Building Local Power

"Young people have the energy to respond immediately to crises," Addison Turner, Worcester Youth Cooperatives organizer, stated in a new documentary "Radix: Youth Build Solidarity and Worker-Ownership in the Midst of the Pandemic." The pandemic exacerbated the deeply rooted issues in cities around the nation — but the youth of Worcester, Massachusetts, decided that they wanted to enact change to c...

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by members of ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team: Ry Marcattilio-McCracken, Senior Researcher; Sean Gonsalves, Senior Reporter and Editor; and Christine Parker, GIS and Data Visualization Specialist. They discuss the importance of mapping for building broadband networks.

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by several ILSR colleagues: Susan R. Holmberg, Katie Kienbaum, and Sophia Jones where they discuss ILSR's recent work at the state and local policy level, including dollar store restrictions, New York antitrust legislation, a new model for solar energy, composting and waste reduction in Maryland, and more.

In this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco and Neil Seldman, Director of ILSR's Waste to Wealth initiative are joined by several guests who are involved in the canning community. Canners, also called waste pickers or scrappers, collect recyclable materials such as cans and bottles from the streets and redeem them at recycling centers. The guests are Christine Hegel and Jessica Y...

Leah Douglas is a reporter at Reuters covering the politics of food, agriculture, and the environment. Douglas discusses how the poultry industry is structured by contract production, how dairy farms are the bedrock for many rural communities, and Earl Butz's conviction for farmers to plant "fence row to fence row" to enable economic food production.

Harry First, law professor and co-director of New York University’s Competition, Innovation, and Information Law Program discusses moving antitrust away from a technocratic approach, the politicization of law enforcement, and how to reinvigorate strong antitrust legislation. … Read More

Kevin Erickson, Director of the Future of Music Coalition discusses how music is being impacted by monopoly power and what kind of marketplace breeds broad participation.… Read More

In this miniseries, we return to our most insightful podcast conversations. These five minute episodes highlight critical themes that are still relevant today. Jeremy Greer and Solana Rice argue for organizers of color to be embedded and centered in the antimonopoly fight.… Read More

In this miniseries, we return to our most insightful podcast conversations. These five minute episodes highlight critical themes that are still relevant today. Alec MacGillis discusses how economic concentration leads to regional disparity. … Read More

In this miniseries, we return to our most insightful podcast conversations. These five minute episodes highlight critical themes that are still relevant today. Zephyr Teachout and Stacy Mitchell discuss the increased recognition of the intersection between race and antimonopoly. … Read More

In this miniseries, we return to our most insightful podcast conversations. These five minute episodes highlight critical themes that are still relevant today. … Read More

On this episode of Building Local Power, three members of ILSR’s Independent Business team, Lauren Gellatly, Katy Milani, and Kennedy Smith, answer: What challenges are small, independent businesses facing? And what legislative solutions are on the way? … Read More

Host John Farrell, Co-Director of ILSR, interviews Leslie Glustrom, founding member of Clean Energy Action, an organization working on accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy economy. They discuss how we can equitably transition to a clean energy future.

In this episode, we look forward to upcoming policy opportunities. We discuss the status of small businesses across the country and the creative solutions some communities have implemented to keep them going, ILSR's 30 Million Solar Homes proposal, and why nonprofit approaches are the most reliable solution we have for closing the digital divide.

Host Jess Del Fiacco talks with John Farrell, Director of ILSR's Energy Democracy Initiative, about how cities are taking action around climate change. This episode also features perspective from leaders in Burlington, Vt.; Boulder, Colo.; Pueblo, Colo.; and Minneapolis, Minn., who have tackled ambitious clean energy goals.

Zephyr Teachout, author of the new book Break 'Em Up, shares her thoughts on building an antimonopoly movement, what she finds encouraging and discouraging in our current moment, and how she approaches antimonopoly work as a democracy activist.… Read More

Host Jess Del Fiacco talks to ILSR's Stacy Mitchell and Ron Knox about the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee's recent hearing on monopoly power in online platforms, which featured testimony from the CEOs of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google. The hearing was part of a year-long investigation of anti-competitive behavior in these companies — the first time in more than 40 years that Congress...

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Chris Mitchell, director of ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative, and David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect. David discusses his latest book, Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power, which tells the story of the daily impact of monopoly power on Americans’ lives.

In this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Zach Freed, researcher with ILSR's Independent Business initiative, and John Farrell, ILSR co-director. The three discuss ILSR's new Fighting Monopoly Power guide, which spells out how local leaders can challenge concentrated corporate power in the banking, broadband, electricity, food and farming, pharmacy, small business,...

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Christopher Mitchell, director of ILSR's Community Broadband Initiative, and Representative Seth Berry of Maine. Seth is the House Chair of the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology, and he is leading the call for the state to takeover Maine's two largest electric companies ⁠— incl...

In this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Brenda Platt, Director of ILSR's Composting for Community Initiative, and Kesiah Bascom, founder of OffBeet Compost. OffBeet is a small-scale, community-minded food scrap collection and composting enterprise in the Lowell, Mass., area. Kesiah and her team have an ongoing mission to connect environmental goals with social ju...

Host Jess Del Fiacco talks with Kennedy Smith, Senior Researcher with ILSR's Independent Business initiative, about efforts at the state and local level to support small businesses affected by the pandemic.

Host Jess Del Fiacco and ILSR Co-Director John Farrell speak with Gina Schaefer, owner of A Few Cool Hardware Stores in the D.C. area. Gina talks about how she and her husband got into the hardware business and explains some of the steps they've taken to adapt operations in order to safely serve customers during the pandemic, including moving to curbside pick-up and online ordering, changing opera...

Chris, John, Stacy, and Jess discuss the bumpy rollout of federal relief funding for America's small businesses, which are facing an unprecedented crisis in the COVID-19 pandemic. Stacy offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the legislation to help small businesses was crafted, and explains why some large franchises, including chain restaurants and hotels, benefitted from the initial round of reli...

Host Christopher Mitchell speaks with Fordham Law School Professor Nestor Davidson and National League of Cities Research Director Christiana McFarland, authors of a recent report on home rule. Home rule gives cities the authority to make policy decisions locally, without being preempted by state or federal governments. They talk about why local officials need "all the tools in the toolbox" in ord...