The Center for American Progress constantly strives to find meaningful solutions and pathways to promote progressive policy advancement at the state and local level. Our work focuses on locally driven solutions as well as the vast policy and communications expertise in the organization. We hope this research and data can help facilitate thoughtful debate among state and local leaders so that we can bring about progressive change in an ever-changing political landscape.
Due to contractual ambiguity and political factors, public-private partnerships often transfer less risk than the public discourse and project-specific value-for-money analyses commonly assume.
By developing policies for workers’ boards—governmental bodies that bring together representatives of workers, employers, and the public—state and local policymakers can raise minimum wage rates, benefits, and workplace standards across entire occupations, sectors, and industries.
Workers’ boards—also known as wage boards or industry committees—set minimum wage rates, benefits, and workplace standards for an entire occupation, sector, or industry. Boards can raise wages for both low- and middle-income workers, and they are particularly helpful in industries where traditional collective bargaining is difficult.
This report serves as a guide for state and local government officials and advocates interested in developing workers’ board policies.
Working mothers are important drivers of three essential industries—elementary and secondary education, hospitals, and food services—yet cannot afford child care for their own children.
The Trump administration says they’re cutting red tape. But in reality, they’re about to contribute to dirtier air and water—and silencing of the public.
Governors and legislators across the country are taking much-needed steps to support families by investing in child care, preschool, and home visiting.
While gun violence is a uniquely American problem, the specific impact varies widely from state to state.
The Trump administration’s attacks on Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Tongass National Forest could release almost 5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent—almost as much pollution as all of the world’s cars emit in a year.
To achieve safe, sustainable, and inclusive communities, states and regions must implement transportation projects that reduce driving and increase biking, walking, and public transit use.
In the West, 60 percent of oil and gas leases offered by the Trump administration are in areas of high water stress, posing a potential threat to the water security of farmers and local communities.
New estimates show that recent efforts to strike down the Affordable Care Act could leave millions of women and girls with preexisting conditions at risk of being charged more or denied coverage for individual insurance.
Public sector training partnerships raise standards for workers and taxpayers—and they strengthen unions at the same time.
Numerous studies underscore the effects of high-quality curricula on student achievement, but to achieve the intended goal of adopting such curricula, careful attention must be paid to the implementation process.
The High Desert Corridor would promote low-density land use and single-occupant vehicle trips, running counter to the state’s climate and sustainable communities goals.
