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Building Local Power

Building Local Power

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.

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

145 episodesEN-US

Show overview

Building Local Power has been publishing since 2016, and across the 9 years since has built a catalogue of 145 episodes. That works out to roughly 70 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a monthly cadence.

Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 25 min and 39 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-US-language Society & Culture show.

There hasn’t been a new episode in the last ninety days; the most recent episode landed 9 months ago. The busiest year was 2017, with 25 episodes published. Published by Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Episodes
145
Running
2016–2025 · 9y
Median length
31 min
Cadence
Monthly

From the publisher

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 corporate monopolies and expanding the power of citizens and communities to chart their own futures. We deliver insights from trailblazing lawmakers, scholars, business leaders, and advocates, plus conversations with ILSR’s own in-house experts, who help reveal the patterns and policies that shape our economy and communities, mapping the solutions that distribute power to everyday people. Our newest series, The Data Centers Are Coming, brings listeners into the stories of local communities fighting back against Big Tech, corporate greed, bureaucratic secrecy, and a system that prioritizes scale at all costs.

Latest Episodes

View all 145 episodes

Internet as a Human Right: Christopher Mitchell on Community Networks

Aug 21, 202526 min

Why Solving Waste Has To Be Local: Brenda Platt on Sustainability and Community

Aug 7, 202529 min

Why Clean Energy Is Not Enough: John Farrell on Lessons from David Morris

Jul 24, 202526 min

The Problems You Can Solve: Stacy Mitchell on David Morris’s Legacy

Jul 15, 202526 min

What Cities Can Do: Remembering David Morris

Jul 3, 202533 min

Increasing Internet Access at the Speed of Trust: Sean Gonsalves on the Digital Equity Act

Jun 12, 2025

The Human Side of Government Work: Paola Santana on Procurement

May 29, 202522 min

The Champion of Local Champions: Recast City’s Ilana Preuss

May 15, 202523 min

The Diner Building Community In Times of Crisis: Ladybird’s Meg Heriford

May 1, 2025

Where Things Are Happening: Ron Knox on the State(s) of Antitrust

Apr 17, 202527 min

Civil Unrest, Group Chats, and Representation: Rachel Hernandez on Governing as a First-Gen Mayor

Apr 3, 202522 min

“A Little Odd, but A Little Amazing”: Adriana Valdez Young and the Secret Mall Apartment

Mar 20, 202527 min

Taking a Risk for Rural Economic Growth with Dante Pittman

Mar 6, 202523 min

From Neighborhood Streets to City Hall with Zac Blanchard

Feb 20, 202528 min

Staying Local at the Statehouse with Tristan Rader

Feb 6, 202523 min

How Structural Racism Fuels American Monopolies

Jan 23, 202527 min

“The Bad Target”: The Rise of Consumer Redlining

Jan 9, 202520 min

A Rebalancing Act: How We Restore Local Power in 2025

Dec 26, 202438 min

The Environmental Inequity of AI

Dec 12, 202428 min

Pizza, DMs, and Solidarity: Filming the Amazon Labor Fight

Nov 27, 202425 min
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