Events
Our briefings provide policymakers, advocates, and organizers with the educational tools they need to understand emerging issues, explore policies that help our communities thrive, and learn how our government works.
These events feature movement leaders, advocates, policy experts, and more.
Communities Take Charge: Using the Data Center Model Policy Toolkit
Summary: As the rapid growth of artificial intelligence fuels a nationwide expansion of data center development, communities across the country must take charge to ensure that these facilities are banned when harmful or properly regulated where possible. Join We Build Progress, alongside our partner organizations, to learn how to use our a first-of-its-kind Data Center Model Policy Guide; an interactive resource designed to equip community-based organizers and state and local leaders with expert-informed, customizable policy templates that address the harms of data centers. We will be discussing how elected officials, organizers, and leaders can use this toolkit to introduce bills and ordinances in their own communities with a panel of experts who helped us put it together and have worked on these issues themselves.
RSVP here.
Past Events
Doge Double Standard: Billions for Bombs, Pennies for the People
June 25, 2025
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The Trump Administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is masquerading as a cost-cutting project that, in reality, boosts billionaires’ profits at our expense. This phenomenon shows up explicitly at the Pentagon, which continues to reap budget boosts while failing repeated audits, sinking taxpayer dollars into wasteful weapons, and boosting the bottom line for corporate profiteers like Space X. At the same time, DOGE and Congress have put human needs like health care and education on the chopping block.
Our briefing with Savannah Wooten from Public Citizen, Lindsay Koshgarian from the Institute for Policy Studies, and Naveed Shah from Common Defense explores how DOGE is using “efficiency” as a cover to slash programs we rely on, while boosting the profits of billionaires.
Resisting the Rollback: Defending Public Education with Resolve and Resilience
April 30, 2025
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This briefing brings voices from across the education landscape into a discussion about the real-world impacts of current threats to K-12 and higher education, and how educators, students, and communities are navigating these challenges and responding with resilience.
Firings, Freezes, and Fallout: How the Trump Administration is Harming Local Communities
April 23, 2025
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From cuts to chaos to crackdowns, the Trump Administration has already had a devastating impact on local communities. The Trump Administration has frozen funding for essential programs families rely on, fired thousands of federal workers delivering critical services, suspended transformative clean energy infrastructure projects, and threatened lasting cuts to Medicaid and social services. In this livestreamed briefing, we broke down why gutting the federal government is putting our families and communities at risk. This briefing was hosted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center, Democracy Forward, American Federation of Government Employees, Local Progress, and Indivisible.
Reconciliation Rundown: Understanding the Basics of Budget Reconciliation
March 6, 2025
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Republicans are gearing up to move their agenda through Congress via “reconciliation”—the same process they used during the first Trump administration to slash the corporate tax rate and give breaks to the top 1 percent. Understanding reconciliation is essential for tracking the GOP’s policy plans, anticipating impacts on the rest of us, and holding lawmakers accountable to the people they serve.
We broke down what you need to know about reconciliation and what it means for our communities. We explained why this process matters, discuss history’s lessons learned, and answer YOUR questions! We heard from:
Trisha Maharaj, Associate Policy Director, Indivisible
Bobby Kogan, Senior Director of Federal Budget Policy, Center for American Progress
Ben D'Avanzo, Senior Strategist, Health and Economic Policy, National Immigration Law Center
Catherine Rowland, Legislative Affairs Director, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center (Moderator).
The Bottom Line: What the Tax Debate Means for You
January 30, 2025
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Congress’ upcoming tax fight will impact economic inequality, corporate power, workers, the climate crisis, and—critically—your finances. We gathered experts from across the movement to break down what’s at stake for working families and shared tools to stay informed as Congress crafts the future of our tax laws.
Protecting Workers in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
February 15, 2024
Climate Week 2026 — Communities Take Charge: Launching the Data Center Model Policy Guide
September 24, 2026
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We Build Progress, alongside partner organizations, launched Communities Take Charge: A Model Data Center Policy Guide, a first-of-its-kind interactive resource designed to equip community-based organizers and state and local leaders with expert-informed, customizable policy templates to regulate proposed and existing data center development. You can view the full guide.
At Climate Week NYC 2026, a panel of expert state legislators and organizers came together to discuss the importance of this toolkit and the larger push for communities to take charge as as the rapid growth of artificial intelligence fuels a nationwide expansion of data center development. We were joined by:
Katie Thomas, Director of Livable Futures, We Build Progress (Moderator)
Melanie Sachs, District 102, Freeport, Maine State House of Representatives
Anna Kelles, District 125, Ithaca, New York State Assembly
KD Minor, Community Solutions Manager, Alliance for Affordable Energy, Louisiana
Mar Zepeda, Legislative Director, Climate Justice Alliance
Protect Your Vote, Protect Your Neighbors: Tools for Organizers
September 17, 2026
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From protecting our right to vote to standing up for our neighbors, everyone has a role to play in building thriving communities and this work is more urgent than ever! Join We Build Progress and the Deliver My Vote Education Fund/Voter Protection Advocate Network for a webinar on two critical tools that organizers, advocates, and everyday citizens can use right now to help protect their rights and the rights of their neighbors. These practical and easy-to-use tools are designed to support everyone from seasoned organizers to someone who has never taken action before.
