Stopping Corporate State Interference

Restoring local freedom to care for our communities

Most of us want the best for our communities: healthy, vibrant neighborhoods with stable homes and good jobs. Corporations shouldn’t be able to take away our freedom to care for each other.

The Challenge

When communities organize to address local needs — creating good jobs, keeping rents affordable, stopping polluting industries — corporations often block such action at the state level. They hand draft legislation to the state politicians they paid to elect, taking away our power to look after each other.

Across the US, corporations have blocked local governments from raising their minimum wage, requiring new affordable housing, taking steps to stop COVID-19, and much more.
Such interference discriminates against Black and Brown people: letting majority-white state legislatures override decisions made in cities where communities of color have a strong voice.
When corporations block measures like paid sick days, renter protections, and job quality standards, they disproportionately harm women (particularly women of color) whose work has long been undervalued, who are expected to care for sick children and elders, and who face the greatest discrimation from landlords and mortgage lenders.

Our Approach

In states across the US, we’re taking on corporate-backed state interference and reclaiming our freedom to set standards for decent jobs, affordable rents, and fulfilling lives.

Our research is unmasking the corporations behind state interference, and shining a spotlight on how they harm women, people of color, and our democracy.
Our network is weaving powerful coalitions to stand up against these corporations, bringing together women, people of color, LGBTQ folks, tenants, low-wage workers, and local leaders.
Our affiliates are campaigning to undo harmful state interference laws and return power to local communities.