Building Local Power brings you thought-provoking stories and new ideas for breaking the hold of corporate monopolies and expanding the power of communities to chart their own futures. We deliver insights from trailblazing lawmakers, scholars, business leaders, and advocates. Plus, conversations with in-house experts at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance help reveal the patterns and policies that shape our economy and communities. These stories and conversations help map solutions that distribute power to everyday people. Building Local Power is a podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance that brings you thought-provoking stories and new ideas for breaking the hold of...
Latest episodes
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26 min
Internet as a Human Right: Christopher Mitchell on Community Networks
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 throug…
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30 min
Why Solving Waste Has To Be Local: Brenda Platt on Sustainability and Community
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 dec…
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27 min
Why Clean Energy Is Not Enough: John Farrell on Lessons from David Morris
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…
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26 min
The Problems You Can Solve: Stacy Mitchell on David Morris’s Legacy
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…
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34 min
What Cities Can Do: Remembering David Morris
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 a…
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27 min
Increasing Internet Access at the Speed of Trust: Sean Gonsalves on the Digital Equity Act
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 woul…
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23 min
The Human Side of Government Work: Paola Santana on Procurement
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 t…
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24 min
The Champion of Local Champions: Recast City’s Ilana Preuss
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 susta…
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33 min
The Diner Building Community In Times of Crisis: Ladybird’s Meg Heriford
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. I…
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28 min
Where Things Are Happening: Ron Knox on the State(s) of Antitrust
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 m…
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23 min
Civil Unrest, Group Chats, and Representation: Rachel Hernandez on Governing as a First-Gen Mayor
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…
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27 min
“A Little Odd, but A Little Amazing”: Adriana Valdez Young and the Secret Mall Apartment
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…
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23 min
Taking a Risk for Rural Economic Growth with Dante Pittman
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…
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29 min
From Neighborhood Streets to City Hall with Zac Blanchard
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 Distri…
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23 min
Staying Local at the Statehouse with Tristan Rader
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 ele…
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28 min
How Structural Racism Fuels American Monopolies
The inspiration for this season of Building Local Power is ILSR's Power Play report, written by ILSR senior editor and researcher Susan Holmberg. Sue joins us today for a wide-rang…
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20 min
“The Bad Target”: The Rise of Consumer Redlining
AI technology and large language models are growing in popularity. Also growing is the technology's detrimental effect on the environment. Each query into ChatGPT, to use one examp…
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39 min
A Rebalancing Act: How We Restore Local Power in 2025
ILSR co-executive directors Stacy Mitchell and John Farrell join Reggie Rucker to discuss the year in ILSR and the issues we care about. What did the media get wrong about the econ…
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29 min
The Environmental Inequity of AI
AI technology and large language models are growing in popularity. Also growing is the technology's detrimental effect on the environment. Each query into ChatGPT, to use one examp…
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25 min
Pizza, DMs, and Solidarity: Filming the Amazon Labor Fight
In March, 2020, Amazon warehouse worker Chris Smalls led a walkout protesting a lack of Covid-19 safety measures at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island. He was fired two hours late…