Lifelong Toledo resident Doris Greer takes us back to a time when Dorr Street was the heart of Black wealth, culture, and community. Doris vividly recalls the bustling Black-owned businesses, close-knit neighbors, and a deep sense of pride and ownership. But today, that vibrant community has been replaced by empty lots and chain dollar stores, a re…

Independent pharmacies are the unsung heroes of healthcare, providing critical services that chain pharmacies simply can't match. On this summer special, ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell illustrates how corporate giants like CVS and Walgreens have used predatory tactics to drive these vital local businesses to the brink of extinction in communities and have, …

In the groundbreaking report Upcharge: Hidden Costs of Electric Utility Monopoly Power, John Farrell exposes the severe environmental, financial, and economic costs imposed by monopoly utilities. John joins Building Local Power to discuss how these utilities perpetuate a monopoly model that is damaging our health, environment, and economy. He uncov…

Last month, the Biden White House released its National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics. ILSR’s Julia Spector joins Building Local Power to discuss how the leading advocacy of ILSR and allied organizations led to community composting becoming a featured component of the national strategy, and how far we’ve come sinc…

In 2019, we aired an episode titled "Independent Musicians and the Antimonopoly Movement," which explored the impact of industry concentration on independent musicians. We are resurfacing that episode in light of recent news that the Department of Justice is suing Live Nation for hindering competition following its 2011 merger with Ticketmaster. IL…

Veteran journalist, Harry Jaffe, reflects on his four-decade career dedicated to covering some of Washington D.C.’s stories, emphasizing the crucial role of local reporters in holding public officials accountable and keeping communities informed. Harry, founder of Spotlight DC, a nonprofit supporting investigative journalism, underscored the challe…

In 2000, Uwe Brandes moved to Washington, D.C. to join Mayor Williams' administration with a bold vision to transform the Anacostia River waterfront, one of the nation’s most polluted rivers at the time. Uwe spearheaded a participatory planning process that was and still is far too rare, actively involving communities and stakeholders directly impa…

Arriving in the nation's capital in the mid-90s, Gina Schaefer found herself drawn to Logan Circle, a neighborhood that had been scarred by the riots following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Inspired by the community's resilience and potential, Gina embarked on a mission to fill a void in the neighborhood, starting with the establishment o…

In 1974, in Washington D.C., amidst a backdrop of economic turbulence and social unrest, the seeds of the Institute for Local Self-reliance were sown. David Morris, Neil Seldman, and Gil Friend, driven by a shared vision of community resilience, founded the Institute in a townhouse in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Their goal was to demonstrate tha…

Born and raised in DC, Kehmari Norman established her flower shop to bridge culture and floristry. The visionary behind Blk Flower Market drew from her background as a stage designer at Temple University, transforming her skills into landscape design, intertwining environmentalism with entrepreneurship. Throughout the episode, Kehmari highlights th…

In the heart of Detroit, a movement is underway to rebuild democracy and economic power from the ground up. The Detroit Community Wealth Fund sits at the epicenter of this movement, providing non-extractive capital and technical assistance that empowers local businesses and cooperatives. Co-founder Margo Dalal and director of community programming …

Mama Shu’s journey began with a profound commitment: healing her community. Despite the challenges faced by her hometown of Highland Park, Mama Shu felt a deep connection to the area. Determined to make a difference, she embarked on a mission to reclaim neglected spaces, tirelessly working to steward the land, organize the community, and secure res…

Reneé’s journey began with a simple idea: composting isn’t just about reducing waste — it’s about building communities. Reneé V. Wallace, executive director at FoodPLUS Detroit, empowers Detroiters to drive systemic change within themselves, their homes, and throughout their community. Through innovative pilot projects like banding neighbors togeth…

Lanay Gilbert-Williams, born and raised in Detroit, experienced a childhood marked by both trauma and love, instilling in her a deep sense of community. On this episode of Building Local Power: The City Series, Lanay shares her journey to becoming the board president of The Detroit People’s Food Cooperative, a grocery store grounded in the principl…

A vibrant independent bookstore symbolizes a shared community enthusiasm for learning, discovery, heritage, and progress. Source Booksellers, nestled in Detroit, has long been a reliable hub for non-fiction literature. Janet W. Jones established the store in 1989 and nurtured her daughter, Alyson Jones Turner, amidst its shelves. Alyson recounts th…

