ICMA presents Local Government Review (LGR), Putting Research Into Practice, a special section of Public Management (PM) magazine that puts key research findings and expert insights about current local government issues and trends into the hands of members and PM subscribers—and at no additional cost! This collection of articles is available in the December 2016 print issue of PM and digitally through PM Online.

Through LGR, ICMA members and PM subscribers get clear explanations and useful observations on matters of importance to local government professionals, including:

• Leading Resilient Communities in a Changing Environment. Given the fiscal challenges and political dysfunction of the federal government and many states, communities will need to decide what is important and how to pay for it. At the center of those discussions and decisions will be local elected and appointed officials. In this article, ICMA Executive Director Bob O’Neill focuses on those key discussions.
• Sustainability and Local Governments. Local governments can be laboratories for innovation around complex issues such as sustainability, which encompasses environmental protection, social equity, and economic development. This triple bottom-line approach requires strategic planning and working outside typical departmental and jurisdictional silos.
• Tackling the Housing Affordability Crisis. This article explores the evolving role of local governments in addressing housing affordability in their communities and provides case-study examples of traditional and new strategies jurisdictions use to address an increasingly challenging situation.
• Innovation Loves a Good Challenge. One of the top reasons local government staff say they enjoy their work is that they know they are making a difference. Yet how those differences manifest themselves can take very different forms. This article discusses a range of diverse ideas on how to make a community more sustainable, healthy, inclusive, and welcoming.
• Food for Thought – How and Why Local Governments Support Local Food Systems. While local governments are not primarily responsible for generating community food supplies, local government plans, policies, programs, and posture influence how food is produced, processed, distributed, accessed, and disposed. This article highlights some of the many communities that have figured out how to leverage these local government practices and tools to promote quality of life through local food system activities.
• Supreme Court Review for Local Governments. Last term, the Supreme Court decided six—arguably seven—“big” cases, five of which had an impact on local governments. In some cases, the lack of a ninth justice made all the difference, while in at least one case, it made no difference at all. Beyond the big cases, the court decided a number of “bread-and-butter” issues —qualified immunity, Fourth Amendment searches, and public employment, to name a few—affecting local governments. This article summarizes these and other Supreme Court cases of interest to local governments.
• Why Local Governments Are Talking About Millennials. The average age of the local government worker today is 45, according to this LGR article, three years older than his or her private-sector counterpart. Twenty-five percent of local government workers are 55 years of age or older. As these older workers reach retirement age, more opportunities open up for younger workers. At the same time, there will be increased competition for well-educated, experienced, and skilled candidates. This article examines a number of trends and underlying issues that have an impact on local government recruitment.

As new research findings and analyses become available, ICMA will publish future editions of LGR: Local Government Review in PM, and these editions also will be provided at no cost to members and nonmembers as they serve as a valuable resource to local government professionals and stakeholders.