Institute for Local Self-Reliance

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, we build local power to fight corporate control. We are a national research and advocacy organization that partners with allies across the country to build an American economy driven by local priorities and accountable to people and the planet.

Local self-reliance means that we, the people, are able to exercise power over our lives — how we provide for our families, how resources are shared and allocated in our communities, and how decisions are made by government, corporations, and businesses because it affects all of us.

We recognize the biggest challenges in the U.S. today are corporate control and diminishing community power which undermines the strength of our democracy and local economies. For us, local self-reliance is the best answer to these challenges.

So whether it’s fighting back against the outsize power of monopolies like Amazon, ensuring high-quality locally-driven broadband service for all, or advocating to keep local renewable energy in the community that produced it, ILSR advocates for solutions that harness the power of citizens and communities.