Chris Noble, Director of Organizing at Health Access, and Allison Hardt, Community Development Director at T1 International, share their personal experiences accessing life-saving medication in America. Stacy Mitchell delves into the hidden world of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — their role in the pharmaceutical industry and how their practices hinder people like Chris and Allison from obtaining essential medicines at reasonable prices.… Read More

Chris Noble, Director of Organizing at Health Access, and Allison Hardt, Community Development Director at T1 International, share their personal experiences accessing life-saving medication in America. Stacy Mitchell delves into the hidden world of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — their role in the pharmaceutical industry and how their practices hinder people like Chris and Allison from obtaining essential medicines at reasonable prices.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/keeping-my-public-options-open/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Keeping My Public Options Open

Kay Eady and Ry Marcattilio dive into the lack of broadband access in the rural South, shedding light on the consequences it holds for individuals seeking telehealth services.… Read More

Kay Eady and Ry Marcattilio dive into the lack of broadband access in the rural South, shedding light on the consequences it holds for individuals seeking telehealth services.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/broadband-is-good-for-your-health/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Broadband is Good for Your Health

Rose Thelen shares her story of working with the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign and successfully mobilizing hundreds of concerned residents in an effort to shut down the Minnesota Sherco coal-fired power plant. Tyson Slocum joins the second half of the episode to discuss how private equity firms across the country have been acquiring and sustaining coal plants like the ones Rose is fighting against.… Read More

Rose Thelen shares her story of working with the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign and successfully mobilizing hundreds of concerned residents in an effort to shut down the Minnesota Sherco coal-fired power plant. Tyson Slocum joins the second half of the episode to discuss how private equity firms across the country have been acquiring and sustaining coal plants like the ones Rose is fighting against.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/left-out-in-the-coal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Left Out in the Coal

Jasmine Harris, a Louisville Tenant Organizer, turned to activism after her roof started caving in to ensure that every resident in Louisville has safe and affordable housing. Tara Raghuveer, Executive Director of Kansas City Tenants, discusses how private equity firms exploit the housing market and government reforms to protect tenants' rights.… Read More

Jasmine Harris, a Louisville Tenant Organizer, turned to activism after her roof started caving in to ensure that every resident in Louisville has safe and affordable housing. Tara Raghuveer, Executive Director of Kansas City Tenants, discusses how private equity firms exploit the housing market and government reforms to protect tenants' rights.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/housing-is-where-the-heart-is/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Housing Is Where the Heart Is

In this episode of Building Local Power, three community composters detail how the biggest challenge in developing their program is funding. Jessica Toth joins the second half of the episode to outline how the very people implementing solutions to lessen our carbon footprint — while providing jobs and education in a circular food system — are underfunded.… Read More

In this episode of Building Local Power, three community composters detail how the biggest challenge in developing their program is funding. Jessica Toth joins the second half of the episode to outline how the very people implementing solutions to lessen our carbon footprint — while providing jobs and education in a circular food system — are underfunded.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/composters-dreaming-investors-scheming/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Composters Dreaming, Investors Scheming

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.… Read More

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.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/graying-of-the-fleet/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Graying of the Fleet

The rapid consolidation of agriculture across the U.S. has obliterated many small and mid-size farms and has posed monumental challenges for small farmers and consumers alike. On this episode, an onion farmer tells his story of how small and mid-size farmers across the country are going extinct. Sarah Carden weaves his story with the necessary policy decisions to build a more equitable farming system. … Read More

The rapid consolidation of agriculture across the U.S. has obliterated many small and mid-size farms and has posed monumental challenges for small farmers and consumers alike. On this episode, an onion farmer tells his story of how small and mid-size farmers across the country are going extinct. Sarah Carden weaves his story with the necessary policy decisions to build a more equitable farming system. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/country-with-no-farmers/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

A Country with No Farmers

Aaron Johnson, founder and owner of Oasis Fresh Market in North Tulsa, Oklahoma, tells his journey of opening a grocery store to provide a refuge, safe place, and shelter to a community that had been a food desert for fourteen years. On the second half of the episode, Stacy Mitchell explains the policy decisions that have led to an increasingly consolidated grocery sector and the steps to take to support locally-owned, community-centric grocery models. … Read More

Aaron Johnson, founder and owner of Oasis Fresh Market in North Tulsa, Oklahoma, tells his journey of opening a grocery store to provide a refuge, safe place, and shelter to a community that had been a food desert for fourteen years. On the second half of the episode, Stacy Mitchell explains the policy decisions that have led to an increasingly consolidated grocery sector and the steps to take to support locally-owned, community-centric grocery models. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/food-oasis/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

A Food Oasis in North Tulsa

Dr. Perryman, a life-long Toledo resident, tells his story of leading a religious, social, and political movement to empower his community and fight against dollar store proliferation. Kennedy Smith weaves Dr. Perryman's story into the national fight against dollar stores. She notes the harms that dollar stores inflict as well as the strategies communities can use to battle them. … Read More

Dr. Perryman, a life-long Toledo resident, tells his story of leading a religious, social, and political movement to empower his community and fight against dollar store proliferation. Kennedy Smith weaves Dr. Perryman's story into the national fight against dollar stores. She notes the harms that dollar stores inflict as well as the strategies communities can use to battle them. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/toledo-takes-dollar-stores-church/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Toledo Takes Dollar Stores to Church

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. … Read More

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. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/blp-shifting-the-paradigm/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Shifting the Paradigm, One Community at a Time

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s podcast to break monopoly power.

