CONTACT: Caitlin Graf, The Nation, press [at] thenation.com, 212-209-5400

New York, NY—July 6, 2017—In 2014, The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture, launched “Cities Rising,” an ongoing reporting series dedicated to capturing the progressive energy burbling up from the urban asphalt. With the election of Donald Trump, as protests rise across the country, our editors fiercely believe cities will continue to offer hope for remedying the problems of American society and creating a better, brighter, and more just tomorrow. Cities today are more than centers of progressive innovation; they mark the epicenters of the urban resistance.

Welcome to the age of big-city progressivism! Series editor Lizzy Ratner and regular contributor Jimmy Tobias are available for interview from New York City to discuss The Nation’s “Cities Rising” in further detail. Selections of Tobias’s work, ranging from monthly dispatches from the urban resistance to deep-dive explorations of municipal victories, are below. Additional contributors include Jarrett Murphy (New York City), Helen Gym (Philadelphia), Peter Moskowitz (Jackson, Mississippi), Will Parrish (San Francisco Bay Area), and more.

Even as the functional gears of federal government grind to a halt, a new energy is rocking the foundations of our city centers. From Chattanooga to Seattle and points in between, cities are seizing the initiative, transforming themselves into laboratories of progressive innovation to tackle the most pressing challenges of our time—bringing new urgency and dynamic creativity in response to questions of income inequality, affordable housing, climate change, public health, participatory democracy, and more.

The mission of “Cities Rising” is to chronicle, analyze, and amplify the heroic, and often uncelebrated, fights being won by activists, legislators, and engaged residents in cities across the country—with the aim of disseminating the lessons of these fights. Activists in Cleveland can’t be expected to keep track of organizing campaigns in San Diego, just as elected officials in Boulder may never hear of the good work being done in tiny Emeryville, California. Like a vast, trans-local Intranet, “Cities Rising” connects urban leaders from coast to coast to empower and teach organizers how change is made.

“Cities Rising” is a natural continuation of The Nation’s long and proud history of speaking truth to power and identifying positive, progressive policy solutions for America. In the era of Trump, it’s become a full-time job to figure out the most effective ways to resist the new normal; just last month we launched “Take Action Now” (@NationAction)—a weekly online e-mail initiative that curates opportunities for activism on a sliding scale of time commitment and investment. Released every Tuesday, “Take Action Now” directs progressive energy towards meaningful action with a digestible e-mail resource of the great activism and organizing taking place around the country. Whether subscribers have five minutes or five hours to devote to a cause, The Nation is here to help our community navigate the politics of protest.

As promised, selections of Jimmy Tobias’s work for “Cities Rising” include:

How a Small City Took On a Financial Giant—and Reclaimed Its Most Precious Resource
 After a protracted fight with the Carlyle Group, Missoula’s water is finally in the hands of the people.

These Cities Might Just Save the Country Dispatches from the Urban Resistance, from Atlantic City to Miami Beach.



Even Republican Mayors Are Rejecting Trump’s Energy Policies From Aspen to Abita Springs, cities are committing to running on 100 percent renewable energy.



These Cities Aren’t Waiting for Trump to Self-Destruct. They’re Fighting Back Now. Dispatches from the Urban Resistance, from Los Angeles to El Paso.



This City Helped Pioneer the Fight for $15. Can It Revolutionize Housing Rights? Seattle renters are mad as hell—and they’re not going to take it anymore.




What if People Owned the Banks, Instead of Wall Street?
 From Seattle to Santa Fe, cities are at the center of a movement to create publicly owned banks.


The Government Wouldn’t Rein In the Banks’ Predatory Practices—Until These Tellers Stepped In
 The Committee for Better Banks is organizing to change the banking industry from the inside out.

Is This Small City the Future of Democratic Engagement in America? Activists in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, have embarked on a nonstop campaign to resurrect the practice of progressive politics in the heart of Trump country.

From Austin to Missoula, This Is What the Fight Against Trumpism Looks Like Dispatches from the Urban Resistance, April edition.

Trans Rights Weren’t the Only Target of North Carolina’s ‘Bathroom Bill’
 HB2 is part of a sweeping attack on local progressive power by Republican state legislatures.

ABOUT JIMMY TOBIAS

Jimmy Tobias is a contributor to The Nation, where he writes for “Cities Rising,” the magazine’s ongoing series on progressive pockets of resistance nationwide. He also covers conservation and environmental justice.

ABOUT LIZZY RATNER

Lizzy Ratner is a senior editor at The Nation, where she oversees “Cities Rising,” the magazine’s ongoing series on progressive pockets of resistance nationwide.

ABOUT THE NATION

Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of American political and cultural life from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent voice in American journalism and a platform for investigative reporting and spirited debate on issues of import to the progressive community.

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