In our new season of Building Local Power, The City Series, we take a tour of cities and towns across the U.S. and talk to guests who are working to make their communities more locally self-reliant. Independent business owners, elected city officials, and community leaders explain how their work is moving the needle toward a more just, sustainable,…

Over the past fifty years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ), and the judiciary have consistently approved mergers and acquisitions, contributing to the consolidation of industries that have proven to be bad for competition, consumers, and communities. Despite the prevalence of these mergers and acquisitions, the stori…

Is this the end of a grocery merger era that began with 385 grocery mergers from 1996-1999 alone? As news about the impending Federal Trade Commission decision to approve or deny the Kroger/Albertsons merger looms large, ILSR’s Ron Knox delves into the dominance of major grocery chains and explores the potential consequences of the proposed merger.…

In many places across the country, broadband communications provider, Sparklight, has a monopoly in rural towns where they price gouge their customers and deliver poor service. It has significantly expanded its presence across the U.S. through acquisitions and investments in broadband companies in recent years, and East Carroll Parrish leaders Wand…

In 2015, Charter Spectrum bought Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, a mammoth merger in the telecommunications and cable industry that made Charter the second-largest broadband provider in the nation. Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel and manager of special projects at Consumer Reports explains how the cable industry changed drama…

The Permian Basin, the largest producing oil field in the United States, is located in Texas. JP Morgan is a major shareholder of the Permian Basin and in 2019, through its affiliate, Infrastructure Investment Fund (IIF), successfully acquired the El Paso Electric utility company. The utility is responsible for powering the city and operates three …

In 2020, Avangrid, backed by its parent company, Iberdrola, filed their case to buy Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM). Over the next three years, Mariel Nanasi of the New Energy Economy fought alongside allies to prevent the acquisition, showcasing the company’s appalling track record and arguing that the acquisition would increase rates, …

In 2022, international investment firm BlackRock acquired Vanguard Renewables, to help Vanguard drastically expand its number of large-scale anaerobic digestion facilities across the U.S. and BlackRock’s own energy portfolio. Brenda Platt, director of ILSR’s Composting for Community Initiative shares her concern that like in many industries, this t…

Lead Editor at Waste Dive, Cole Rosengren, explains how the Waste Management and Advanced Disposal merger further consolidated the $90 billion annual waste and recycling industry, the pushback it faced from local entities, and how it impacted communities across the nation. Kirstie Pecci, Executive Director at Just Zero, shares her journey that led …

In the late 1800’s there were 4,000 breweries. By the 1970’s, just 40 companies operated 89 breweries. ILSR’s Ron Knox explains how the beer industry is now dominated by just a few large conglomerates who control distribution and present challenges for craft breweries. He showcases how when mega-corporation, Budweiser, bought SABMiller they promise…

Our new season shatters the deceptive facade often employed by merging companies that claim their consolidation will benefit consumers.… Read MoreDoor Luke Gannon

In this episode of Building Local Power, Chris Noble, the Director of Organizing at Health Access California, and Allison Hardt, the Community Development Director at T1 International, share their personal experiences accessing life-saving medication in America that ultimately led to their efforts supporting the CalRx plan to publicly produce life-…

Kay Eady, a lifelong Georgian, fondly recalls spending her childhood playing baseball with her siblings, reading at the library, and admiring her mother and grandmother. As she embarked on her adult educational journey, Kay learned that despite her individual blessings, there was an abundance of disparities for low-income communities and communitie…

From an early age, Rose was taught that if you see a problem, you have a responsibility to do something about it. Now in her 70s and living just seven miles from the Sherco coal-fired power plant, Rose shares her story and secrets with us of how she is applying this lesson — working with the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign and successfully mob…

When Jasmine’s apartment roof started caving in, she asked her landlords to fix it. Instead of fixing it, the landlord gave her an ultimatum: accept the conditions or leave. Jasmine left, turning to activism and organizing with the Louisville Tenant’s Union to help neighborhoods throughout the city have access to safe and affordable housing. As she…

In 2022, in the small town of Alpine, California, Raquel Nuñez founded Cuatro Vientos, a community composting project that brings environmental and cultural solutions to the community. In this episode of Building Local Power, Raquel, and her partners Iriani Lopez and Aedan Lagillardaie, share how it has been a dream come true to reconnect with thei…

Twenty-five years ago, there were over 2,000 commercial shrimp boats in Mississippi. Today, that number has fallen to around 200. This trend is not unique to Mississippi: Across U.S. coastlines, commercial fisherfolk are seeing their way of life disappear. On this episode of Building Local Power, Tim Barrett, a local fisherman in Marshfield, Massac…

