POLICY FOR LOCAL PROGRESS Case Studies & Best Practices from Around the Country As Local Progress celebrates our sixth year, we are delighted to share this updated version of our policy brief publication, a resource which we hope is helpful for our members across the network. We are grateful to the following allied organizations for co-authoring this policy book with us. Their substantive expertise and commitment to working with local elected officials to promote progressive public policy are incredible assets to our movement and our country. Free Law Founders ABOUT US Local Progress was founded in 2012 to connect local elected officials to help replicate progressive policy across cities by sharing innovative ideas and best practices; to provide training on how to govern most effectively; and to impact the national discourse by coordinating and elevating innovative municipal work across the country. OUR VISION Our network is made up of hundreds of local elected officials from around the country who are united in their commitment to shared prosperity, equal justice under law, livable and sustainable communities, and good government that serves the public interest. We are building a strong piece of movement infrastructure that can help advance a wide array of priorities at the local level and help transform national politics and policies in the years and decades ahead. In an era when conservatives control too many of state governments and too much of Washington, DC, we know that localities can and must work together to push our country in a new and exciting progressive direction . This is both the promise and the immensity of the task before us. CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY Local Progress is a project of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD). CPD works to create equity, opportunity and a dynamic democracy in partnership with high- impact base-building organizations, organizing alliances, and progressive unions. CPD strengthens our collective capacity to envision and win an innovative pro-worker, pro- immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda. TABLE OF CONTENTS SHARED PROSPERITY LIVABLE & SUSAINATABLE Artisan Zoning • 4 CITIES Community Benefits • 6 Addressing The Foreclosure Crisis • 56 Construction In The South • 8 Affordable Housing Impact Fee Programs • 58 Ending Wage Theft • 10 Banning Source of Income Housing Discrimination • 60 Ensuring Fair Workweek • 12 Creating Green Jobs • 62 Living Wage Ordinances • 14 Divesting from Fossil Fuels • 64 Local And Targeted Hiring • 16 Ending Drug-Related Evictions in Public Housing • 66 Paid Sick Leave • 18 Equitable Infrastructure • 68 Prohibiting Job Discrimination Based on Equitable Strategies for Renewable Energy • 70 Credit History • 20 Fracking Bans & Moratoriums • 72 Protecting Workers in the On-Demand Economy • 22 Housing Code Enforcement • 74 Responsible Banking and Access to Credit • 24 Inclusionary Housing • 76 Small Business Support • 26 Livable Cities • 78 EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW Permanently Affordable Homeownership • 80 Protecting Tenants in the On-Demand Economy • 82 Abortion Access • 28 Addressing Violence Against Women & Girls • 30 GOOD GOV’T THAT SERVES Civil Asset Forfeiture • 32 THE PUBLIC INTEREST Ensuring Racial Equity in Public Contracting • 34 Campaign Finance Reform • 84 Fair-Chance Hiring For Workers With Criminal Community Schools • 86 Records • 36 Comprehensive Sex Education • 88 Language Access • 38 Confronting Preemption • 90 LGBT Civil Rights • 40 Digital Democracy and Transparency • 92 Limiting Local Entanglement with Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline • 94 Federal Immigration Authorities • 42 ESSA Implementation • 96 Local Confidentiality Policies • 44 Fighting Back Against Forced Arbitration • 98 Local Police Surveillance Technology • 46 Expanding Voting Rights • 100 Policing and Civil Rights • 48 Participatory Budgeting • 102 Racial Equity in Our Cities • 50 Strengthening Our Public Schools • 104 Specialty Courts & Community Justice • 52 Access to Healthy Food • 54 ARTISAN ZONING THE PROBLEM on their potential boon to the economy. Many types of Over the past several decades, urban economies light manufacturers run low-maintenance and low- in the United States evolved at jarring speed. As major cost operations, and can support the revitalization of manufacturers shifted their operations overseas, thou- underserved areas. sands of blue-collar jobs at the city level were lost and POLICY SOLUTIONS the availability of blue-collar jobs diminished. Yet many One of the most creative ways to make space avail- urban areas are experiencing signs of manufacturing able for artisan manufacturers while revitalizing neigh- job stabilization, spurred in part by a growing demand borhoods is to