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 More

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.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/blp-broadbands-broad-appeal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Community Broadband’s Broad Appeal

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

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? … <a href="https://ilsr.org/blp-small-businesses-rise-up/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Small Businesses Rise Up

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 bring distributed solar to more communities.… Read More

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 bring distributed solar to more communities.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/blp-breaking-bad-energy/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Breaking Bad Energy

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 More

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. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/blp-unpacking-composting/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Unpacking the Year in Composting

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 More

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. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/renewable-rural-america/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

A Renewable Rural America

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, racial and economic justice in the telecommunications sector, collective action, and how the ACP is filling an immediate and vital need. ILSR's Sean Gonsalves weighs in on how to strategize for longer term Internet solutions that will make our broadband economy more fair and equitable.… Read More

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, racial and economic justice in the telecommunications sector, collective action, and how the ACP is filling an immediate and vital need. ILSR's Sean Gonsalves weighs in on how to strategize for longer term Internet solutions that will make our broadband economy more fair and equitable.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/short-term-win-long-term-target/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

A Short-Term Win, A Long-Term Target

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 Black-owned and led businesses in America. … Read More

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 Black-owned and led businesses in America. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/renaissance-for-black-voices-and-spaces/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

A Renaissance for Black Voices and Spaces

On this episode of Building Local Power, Bloomberg reporter Linda Poon joins us to talk about how cities are [mis]managing rat infestations. We dive into the decline and spike in rat populations during and after the pandemic, cities' solutions to mitigating rat infestations, and how to shift the public focus from a problem with rats to a more proactive and thoughtful approach to how we discard food.… Read More

On this episode of Building Local Power, Bloomberg reporter Linda Poon joins us to talk about how cities are [mis]managing rat infestations. We dive into the decline and spike in rat populations during and after the pandemic, cities' solutions to mitigating rat infestations, and how to shift the public focus from a problem with rats to a more proactive and thoughtful approach to how we discard food.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/rats-arent-the-problem/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Rats Aren’t the Problem in Cities. We Are.

On this episode of Building Local Power, Rakeen Mabud the Chief Economist at Groundwork Collaborative and Ron Knox, Senior Researcher and Writer at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, take us on a riveting journey exposing the story of inflation that most economists don't want to tell.… Read More

On this episode of Building Local Power, Rakeen Mabud the Chief Economist at Groundwork Collaborative and Ron Knox, Senior Researcher and Writer at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, take us on a riveting journey exposing the story of inflation that most economists don't want to tell.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/inflation-true-monopoly-story/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Inflation: The True Monopoly Story

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 create a better now. Their action lead to the formation of the Worcester Youth Cooperatives. On this episode of Building Local Power, we are joined by two youth collaborators Mario Harper and Samuel Posner and an adult ally Addison Turner.… Read More

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 create a better now. Their action lead to the formation of the Worcester Youth Cooperatives. On this episode of Building Local Power, we are joined by two youth collaborators Mario Harper and Samuel Posner and an adult ally Addison Turner.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/youth-present-episode157/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Creating New Narratives: Youth are the Present — Episode 157 of Building Local Power

Valuable research and information to supplement Institute for Local Self Reliance&#39;s site.

Unique discussion on place-based policy

Not too geeky and in the weeds. Educational with some light humor

Great listen

Building Local Power

Host Christopher Mitchell interviews Matt Rantanen and Brandon Makaawaawa,  while attending the Internet Society’s 3rd Annual Indigenous Connectivity Summit. … Read More

Host Christopher Mitchell interviews Matt Rantanen and Brandon Makaawaawa,  while attending the Internet Society’s 3rd Annual Indigenous Connectivity Summit. … <a href="https://ilsr.org/hawaii-community-broadband-blp-episode-88/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

How Native Hawaiians Built Their Own Community Broadband Network

Host Stacy Mitchell is joined by Sanjukta Paul, law professor and antitrust and labor expert. They delve into how antitrust laws have been used to hamper the efforts of workers and unions while corporations get a blank check.… Read More

Host Stacy Mitchell is joined by Sanjukta Paul, law professor and antitrust and labor expert. They delve into how antitrust laws have been used to hamper the efforts of workers and unions while corporations get a blank check.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/antitrust-law-blp-episode-87/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

What Does Antitrust Law Really Mean For Workers?

Host Hibba Meraay talks with John Farrell about the new and improved Community Power Toolkit.… Read More

Host Hibba Meraay talks with John Farrell about the new and improved Community Power Toolkit.… <a href="https://ilsr.org/community-power-toolkit-blp-episode-85/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Getting To Clean Energy: Choose Your Own Adventure Style

The best podcast episodes of the most interesting stories and things. From skyping someone while they're in space, to tracking down and meeting a telephone scammer in person, to the story of a Galapagos. These episodes will keep you and all your friends entertained and captivated for hours. Learn something new in every episode! Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Episodes: Interesting Stories & Things

The best episodes for anyone looking to learn more about topics such as happiness, fulfillment, depression and psychology/mental health in general. With interviews with industry experts, personal stories of individuals, this topic has lessons applicable to everyone. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!