“A country with no farmers is no country at all,” says Shad Dasher, owner of The Onion Man Company, an onion farm in Glennville, Ga., on this episode of Building Local Power. In the 1930s, the United States boasted some 6.8 million farms. Today, we’re down to roughly two million — a more than 70% decline. The rapid consolidation of agriculture acro…

Imagine sitting in a remote region of the Sahara desert. The sun is scorching hot, the dry air is stifling, and there are no trees, no water, and no living creatures as far as the eye can see. What would you wish you had? One night in 2020, Aaron Johnson, founder and owner of Oasis Fresh Market, was up late working on a marketing plan for his new g…

The Rev. Dr. Donald Perryman was born and raised into the Black church in Toledo, Ohio. Since 1997, he has served as the Senior Pastor at The Center of Hope Community Baptist Church, in the central city, where he has led a religious, social, and political movement to empower his community. Toledo’s Dorr Street was once home to a thriving Black comm…

For our final Building Local Power episode of 2022, we invited Co-Founder, David Morris, to offer a history lesson on the self-reliance framework that underpins ILSR’s work. He discusses how that framework has evolved over four-plus decades, the organization’s inherent aversion to bigness, and the successes and hardships of ILSR’s early years. … Re…

On this episode of Building Local Power, Christopher Mitchell and Sean Gonsalves talk about the work that immediately lies ahead for the broad array of communities seeking to free themselves from the unbridled power of monopolistic Internet providers.… Read MoreDoor Luke Gannon

The three members from ILSR's energy team engage in a riveting conversation on the biggest energy stories from 2022, including the Inflation Reduction Act’s big funding for solar, the antimonopoly focus in the Biden administration, how utility companies are continuing to use their financial power to lobby against energy, and a new tool designed to …

On this episode of Building Local Power, members of the Composting for Community team, Brenda Platt and Clarissa Libertelli, explain how their accomplishments in 2022 have impacted communities across the U.S. and forged a more sustainable future. … Read MoreDoor Luke Gannon

On this episode of Building Local Power, Josh Ewing, Director of the Rural Climate Partnership, explains how we must put rural America at the forefront of the clean energy transition. … Read MoreDoor Luke Gannon

On this episode of Building Local Power Alejandro Roark, the Chief of Consumer and Governmental Affairs at the FCC tells a captivating journey of his career from working at the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership all the way to his current career at the Federal Communications Commission. He speaks about his LGBTQ inclusion work, …

This week on Building Local Power, we are joined by Brandi Collins-Dexter, author of Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and our Political Future and Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director of ILSR. We engage in a riveting conversation on how political parties have monopolistic tendencies, how Big Tech has dominated mainstream media, and the future of Bla…

In the 17th century, humans weren’t the only ones voyaging to the U.S. — the Norway rat decided to join the expedition. And ever since, the human and the rat have been inseparable, much to the rat’s delight and the human’s dismay. Today, rats lurk in underground subways, flourish in commercial centers, burrow in city parks, and scurry across sidewa…

"For every crime, you need means, motive, and opportunity," Rakeen Mabud explained on the Building Local Power podcast. Executives at some of the largest monopolies in our economy are using their market power to jack up prices on consumers. Their means is market power. Their motive is profit. What is the opportunity? The opportunity is for CEOs to …

"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, Massachuse…

What can you win if you fail? Minneapolis has a unique story of its path towards clean energy. Although Minneapolis failed to get a public utility on their first significant push, they ultimately made a deal requiring utilities to engage the local government and residents more in their operations. So despite their public power pursuit not achieving…

What does it really mean when people talk about the digital divide? And what power do communities have that find themselves on the wrong side of that divide? Shayna Englin is our guest on this episode of Building Local Power discussing how she approaches these issues as director of the Digital Equity Initiative at the California Community Foundatio…

This episode marks a new beginning for Building Local Power – Reggie Rucker, Communications Director, and Luke Gannon, Communications and Research Associate are taking a step back to look at our work in a larger context. To kick this transition off we welcomed our colleagues from the composting team Brenda Platt, Director of the Composting for Comm…

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by John Farrell and Stacy Mitchell, Co-directors of ILSR, and Ron Knox, a Senior Researcher on our Independent Business team. The group discusses the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission’s plan to overhaul their merger guidelines. Highlights include: The histo…

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.…