Creative leadership workshop online – Sunday October 4, from 10am-11:30am Central Time. This is part of the national Fall Of Freedom national call to action. No charge. Join here. Let’s NOT have freedom fall, OK? Instead, let’s talk about how artists and creative workers can get some real power to govern for the common good. Let’s talk about how artists can RISE to the occasion as civic leaders, including running for local office and helping others to run. Part of the 100K Project.
Join me on Thursday morning October 1 at 11am Central Time at the Grace Church in Logan Square for a creative and interactive leadership/candidate training workshop! We are the leaders we have been waiting for. This event is part of the Social Justice Theater Festival produced by the Still Point Theatre Collective and is part of the 100K Project. Find out more and register. We are the leaders we have been waiting for!
Join us on September 17 at 7pm in Warren Park when we Illuminate the TIFs of the 50th Ward. This will be my 235th TIF town meeting! I wonder if the press will cover it… If you plan on attending, you may want to call the local media and you may want to come a but early as seating is limited.
From 2023 – Dear Civic Comrades, Neighbors, Allies, and Supporters – After ten years of working on the CivicLab, I am stepping back from operations and much of the work of the CivicLab. I will stay involved with TIF training. Health issues have caused me to scale back my activities and I will not be updating this site. If you would like to stay connected and follow my new work, research, and writing (book on No Games Chicago published and one TIFs coming soon), please subscribe to my Substack newsletter at http://tresser.substack.com. Thank you for all your support and interest over the years!
My take on What Happened (Disaster Election) – Part 1. Part 2.
My call to action for America’s progressive sector – from The Nonprofit Quarterly –What Now? It’s a call for a radical change in focus and behavior!
Tom explains TIFs and Illuminates the TIFs of Kane County and Aurora in his 225th public meeting since 2013. He was the guest of Aurora Alderman John Laesch and Working Families Auroura. They are working to stop the city of Auora from giving a billionaire casion operator $58 million in public TIF dollars! Sign the petition.
A million years ago I co-founded the Free Shakespeare Company with Frank Farrell and became its Managing Director. I acted in some 20 plays and projects with them and recently found myself giving presentations on performing Shakespeare! It was a blast to revisit the subject!
I teach “Civics 101” for the awesome training and leadership development organization i c stars. The most current class, Cycle 47, sent me a wonderful set of images expressing how the class (four sessions) impacted them. I was deeply touched. Thank you. If you would like a civics workshop, please contact me at tom@civiclab.us. You can see the workshops I offer via the POWER Institute.
June 13 WORKSHOP MAXED OUT – WE WILL REPEAT ON JULY 18
The times call for more participation in public life, not less. How can we do justice, do civic work, and fight for equity and the well-being of our neighbors in a time of isolation? This webinar experience will address this issue and participants will join small groups to explore, share, and – hopefully – laugh! We will share insights around isolation, resilience, effectiveness, tool building, and more. It will be facilitated by Tom Tresser and Jonathan Peck, of the CivicLab (www.civiclab.us), Chicago’s “do tank” for innovation and capacity building around civic engagement and social justice. Jonathan and Tom have a combined 60 year experience in social justice, organizing, and grassroots campaigning.
Registered for the June 13th session were leaders from these institutions: University of Chicago – WTTW Public TV Chicago – Loyola University – Northwestern University – Ohio University – Mercer University – Cal State University (Channel islands, Chico, Los Angeles, East Bay, San Marcos, Long Beach) – Stanford University – Centenary College of Louisiana – San Jose State University – Emory University – Tisch College of Public Life, Tufts University – Stanislaus State University – Sonoma State University – Texas Christian University – Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Frederick Douglass Center for Collaborative Leadership- Cincinnati Federation of Teachers – Indivisible Illinois – New Have Christian Church – Sierra Club – STRUT Learning – Center for Media & Democracy – Blocks Together Chicago – Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights – Arts Alliance Illinois – Lutheran School of Theology – Northside Action for Justice – SEIU – Enlace Chicago – Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights – NAME Illinois – Vietnamese Association of Illinois – Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago – Public Health Institute – Arts Alliance Illinois – Ohio University – Northside Action for Justice (Chicago) – UNICEF USA – Illinois Collaboration on Youth – UBUNTU Academy
Visual notes created real time by Emma, the amazing artist from the Ink Factory!
…with these titles: Director of Campus & Community Engagement – Faculty Director of Community Engagement – Director, Office of Service Learning – Director of Community Partnerships – VP, Community Engagement -Executive Director, Student Civic Engagement – Faculty Director, Global Studies Program – Program Director, Community Action Volunteers in Education – Founding Director – Restorative Justice Coordinator – Organizer – Deputy Director for Civic Engagement – Team Lead – President – Census Coordinator – Youth Programs – Field Organizer – Deputy Director, Civic Engagement – Director of the Center for Campus & Community Engagement -Organizer – Community Engagement Manager – Chief Program Officer – CEO
“July marks one year since the CivicLab, a non-profit organization, opened its “democracy design studio” in the West Loop of Chicago.
Looking ahead, one of the CivicLab’s co-founders says big plans are in the pipeline for year two of the co-working space, which is dedicated to collaboration, education and innovation for social change and civic engagement.
Seven organizations focused on issues such as housing justice, voter registration and health care are currently working out of the CivicLab’s storefront, located at 114 N. Aberdeen St.
Other activists, designers, educators and tech experts also gather and do research at the space, which is housed in a rehabbed 1890s firehouse that sits across the street from Harpo Studios, where “The Oprah Winfrey Show” was previously filmed.
In addition to offering a place where people can collaborate, the CivicLab hosts educational workshops and is behind the volunteer-based TIF Illumination Project, which is working to promote transparency around Chicago’s controversial tax increment financing (TIF) program.” [read the full article]