tap into low-cost, vacant, or unutilized for specialty products and easier access to advanced real estate that can be repurposed to host a community manufacturing technologies. of producers. Only a small percentage of businesses or Cities are now seeing a new generation of small, local communities active in the artisan industry may know makers and manufacturers develop sustainable ways to they can take advantage of this real estate, so legislators make a middle-class living. These producers are the bak- play a key role in widely communicating this approach ers, small-batch brewers, woodworkers, hardware start- to those who are looking to ramp up their operations. ups and artists that enrich the city landscape, support When reviewing whether to create artisan zoning the creation of new family-sustaining jobs, and lift up changes, elected officials act as the liaison between the the city’s tax revenue. But without specific zoning laws planning department and the public. There should be in place that give producers accessible and affordable clear consensus on the potential economic and sustain- locations to set up shop, cities risk stunting the growth ability benefits of supporting small-scale producers in of this diversified, resilient economy, in an era where mixed use areas, while also making sure community both consumers and nearby businesses are increasingly members are being heard as they question what types hungry for locally fabricated products. of changes new zoning laws may bring to the neighbor- THE SOLUTION hood. For example, if artisan manufacturers in the food Artisan zoning is an approach to land use and de- and beverage industry also want to sell their products velopment that provides space for small-scale manufac- out the door, it’s important to make sure the business turers that produce little to no vibration, noise, fumes, community and residents agree on issues like business or other nuisances, meaning they can fit within a wide traffic or noise.Indianapolis is currently navigating variety of industrial, commercial, and even residential this issue, as artisan food and beverage businesses look districts. Planning departments don’t always need a total to expand their retail operations into the night hours. zoning code overhaul to carve out more spaces for these Legislators can also play a role in making sure zon- types of businesses – in some cases, cities have pursued ing language is clear enough that non-industrial inter- changes or additions to ordinance language instead of ests cannot take advantage of land use changes designed drafting new zoning maps from scratch. Some creative to benefit small businesses. For example,Philadelphia ’s approaches include building ordinances around existing zoning revision in 2012 included an industrial-residen- but unoccupied industrial facilities, or requiring that tial classification that labeled industrial components as new residential buildings devote part of their bottom optional, meaning a housing developer could build a new floor to light industrial production. apartment condo under the industrial-residential clas- Proposals for these types of additions – often re- sification without having to provide any space for man- 1 ferred to as artisan or fabrication zones – are predicated ufacturers. City council members successfully passed a 4 POLICY BRIEF | LOCAL PROGRESS: THE NATIONAL MUNICIPAL POLICY NETWORK bill2 three years later that required development projects under new designations, Artisan Manufacturing and Artisan Food and this provision to mark off 50 percent of the combined ground Beverage, which allowed small manufacturers to start working floor area of all buildings sharing the same lot for light industrial in non-industrial areas. It also included a blight-fighting provi- or artisan use, or 60 percent for non-residential use like retail. sion that allows artisan manufacturers to work in buildings in Lawmakers can also push the consensus on wraparound certain land use categories that have been vacant for five years, partnerships at the municipal level to make sure local makers making artisan manufacturing the most easily-permitted form get the support they need to grow. They can help ensure busi- of manufacturing throughout the city. Reactivating these spaces nesses in the artisan zone know how to access support from has increased the property value and in turn the tax revenue local workforce development organizations to connect with for the city, and they now provide affordable spaces for start-up job seekers, as well as provide information on how to bid on companies with a uniqueness that reflects the city’s history.4 procurement opportunities for their class of services. NASHVILLE, TN. Nashville started reevaluating its standing But beyond residents and workforce organizations, officials zoning