The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, we dismantle concentrated power and equip changemakers to build communities with locally accountable power.
Throughout our history spanning more than 50 years, the growth of ILSR and its mission to dismantle concentrated power and equip changemakers to build communities with locally accountable power has become a story worth telling. From taking on corporate giants like Amazon and Walmart to leading the charge against utility and waste monopolies, ILSR’s research, advocacy, and community assistance continue to break new ground for advancing vibrant, sustainable, and just cities and towns.
The seeds of ILSR were sown in 1974 by three D.C. neighbors with a shared vision of local resilience. Inspired by their community’s newly won rights of self-determination, their work first took root in a three-story townhouse in the Adams Morgan neighborhood — complete with a rooftop sprouts garden and a basement composting toilet — and quickly blossomed into what ILSR would become known for 50 years later. “We wanted a framework of local self-reliance that could be applied throughout all the sectors of the economy, broadly, but then we also wanted to get down and dirty,” recalls co-founder David Morris on ILSR’s Building Local Power podcast.
Check out our commemorative 50th-anniversary film to see the 11-minute version of this remarkable 50-year journey.
Reflecting on ILSR’s DC origins 50 years later, when the seat of federal power inspired three pioneers to build local power.
ILSR co-founder David Morris offers a history lesson on the self-reliance framework that underpins ILSR’s work, and how that framework has evolved over the years.
David Morris talks with Christopher Mitchell, Director of ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks initiative about why the message of local self-reliance is as relevant today as...
In May of 1991, David Morris was featured in Minnesota Public Television’s (TPT) Portrait series on prominent Minnesotans. During the 25 minute interview David discussed...
Whether fighting back against the outsize power of monopolies like Amazon, ensuring high-quality, locally driven broadband service for all, advocating to keep local renewable energy in the community that produced it, or fighting for healthy soils and clean air in the communities most impacted by climate change, dismantling systemic racism is essential to realizing ILSR’s vision.
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These are the folks in our wide-ranging initiative who work alongside community leaders to provide the hard data, detailed policy expertise, and compelling narratives needed to support effective advocacy and organizing.
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The need to decentralize economic power and reinvigorate democracy is stronger than ever. Join us today. Find opportunities to join ILSR as we continue working to build an American economy driven by local priorities and accountable to people and the planet.
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