Category: Get Involved

Check out this wonderful video from the Our American Voice educational program.

Chicago Votes is a new nonprofit dedicated to energizing young people into public life, doing voter registration work, triggering serious debate about public policy AND having a kick ass good time! Co-founded by activists T.J. Crawford and Rebecca Reynolds and sporting an impressive board of scholars and civic engagement champs, the organization is modeled after The Bus Project from Portland.

Here’s how Chicago Votes describes its work. “Chicago Votes does volunteer-driven democracy for our generation. We’re not left or right, but forward. We think democracy’s great, and believe it works best when tons of people participate…We believe our generation can build a greater city (which sounds like a little much, but seriously — who else is going to do it?) We believe politics needs to be more accessible, more equitable, and more innovative. So we’re pulling together young Chicagoans across the city to turn things around. And we’re having a ton of fun doing it. Just look at Give a Sh*t Happy Hour and Trick or Vote! For more “about us,” read Our Mission.”

Judging by the turn out, the faces in the crowd, the aldermen who spoke, the music and the vibes, I’d say they are off to a great start! Send them some love at http://chicagovotes.com/donate.

Chicago needs a place and space like the CivicLab to help citizens do democracy. According the State Investigation Project from The Center for Public Integrity, Illinois gets a miserable grade for public integrity. According to Statehouse reporter Amanda Vinicky, dispite some recent legislative efforts, there has been no real change here.

“But in some ways, they are like nips and tucks — cosmetic facelifts that conceal a host of ethical loopholes. Despite wide knowledge of its crooked history, Illinois remains a state where lobbyists do not have to disclose their fees, where legislators cannot be sanctioned for conflicts of interest, and where the judges who make it on the bench are those with the best political connections.

In a study released on Feb. 15 by the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Illinois Institute for Government and Public Affairs —which ranked the per capita number of government appointees, employees, and others convicted of public corruption— Illinois came in a dismal second among states, behind Louisiana (the District of Columbia was the worst).  According to the report, since 1976, the state tally of convictions is 1,828 – or around 51 per year; “at the heart of most convictions,” the study said, “is a payoff for something that is a sweetheart contract or a law or permit necessary to do business.”

And just Friday, the Illinois Legislature expelled Rep. Derrick Smith from the House – the first time that’s happened in over 100 years. Federal prosecutors accused Smith of writing a letter of recommendation on behalf of a day care center for a $50,000 grant in exchange for the fictitious operator kicking back $7,000.