Building Local Power

This is it, the final episode! Danny gives us his closing arguments, reflecting on all he’s learned about the data center fight in communities across the United States. We listen in on Danny’s conversation with prolific author and tech critic Cory Doctorow about the centaur/reverse centaur theory of how we use technology and how technology uses us. And, we take another quick trip to some of the communities we’ve visited along the way: Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia, Davis, West Virginia, and Memphis, Tennessee, to get the latest on their fights. When it’s all said and done, the greatest lesson from the data center clashes may be in the value of agency, and that the way to protect communities from harmful data centers is to ensure that technology serves communities, not the other way around.In this episode, we hear from:Cory Doctorow: Science fiction author, activist and journalist whose recent books include “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse And What To Do About It” and “The Reverse Centaur’s Guide To Life After AI.”Nikki Forrester: Helped launch Tucker United, now serves as the director of communications and spokesperson, lives in Tucker County, WV, and is a journalist. Elena Schlossenberg: Our local tour guide, and deeply involved in grassroots organizing in Prince William County and Loudoun County. She has a deep knowledge of land-use management and serves as the executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County.Amber Sherman: Local policy organizer in Memphis.Delegate John McAuliff: Recently elected Delegate for Fauquier and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia, flipping the seat by running largely on data center regulation. Samuel Black: Award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist working with More Perfect Union. He covers tech, labor, energy, finance, housing, and U.S. politics. Resources:Corruption is Driving Up Your Electricity Bill Cory Doctorow’s blog, CraphoundSamuel Black’s More Perfect Union coverage from BoxtownLocal coverage from Tucker County about Fundamental Data’s visit, and how local leaders reactedThe latest updates from Prince William County about the Data Center Gateway caseA tool tracking every data center moratorium

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act represented one of the largest ever investments in broadband infrastructure. Many in the digital equity space believed the bill would go a long way to solve the digital divide. Provisions like the Digital Equity Act promised to be powerful tools in ensuring fast and reliable Internet access for all, regardless of money, race, and the rural/urban split. Groups ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team supports got to work applying for and receiving government funds to make major progress bringing equity to the digital space. Then, on a Thursday night in May 2025, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was cancelling the Digital Equity Act, freezing or suspending all grants awarded for it. The President's decision will likely face legal challenges because the act and the money appropriated for it represent an action that Congress has already taken. Still, the law's cancellation will have wide-ranging and devastating consequences in the digital equity space. Efforts to close the digital divide for the eight populations served by the bill are now halted in their tracks, just as they were gathering speed. On this week's Building Local Power, we are joined by Sean Gonsalves, ILSR’s associate director for communications on the Community Broadband Team. Sean brings his years of experience and expertise to explain to us the consequences and impacts of the cancellation of the Digital Equity Act. For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-increasing-internet-access-at-the-speed-of-trust

One way to build local power is to catalyze change directly in your community. Another, equally important method is to catalyze the catalysts. To really make change and build sustainable local economies, we need not only entrepreneurs but also people connecting entrepreneurs to each other — someone to champion the local champions. There is solid proof that entrepreneurs fare better when connected to fellow entrepreneurs and mentors. That's where today's guest, Ilana Preuss, comes in. Ilana Preuss connects and supports entrepreneurs and local economies in many ways. Through her company, Recast City, LLC, Preuss advocates for local economic growth through what she calls small-scale manufacturing: nimble, ingenious, local creators who generate economic activity by making stuff and selling it in their communities. She also has worked hard to find solutions to the small business funding gap: BIPOC entrepreneurs, as well as women, have historically found it difficult to access traditional bank financing to start their businesses. How does this dynamic champion of champions do it? Have a listen to this inspiring episode of Building Local Power to find out. For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-champion-of-local-champions

