CivicLab Coming Back In 2018!

CivicLab projects
We are thrilled to announce that we are coming back as a physical space in 2018! We never stopped our civic work – see the TIF Illumination Project, the “Chicago Is Not Broke” Book Project, the POWER Institute and our new site documenting Chicago’s toxic civic eco-system, ChicagoCivics.

We have a LOT of work to do – including our extending our TIF work into legal research and litigation and our newest work, The Democracy Protection Project which will build on our candidate recruiting and training to include legal assistance with getting and staying on the ballot!

TIF Illumination Quadruple Play In January!

Quadruple playIt’s four TIF Illuminations in January!

Don’t miss out. Contact us if you want YOUR ward Illuminated!

Join our new crowdfunding campaign to produce “The TIF Hall of Shame.”

“TIF 101” Video Now Live!

We are super proud of producing our first online TIF training video, “TIF 101”! You can watch the 20 minute video right here:

Thanks to the 80 people who contributed to this project.

We are now asking everyone to join our SECOND crowdfunding campaign so we can produce the next video in our projected series of five videos. The next video is “The TIF Hall of Shame” and will focus on the abuses and contradictions in Chicago’s massive TIF program. You won’t want to miss this!

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TIFs + Schools in Illinois

JSBM-cover Check out Tom Tresser’s article in the Fall 2014 issue of The Journal of School Business Management on “Tax Increment Financing in Illinois.” This piece was aimed at all the Chief Financial Officers of school districts across Illinois and America!

Starting in 2015 the TIF Illumination Project will Illuminate entire school districts just like we’ve done for 30 wards across Chicago! Contact tom@civiclab.us for more details.

11th Ward Illuminated

It was another full house for a TIF town meeting, or Illumination, as we fondly call these community gatherings. We lit up the TIFs of the 11th ward.

11th ward full house-web About 60 people packed the community room at the First Trinity Lutheran Church on 31st Street. You can see the Twitter comments if you search for #11taxtricks. The event was partially sponsored by Friends of Maureen Sullivan, who is running for alderman. Read coverage in Progress Illinois and DNAinfo Chicago.

Here’s what one attendee, Ve Castillo, posted online: “Thank you Thomas Tresser (CivicLab) and Daniel Eugene Pugh-Barnett for the eye-opening experience regarding TIFs in the 11th Ward. Unbelievable and still in awe.”

You can see part of the presentation:

To download the entire deck, including the particulars of the 11th ward, visit the TIF Data Store.

To find out more about our TIF training, research and community meetings email us at info@civiclab.us.