level.

Office of Tax Policy Research

The Office of Tax Policy Research at the University of Michigan Business School has two missions. First, to encourage and facilitate joint research on the tax system by economists and scholars of other disciplines; second, to serve as a liaison on tax issues among the academic, business, and policymaking tax communities. The Office draws on the substantial data resources and expertise already existing at the University of Michigan in these fields, and also involves scholars from outside the university.

Progressive Cities & Neighborhood Planning

Focused on progressive cities and neighborhood planning, this online resource provides insight into initiatives mainly from the 1970s into the 1990s, and some up to the present, that sought to fight back against regressive 1960s urban policies. This project is an effort to preserve and collect the historical record of these initiatives, to encourage additional scholarly research, and to stimulate and support related collections at the sites where the material is generated. Additionally, blog posts are added periodically and expand upon the gathered materials.

Time Banks USA Member Directory

This member directory, provided by TimeBanks USA, lists both member and non-member time banks across the U.S. along with contact information in one convenient location. A time bank is an institution where community members can “deposit” hours they spent working in the community in order to earn time when someone else works for them. This give-and-take approach to building communities breeds mutual value and respect that goes beyond the exchange of money.

 

Walmart Subsidy Watch

This website, organized by Good Jobs First, tracks the more than $1.2 billion Wal-Mart has received in tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments around the country. An interactive map allows the website user to determine how much subsidy his or her state has provided.

Walmart Subsidy Watch

This website, organized by Good Jobs First, tracks the more than $1.2 billion Wal-Mart has received in tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments around the country. An interactive map allows the website user to determine how much subsidy his or her state has provided.

Time Banks USA Member Directory

This member directory, provided by TimeBanks USA, lists both member and non-member time banks across the U.S. along with contact information in one convenient location. A time bank is an institution where community members can “deposit” hours they spent working in the community in order to earn time when someone else works for them. This give-and-take approach to building communities breeds mutual value and respect that goes beyond the exchange of money.

 

Progressive Cities & Neighborhood Planning

Focused on progressive cities and neighborhood planning, this online resource provides insight into initiatives mainly from the 1970s into the 1990s, and some up to the present, that sought to fight back against regressive 1960s urban policies. This project is an effort to preserve and collect the historical record of these initiatives, to encourage additional scholarly research, and to stimulate and support related collections at the sites where the material is generated. Additionally, blog posts are added periodically and expand upon the gathered materials.

Office of Tax Policy Research

The Office of Tax Policy Research at the University of Michigan Business School has two missions. First, to encourage and facilitate joint research on the tax system by economists and scholars of other disciplines; second, to serve as a liaison on tax issues among the academic, business, and policymaking tax communities. The Office draws on the substantial data resources and expertise already existing at the University of Michigan in these fields, and also involves scholars from outside the university.

National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce

The National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce is a project of the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI), a nonprofit organization based in the South Bronx, New York. PHI's work is guided by the belief that creating quality jobs with living wages for direct-care workers is essential to providing high-quality, cost-effective services to long-term care consumers. The website tracks best practices in the industry and policy innovations at the state level.

Michigan Land Use Institute

The Michigan Land Use Institute promotes local economic self-reliance that is consistent with conserving open land and protecting clean air and clean water. The website includes a wide variety of publications on smart growth, economic development, and related issues, both in Michigan and nationally.

Living Economies Forum

This is the new web home of David Korten and his work on the New Economy and the Great Turning. This site offers a forum for learning and engaging in the transition to a global system of local-rooted, self-organizing, real-wealth living economies that mimic the structure and dynamics of the Earth’s biosphere.