Ron Knox was a successful reporter covering antitrust and antimonopoly issues until he couldn't take it any more. His growing passion for the fight against corporate power didn't match a reporter's need for neutrality and objectivity. Shedding the mantle of neutrality, Knox joined ILSR to fight for what he believed in: building local power and resisting corporate power. In the years since then, Knox has become a leading voice in the antimonopoly movement, creating resources about everything from Ticketmaster to Kroger to what states can do to fight corporate monopolies. In fact, that very idea is the center of this week's episode of Building Local Power. Knox has been a leader in ILSR's effort to provide resources and tools to help states fight monopolies, and he's here on the show to outline that work. Our galvanizing conversation also covers his antimonopoly history, his soon-to-be-released debut book, and his dreams for the future of the antimonopoly movement. If you're looking to be inspired by what's happening at the state level of the antimonopoly fight, as well as the people driving that movement, this episode is a must-listen. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-ron-knox-on-the-states-of-antitrust

In the early 2000s, a behemoth rose above Providence, Rhode Island. The massive Providence Place Mall was heralded as the solution to Providence's 1990s economic woes and cited as a catalyst for urban renewal. However, not all residents of Providence welcomed the mall. For one thing, the wave of corporate development inspired by the mall leveled working-class neighborhoods on Providence's West Side. These ethnically diverse neighborhoods were magnets for artists and other changemakers. In 2003, eight of those artists, including Adriana Valdez Young, undertook a project to reclaim some of what had been lost. The Secret Mall Apartment was their way to become developers in their own right. In the wake of corporate developers claiming every inch of available space, these artists found some space of their own to develop, hidden in plain sight within the mall. The project is the subject of the new documentary Secret Mall Apartment, and one of its stars joins us on this episode of Building Local Power. Our conversation with Adriana Valdez Young explains why the apartment was more than just a prank, how the mall forever altered Providence, and why inclusive design is essential for healthy urban development. Listen in, and never look at a mall the same way again. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-a-little-odd-but-a-little-amazing

The second episode in the Building Local Power, The New Class series finds us talking to Baltimore City Councilman Zac Blanchard, who recently won a tight race to unseat his District 11's incumbent. Blanchard, a Marine vet and father of two young children, got his political start joining and eventually leading neighborhood associations. That experience, combined with his love for Baltimore, influenced his political philosophy and will guide him during his city council tenure. In this episode's wide-ranging conversation, Blanchard and host Danny Caine discuss Baltimore's challenges while also unpacking what makes Baltimore such a uniquely beautiful place. Blanchard shares his thoughts on the city's architecture and character and his journey to calling Baltimore home and eventually representing the key 11th District, which contains significant parts of Downtown and the iconic Inner Harbor. He also weighs in on the city's worst-in-the-nation heat island problem, driven by the presence of large trash incinerators within city limits. Other topics addressed include internet connectivity, highway removal, and the importance of bringing grocery stores to Baltimore's walkable neighborhoods. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-from-neighborhood-streets-to-city-hall

The inspiration for this season of Building Local Power is ILSR's Power Play report, written by ILSR senior editor and researcher Susan Holmberg. Sue joins us today for a wide-ranging and candid conversation about the report and its main finding: that monopolies leverage systemic racism to build and retain their power. Our conversation ties together the previous conversations in our Power Play series, from organizing an Amazon warehouse to consumer redlining to the inequitable environmental harm of AI data centers. Sue discusses the monstrous costs of monopoly power to communities of color and the interconnected ways corporate power can ensnare these communities. But it's not all doom and gloom. Sue, like her report, has much to say about legislative and community fixes to the problem of monopoly power and structural racism. If you want to know not only how monopolies damage communities of color but also how to fix it, this conversation is a must-listen. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-structural-racism-fuels-american-monopolies

ILSR co-executive directors Stacy Mitchell and John Farrell join Reggie Rucker to discuss the year in ILSR and the issues we care about. What did the media get wrong about the economy in the lead-up to the election? How can voter frustration turn into positive political change? Will we ever move past "change elections?" Will the antitrust revival last through the next four years? How can states and cities fight corporate consolidation and monopoly power? What victories did the antitrust movement see in 2024, and how can we replicate that success in the future? And how can ILSR help? All of these questions and much, much more come up in this in-depth and far-reaching conversation between ILSR's fearless leaders. Building Local Power's special year-end 2024 recap episode charts how we got to this moment, and what the path ahead can look like. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-a-rebalancing-act