With Cities Work, Cities Are Embracing The IJ Way

Longtime readers of Liberty & Law are well aware that IJ’s approach to public interest law extends beyond the courtroom. While our litigators sue governments over unconstitutional violations, our activism team works directly with communities and sometimes even governments to remove obstacles and improve policies. 

One of our major activism campaigns is Cities Work, which partners with sympathetic local officials and entrepreneurs to fix regulations that may not pose good litigation opportunities but still pose barriers to the right to earn an honest living. All cities want to promote economic prosperity, but they often approach that goal by implementing new programs or awarding grants, which don’t get at the root of the problem: outdated regulations that stifle entrepreneurship. 

Cities Work’s goal is simple: to get government out of the way so small businesses can flourish.  

One recent example comes from Kansas City, Kansas, where Cities Work sparked several changes—including helping to eliminate the special-use permit requirement for home-based businesses. Entrepreneurs can now use their property to earn a living by right, without first having to get special approval from the government. The city also adopted our model “spring cleaning” ordinance, establishing a process for city departments to sweep away inefficient processes. Finally, we helped the city simplify its sign code and pause restrictive commercial parking requirements. Each change removes bureaucratic hurdles for entrepreneurs and improves how the government functions—that’s a win-win. 

But Cities Work can only be in so many places at once. To truly make a lasting impact, we must get city leaders to embrace the “less is more” philosophy and get out of entrepreneurs’ way—instead of playing favorites with businesses or trapping them in a regulatory maze.

This year, Cities Work set out to do just that. We launched two multi-city efforts designed to guide city officials through IJ’s approach to regulatory reform. One is a partnership with the Mayors Innovation Project, a national coalition dedicated to supporting good local governance. It comprises the mayors of five cities across the country: Hartford, Connecticut; Honolulu, Hawaii; Rochester, Minnesota; San Bernardino, California; and Thornton, Colorado. The other is our first statewide project with the five largest cities in West Virginia to improve their local regulatory environments and strategize statewide regulatory changes.

Each month through these programs, cities learn how to map their own permitting and licensing systems, identify bottlenecks, and implement solutions. By the end of our eight-month program, they will have completed the same intensive work Cities Work traditionally conducts one city at a time. The collaborative structure allows participants to learn from one another’s successes and challenges, scaling the program’s reach without sacrificing depth.  

The process is eye-opening for city staff, who routinely admit they didn’t realize how complicated their own systems were. That awareness is a critical first step toward reform. With buy-in from local leaders and hands-on support from IJ through Cities Work, cities can remove unnecessary regulatory barriers and create conditions where entrepreneurship flourishes. 

Across the country, whether in a courtroom, a city council meeting, or a collaborative workshop, IJ is clearing away red tape and fighting for economic freedom for every American.

Zoe Tishaev is IJ’s city policy assistant and Ava Mouton-Johnston is IJ’s city policy coordinator.