Advertise on podcast: Building Local Power

You'd think a company with as many resources, employees, and facilities as AT&T or Comcast would have good customer service. Surely, with all the billions of dollars flowing through these businesses, there'd be some resources devoted to creating a really good customer experience, right? If only that were the case. The thing is, these telecom […]

We hear it again and again on this show: neighborhoods that are presumed less likely to fight back are taken advantage of by huge corporations and monopolies. Through predatory decisions and massive market power, a chain grocery store erodes a historically black neighborhood into a food desert. Amazon locates a massive warehouse, and its associated […]

When ILSR co-founder David Morris published his pamphlet The Dawning of Solar Cells in 1975, nearly the only people using solar power were those in the Apollo program at NASA. Yet David saw decades into the future as he laid out a vision for community control and local ownership of a solar power system that […]

On this week's episode of Building Local Power, we continue our series honoring ILSR's co-founder David Morris, who passed away in June. One way to measure the impact of someone's work is to measure their influence on those they mentored. And if you ask Stacy Mitchell, the word "influence" isn't even sufficient for what she […]

Here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we recently received some shocking news as we learned of the sudden passing of our beloved co-founder, David Morris. A giant in the antimonopoly field, an innovative thinker ahead of his time, and a crucial mentor to so many of us here at ILSR, David will be missed. […]

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act represented one of the largest ever investments in broadband infrastructure. Many in the digital equity space believed the bill would go a long way to solve the digital divide. Provisions like the Digital Equity Act promised to be powerful tools in ensuring fast and reliable Internet access for […]

The United States government is one of the biggest purchasers in the world. Few people or entities spend more money on more goods and services. Add state and local governments to the mix, and you have a massive market with the potential for a lot of businesses to make a lot of money. The process […]

One way to build local power is to catalyze change directly in your community. Another, equally important method is to catalyze the catalysts. To really make change and build sustainable local economies, we need not only entrepreneurs but also people connecting entrepreneurs to each other — someone to champion the local champions. There is solid […]

Saturday, March 14, 2020, was even busier than the typical bustling Saturday at Ladybird Diner in Lawrence, Kansas. Bottles of handmade hand sanitizer were perched on each table. It was Pi Day, a special occasion for the homey diner famous for its pie. But Ladybird owner Meg Heriford was scared and unsure. The crowds were […]

Ron Knox was a successful reporter covering antitrust and antimonopoly issues until he couldn't take it any more. His growing passion for the fight against corporate power didn't match a reporter's need for neutrality and objectivity. Shedding the mantle of neutrality, Knox joined ILSR to fight for what he believed in: building local power and […]

In late 2024, Rachel Hernandez ran a successful campaign to become mayor of Riverbank, California. A small town at the top of the state's central valley, Riverbank may not fit into what you imagine as California. There are no beaches or Hollywood signs here. The town follows the rhythm of the harvest with workers passing […]

In the early 2000s, a behemoth rose above Providence, Rhode Island. The massive Providence Place Mall was heralded as the solution to Providence's 1990s economic woes and cited as a catalyst for urban renewal. However, not all residents of Providence welcomed the mall. For one thing, the wave of corporate development inspired by the mall […]

The third episode in the Building Local Power, The New Class series finds us talking to North Carolina State Rep Dante Pittman, recently elected to represent his hometown of Wilson, NC and the surrounding Wilson County. From municipal fiber broadband to monumental folk art, Wilson has never shied away from innovative ideas. Those ideas, and […]

The second episode in the Building Local Power, The New Class series finds us talking to Baltimore City Councilman Zac Blanchard, who recently won a tight race to unseat his District 11's incumbent. Blanchard, a Marine vet and father of two young children, got his political start joining and eventually leading neighborhood associations. That experience, […]

This episode is the first in our new season of Building Local Power, The New Class, where we are talking to interesting changemakers among the state and local politicians newly elected in November 2024. Our first guest is Tristan Rader, representing District 13 in Ohio's House of Representatives. District 13, which is host Danny Caine's […]