Shop Local. Eat Local. Buy Local. The movement toward getting more involved in local economies is alive and well. But what about local government? Interacting with representatives at the local level may have the biggest impact on our lives and the causes we choose to advocate. Not only are city and county council members typically more accessible than state representatives, they actually have the power to fix things in your neighborhood. Public transit, accessibility, zoning, and safety are only a few of the issues that your council member may be able to influence.

It follows that involving local representatives may be the most effective first step in any advocacy campaign. As a database of legislator information, we want to make representative contact information–at every level of government–as accessible as possible. That’s why this summer we are working on a massive local legislative data expansion to add over 200 new cities to the Cicero database. With the help of our data partner, BallotReady our goal is to cover every city with a population of 100,000 people or more. While this certainly does not represent local coverage for everyone in the US, we think it’s a step in the right direction.

We’ve started with 46 cities, and are working to release data for 157 more over the next two months. Wondering how you can access this information? It’s available right now, at no added cost, via the Cicero API and District Match application. We also offer customizable licensing packages for bulk downloads.

Have questions about other ways to access our data? Reach out. We’d love to help.