Thank you for joining our 50th anniversary celebration! We are honored to be on this journey with you and are grateful for your continued support.
While we commemorate our birthday of May 1, 1974, a milestone like this is too big to confine to one day. Restoring power to local communities to build vibrant, resilient, equitable cities and towns takes sustained effort. Holding corporate giants accountable and walking with communities in search of a better way takes determined commitment. Today marks a completed chapter in this 50-year story of ours and a fresh page for writing what comes next. Propel us into the next 50 years.
Small Together Now
Make a one-time gift or, better yet, a recurring contribution to support our research, advocacy, and technical assistance that puts power back into the hands of local communities.
You can also buy merchandise from our online store and wear your support on your sleeve (or head, or ankles…)
We are only successful in our work because of the relentlessness of individuals in communities fighting for fairness and freedom from corporate dominance. We are honored to recognize the following recipients of our 50th-anniversary awards for championing justice, corporate accountability, and a lifetime of achievement:
- Jim Baller: Local Self-Reliance Lifetime Achievement
- Linnea Jackson: Local Self-Reliance Connectivity Champion
- Michael Martinez: Composting for Community Groundbreaker
- Benny Erez: Local Self-Reliance Lifetime Achievement
- Mariel Nanasi: Corporate Accountability and Energy Justice Champion
- Jacqui Patterson: Corporate Accountability and Energy Justice Champion
- Vanessa Hall-Harper: Economic Justice Champion
Our award is a triangle planter box made from reclaimed wood, reflecting our vision of sustainable communities that breed new life when nurtured.
David Morris, Gil Friend, and Neil Seldman formed the foundation of the movement to build local power and fight corporate control, and 50 years later, the story grows more remarkable by the day. From a three-story townhouse in DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, what started as an incubator for the founders’ theories about community self-determination and local self-reliance quickly blossomed into the work ILSR would become known for 50 years later. The journey to get here is one worth telling and celebrating.
The short film debuting at ILSR’s 50th-anniversary gala was directed by Dario Carrasco.
The keynote speaker at our anniversary gala connects economic concentration to the plight of the postindustrial Midwest while highlighting the importance of local media as seen through his hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and his current place of residence, Baltimore.
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