Check out these tools below:
Voter Protection Advocate Network: A nationwide online training program that equips canvassers and volunteers with the resources and confidence to protect every voter's right to participate in our democracy
Neighborhood Organizing Toolkit: Whether you need a step-by-step guide to setting up a neighborhood meeting or scripts for door-knocking, this guide has you covered!
Billions for Bombs, Pennies for the People
June 18, 2026
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Every year, Congress and the White House add hundreds of billions of dollars more to the war budget, while underfunding health care, food assistance, clean water, and more. The current budget for the Pentagon is a whopping $1 trillion. For next year, Congress is planning to add a record-breaking $500 billion more, bringing total spending on war to $1.5 trillion! In just weeks, Congress will vote on this unprecedented war budget. That’s why we’re convening experts to discuss how corporate greed drives our militarized budget, the real-life impacts, where we could fund our communities instead, and next steps to oppose this egregious war spending.
FISA Section 702: Risks, Reforms, and the Road Ahead
April 8, 2026
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The briefing covered Section 702 of FISA, which allows intelligence and law enforcement agencies to search through billions of warrantlessly acquired international communications. These agencies compel electronic communications companies to hand over the data of non-U.S. persons (meaning non-U.S. citizens or residents) outside the U.S. Many Americans’ Fourth Amendment-protected conversations are swept up “incidentally.”
Our briefing also discussed the data-broker-loophole, which allows the U.S. government to purchase Fourth Amendment-protected data directly from data brokers who harvest data from companies such as Verizon, AT&T, and Meta.
Trade Priorities: Putting Working Families First in USMCA Review
September 16, 2025
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As the mandatory, six-year review approaches for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the successor to NAFTA, working families and communities across the United States are demanding a seat at the table. The USMCA review offers the chance to fix the trade deal’s significant problems – or exit the pact altogether. Find out how improving the USMCA can help raise wages, strengthen rural communities, halt the offshoring of good paying jobs, and stop abuses by Big Tech and global corporations – and how lawmakers and policy makers can play a role in amplifying the voices of workers, unions and communities.
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Will AI’s rise transform our workplaces? What does technological change mean for the fight to protect workers’ rights and amplify their voices? Join the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center (CPC Center), the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), and special guests for “Protecting Workers in the Age of AI,” a virtual conversation on the implications of Artificial Intelligence for the future of work.
See the recording with Spanish interpretation here.
Due Process Denied: How the Trump Admin's Immigration Policies Threaten Our Civil Rights
July 10, 2025
Watch the Spanish recording here.
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The Trump administration’s immigration agenda is rooted in denying due process, tearing communities apart, and suppressing dissent. These attacks aren’t just about immigration—they’re part of a broader assault on civil rights and democratic norms that threaten us all. Watch a timely conversation on the deepening harms of Trump’s enforcement regime, the lasting impact on families, the Republican reconciliation law that will further entrench this dangerous system—and learn about the powerful work frontline organizations are doing to defend civil rights and justice for all. We're joined by:
Special Guest Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
Kica Matos, President, National Immigration Law Center
Neha Desai, Managing Director of Children's Human Rights & Dignity, National Center for Youth Law
Lisa Sherman Luna, ED, Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC)
Katherine Eyster, Chief of Staff, CPC Center
The Federal Reserve Under Threat: Protecting Independence and Advancing Progressive
September 19, 2025
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The Federal Reserve's independence is under attack. Undermining the Fed risks more than market instability—it threatens working families with higher borrowing costs, weaker job security, and reduced accountability to the public. This briefing brings together leading experts to unpack the dangers of political interference to the Fed's independence, and to highlight the reforms needed to ensure the Fed is not only independent, but also transparent, democratic, and committed to sustaining a high-pressure economy that delivers for workers.
Resist and Reimagine: Lessons from the Labor Movement on Fighting Authoritarianism
December 10, 2025
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This year, we’ve seen the Trump Administration weaken federal agencies and programs that protect workers’ rights, mass fire federal employees, and launch unprecedented attacks on our civil liberties. But there has also been inspiring resistance. Unions and labor leaders have been at the forefront of resistance: defending the right to unionize, protecting immigrant workers, and advocating for the students, patients, and communities they serve. Our speakers uplift the bold and innovative campaigns unions across the country are leading to build power and grow solidarity when our movement needs them most.