Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice.

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America’s Civic Health Declines Under Trump Administration

Civicus, an international nonprofit that monitors the state of civic freedoms in almost 200 countries, has downgraded the United States’ civic health to “obstructed,” The Guardian reports. That group stated that it did so due to the sharp decline of fundamental freedoms, like crackdowns on dissent and free speech.

As of July, Civicus had rated the U.S. as “narrowed,” which was just a step away from “obstructed.” Under the current rating, civil organizations still exist and function, but the government undermines their work, harasses them and even makes demeaning public statements. The media is also targeted: “Journalists face the risk of physical attack and criminal defamation charges, which encourage self-censorship,” Civicus describes.

All of this comes after months of immigration raids, disparaging partisan comments on government websites during the recent shutdown, and mounting pressure on newsrooms, universities and nonprofits.

L.A. City Council Speeds Up Affordable Housing

The L.A. City Council unanimously voted this week to approve the Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance, which will make permanent Mayor Karen Bass’s directives to expedite affordable housing development in the city, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Under this ordinance, housing developers get fast-tracked approval for projects that have 100% affordable housing. Previously, it would take six months or more to review projects; under the new ordinance, these affordable developments will be approved within 60 days.

As of this November, almost 500 projects have been streamlined in the city under Bass’s directive, the Times reports. These account for more than 40,000 affordable housing units in L.A. — but there is currently no data on how many of the approved projects have actually been built since.

Department of Justice Ends ‘Disparate Impact’ Anti-Discrimination Rules

Following Trump’s April executive order directing agencies to eliminate “disparate impact” standards, the Department of Justice has now moved to end its civil rights policies that ban federally-funded entities from using policies that disproportionately hurt people of color, Politico reports.

Without these standards, it will be harder for people to challenge bias in employment, housing and more. “Removing the Department of Justice’s regulations prohibiting unfair discriminatory policies takes away critical safeguards against the most insidious forms of exclusion,” Amalea Smirniotopoulos, the NAACP-LDF senior policy counsel said.

The Trump administration has claimed that this focus on race is discriminatory: DOJ civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon claimed that ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people to file lawsuits on neutral policies.

More Than 200 Environmental Groups Demand a Stop to New Data Centers

A group of more than 200 environmental groups has called for a nationwide moratorium on new data centers that use up water, drive up energy bills and worsen the climate crisis, The Guardian reports.

Major climate organizations including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace alongside local organizations sent a letter to members of Congress, urging them to stop the spread of these centers that increase emissions. Communities have fought back on to cancel at least 16 data centers, citing increased power bills.

“The rapid, largely unregulated rise of data centers to fuel the AI and crypto frenzy is disrupting communities across the country,” the letter reads. “We urge you to join our call for a national moratorium on new data centers until adequate regulations can be enacted to fully protect our communities, our families, our environment and our health.”

LAPD Shuts Down Guerilla Crosswalk Painting Event

Last month, Next City covered People’s Vision Zero, an initiative that was pioneered by the L.A. Crosswalks Collective, which encourages people to shame Los Angeles officials into making improvements by doing it themselves. Volunteers paint crosswalks at dangerous corners of the city to improve conditions for pedestrians that the city should have addressed.

This week, Los Angeles police shut down a party of volunteer crosswalk painters in the Westwood neighborhood LA Streetsblog reports. Volunteers painted several crosswalks in Westwood and had completed several before police officers arrived at the scene. Organizer Jonathan Hale was handcuffed and charged a $250 fine for “vandalism on city property.”

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MORE NEWS

• Oakland quickly sells $285M of municipal bonds to fund roads, parks, housing. Oaklandside

• San Francisco’s ‘Spare Room’ program helps formerly incarcerated people access housing. KQED

• ‘We’ll need to see a warrant’: The group teaching businesses a vital tool to fight ICE raids. The Guardian

• Study: NYC congestion pricing cuts air pollution by 22% in Manhattan. Phys.org

• Miami elects its first woman as mayor and first Democrat in almost 30 years. Politico

• Crumbling parking garages in Manhattan are finding new life as housing. The New York Times

• ICE raids are forcing moms to stay at home as the childcare workforce is affected. The 19th

• Mexican government hikes minimum wage, pushes shorter work week. Reuters

• Texas cities weigh in on whether to stay in or leave the DART rail system. KERA News

• Federal judge throws out Trump’s order to block wind energy development. WBUR

OPPORTUNITIES & RESOURCES

• City Thread Accelerated Mobility Playbook Technical Assistance Grant is open to applications from cities and community advocates looking to take transportation projects from concept to fruition. Apply by Dec. 31.

• The Peace Development Fund is providing grants of $3,000 to $7,000 for community organizing projects in Mexico, the United States and Haiti. Apply by Jan. 31, 2026.

• The Climate Smart Communities Initiative has launched a grants competition for funding and assistance to support community-based climate resilience in vulnerable communities. Apply by March 12, 2026.

• The Sparkplug Foundation is offering grants to support early-stage programs that focus on music programs, community organizing and education. Apply by May 22, 2026.

• The Draper Richards Kaplan is providing up to $300,000 in grant funding or investment capital over a three-year period to organizations that are working to tackle environmental justice issues. Apply on a rolling basis.

• Check out Next City’s jobs board for new opportunities.

EVENTS

• Dec. 1 to Dec 14: Join Next City for the ‘Place & Power’ film series on housing and collective action. Learn more about the experiences behind our housing crisis and what housing justice can look like in the U.S.

• Check out events from Next City and our partners here.

This post was originally published on Next City.