Break the Chains, Build Local Power

The video : 2min30

Each year, more of our money goes to bigger and bigger businesses with growing economic and political power. These mega-corporations bend the rules to benefit themselves at the expense of our communities.

One organization is fighting back: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance works to rewrite the rules, and to give communities the power to choose a different future. Across several vital economic sectors, we help break the corporate stranglehold that extracts wealth from our local economies and undermines our democracy.

We advocate for community banks and credit unions that make productive loans to grow local business and community wealth. They thrive only when their community does, too. Together, we fight the biggest banks that gamble with our money and ignore our needs.

We champion locally owned businesses that create good jobs, healthy neighborhoods, and keep dollars in the community. Together, we fight giants like Walmart and Amazon that use their size to crush competition.

We empower households and communities to take charge by producing their own energy from the wind and sun. Together, we fight utility companies that keep investing in big, dirty power plants that use last century’s technologies.

We champion reuse, recycling, and composting. We enable communities to shift from waste… to wealth, creating local manufacturing, rich and resilient soils, and a healthier climate. Together, we fight the big corporations that kill jobs and profit from burning or burying valuable materials.

We inspire hundreds of communities to build their own broadband networks. These lightning-fast networks lower prices, improve customer service, and supercharge innovation. Together, we fight large cable and phone monopolies that deliver awful service at sky-rocketing prices.

Mega corporations have their own plans for extracting our communities’ wealth. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance helps communities use their authority to choose their own path. Reclaiming control won’t automatically solve our problems. But it can allow us to build a more resilient and sustainable economy that creates opportunity for all.

Institute for Local Self-Reliance ilsr.org