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The faintness and small sizes of galaxies in the early universe make detailed observations extremely challenging with current telescopes. An alternative and complementary approach is to identify nearby galaxies that are analogs to distant galaxies, where the physical processes can be studied in greater detail than what is possible in high-z galaxies. I have therefore selected a sample of nearby star-forming galaxies that are potential local analogs to high-z galaxies. These local galaxies are young, star-forming, have low metallicities, and are likely to have star formation histories (SFH) similar to the high-z galaxies. In order to characterize these galaxies, I use observations with the SOFIA telescope together with ancillary data, to study their dust properties and how it is related to the star formation activity. I also use FIR fine-structure lines to identify the neutral and ionized gas components in the galaxies. My overall aim is to produce a detailed characterization of the properties of the local galaxies and determine their SFH and analyze their connection with photometric and spectroscopic results for high-z galaxies obtained with Herschel and ALMA. I present the dust emission characterization through a two-component black-body, derived using infrared observations with SOFIA/HAWC+ instrument and ancillary data from Spitzer, Herschel, among others. Then I will present the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) from ultraviolet to far-infrared wavelengths for the local analogs to high-z galaxies, which is derived using the fitting procedure LIGHTNING. Also, I will present the ionized gas emission from the [CII]-158um and [OIII]-88um fine-structure lines using the SOFIA/FIFI-LS integral field unit (IFU). These lines are accessible with ALMA for high-z objects and my results for the local analogs can be used to infer the interstellar medium properties of the high-z galaxies.