The Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) is a national hub that coordinates and creates efforts to counter the abuse of preemption and strengthen local democracy.
Our goals are to raise awareness of state preemption and its consequences, reduce the use of this threat to local autonomy, and strengthen the power of local governments to advance policies that promote equity, inclusion, public health, and civic participation.
Our Vision & Guiding Values
We are committed to creating a more equitable and just society by dismantling historic and current systems of oppression that exclude and harm BIPOC, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and workers in low-wage industries.
We believe that our democracy should work for all people. A healthy democracy should allow historically excluded people to build power and exercise agency over their own lives and communities. State preemption of local policy making should only be used to protect the health and well-being of residents, and should create the foundation upon which localities can go further in advancing equity and addressing their communities’ needs. Unfortunately, preemption today is being abused specifically to undermine a healthy democracy and harm people.
Our government and elected officials have a responsibility to meet the needs of their communities and to address the policies, institutions, and cultural barriers that perpetuate harm and continue to exclude BIPOC, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and workers in low-wage industries.
Truly building a more equitable and just society means that every community should have the authority and autonomy to advance equitable policies and how to most urgently meet the needs of their residents. We’re committed to supporting this work by both sharing best practices and supporting locally led strategies that center local expertise and lived experience.
We strive to center the following values in all of our work:
Impact:
We strive to have a tangible, lasting, and positive impact on people, communities, and our democracy.
Collaboration & Partnership:
We recognize that we are more than the sum of our parts and operate as a hub dedicated to building deep and meaningful connections and alliances across issues, constituencies, communities, and sectors.
Respect:
We value the skills, experiences, identities, and perspectives of our team, our partners, and those impacted most by the abuse of preemption.
Nimble & Responsive:
We adapt to a quickly changing landscape while also centering the perspectives and engagement of the most impacted communities in our decision-making and planning.
Resilient:
We remain steadfast in our commitment to our long-term vision, mission, desired impact, and these values, even in tumultuous times and challenging situations.
Honest & Transparent:
We believe in sharing timely and direct information, resources, expertise, and background about our decisions in order to support and maximize the impact of the collective preemption ecosystem.
Innovative:
We challenge ourselves to continuously learn from each other and our partners, and reflect on lessons of our work. We identify opportunities to refine, modify, cease, or create new efforts to further our values and meet the needs of the communities and people most impacted by the abuse of preemption.
LSSC’s Strategic Priorities
1
Fostering and supporting cross-movement collaboration by listening to and engaging directly with local leaders and advocates through state campaign coalitions, providing campaign planning support, conducting peer-to-peer trainings, and functioning as a hub to conduct our work in tandem with our partners, driven by their needs and the needs of the communities they serve. State campaigns and local leadership are at the heart of our approach and drive and inform the resources LSSC develops and disseminates across the preemption ecosystem.
2
Demonstrating the consequences of abusive preemption
that excludes and harms BIPOC, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and workers in low-wage industries by commissioning research, convening and expanding a diverse network of academics and researchers, and connecting and translating research to action in the field. This work provides opportunities to create deeper connections between advocates and academics as well as between today’s abuse of preemption with historic and current systems of oppression.
3
Creating the public imperative for reform
by developing strategic communications and earned and social media efforts, conducting messaging research, and producing messaging resources, talking points, and digital toolkits to increase and support the adoption of research-tested best practices. We must elevate the narrative about the abuse of preemption out of issue silos and educate and engage communities on the larger issue of strengthening local democracy.
4
Rebalancing the power between state and local governments
by conducting legal research, providing advocates and policy makers with deep and customized legal technical assistance, drafting amicus briefs, engaging and expanding our network of legal scholars, litigating critical issues, and advancing the Principles of Home Rule for the 21st Century. We seek structural reforms to ensure government and elected officials fulfill their responsibility to meet the needs of their communities and to address the policies, institutions, and cultural barriers that perpetuate harm and continue to exclude BIPOC, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and workers in low-wage industries.
How We Provide Support to Partners
The Local Solutions Support Center’s (LSSC) Communications, Legal, Research, and State Campaigns Teams all offered ongoing, tailored support to our partners. Here’s an overview of the services each of our team provides to advocates on the ground.
State Campaigns
The LSSC State Campaigns Team administers technical assistance to our seven core states: Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. In providing technical assistance and support to our core states, the state campaigns team assists in: developing intra- and inter- state coalitions; generating and administering advocacy resources; hosting and organizing virtual trainings for advocates and stakeholders; briefings on best-strategies for local and state advocacy engagement; and connecting partners with external stakeholders to foster issue-specific sustainable networks. Advocacy resources include:
Public education events to inform audiences about local preemption
Virtual advocacy training and workshops
Organizational tools for coalition project management
Subject matter expertise and information sharing
Support coalition infrastructure to ensure sustainability
Connection of local advocates with legal, research, and communication resources and advocacy materials
Research
LSSC’s Research Team is centered around elevating equity in preemption research. The team focuses its efforts on (1) cultivating and identifying research documenting the consequences of the abuse of state preemption; (2) translating research into action-oriented communications; (3) disseminating research to inform advocacy efforts; and (4) funding new research to meet the needs of the field. For on-demand research needs, LSSC also convenes a “research cohort” composed of leading scholars with substantive expertise across a range of issues.
Types of research includes:
Legal research
Academic research
Impact research
Legal
The LSSC Legal Team includes in-house and grant funded legal expertise, including a panel of legal experts. Through these partnerships, LSSC provides the following legal resources to ensure that advocates and coalitions are fully equipped to protect democracy and further the anti-preemptive agenda to include:
Technical Bill Analyses
Legal Training
White Papers & Scholarship
Legal Strategy Memos
Amicus Briefs
Research and Analysis
Litigation
Communications
The LSSC Communications Team takes a three tiered approach to production of communications: (1) driving the national media narrative; (2) supporting state communication efforts; and (3) advancing communication best practices and supporting message development. The team offers six different resources for advocates and partners:
Communication Strategies
Media Lists + Amplification
Content Development
Messaging Resources
Social Media & Graphics
Brainstorm Partner