Here is the presentation Tom Tresser gave at the February 12 TIF Town Meeting on the 12 TIFs in the 27th Ward (audio = 23 minutes). The meeting was held at the fabulous Chopin Theatre.
News
Sound Off At TIF Town Meeting
We’re going to the first community town meeting on TIFs on February 12 at the Chopin Theater! Find out the details and RSVP on Facebook.
Featured Speakers: Ben Joravsky – Award winning political reporter.
Tom Tresser – Citizen activist and civic educator, CivicLab co-founder.
Dr. Richard Dye – Professor at UIC Institute of Government + Public Affairs. (Research finding TIF districts hinder growth)
At the end of 2011 there was $1.39 billion left in TIF bank accounts, yet the City claimed a budget deficit of $636 million at the start of 2012.
The Tax Integrity and Fairness Alliance is hosting a Town Meeting to spread knowledge and demand change on Tuesday, February 12th from 7-9pm, at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 West Division.
Featured Breakout Groups: Citizen Investigation, ‘Become a TIF Illuminator’ with Tom Tresser. Participatory Budgeting, ‘Design Your Own Utopia’ with Sharon Post of Chicago Political Economy Group. Grassroots Organizing, with Steven Serikaku, retired CTU teacher and PDAIL activist. Speak up. Bring your questions!
Download flier = TIF Town Meeting flyer / Download press release = TIF Town Hall press release
Calling All Coders
Calling all coders and web designers. help us conceptualize and build Apps For Activists at this MeetUp on Tuesday, January 15, 2013.
Calling all technologists, coders and designers – let’s meet a few Chicago community organizers and hear about how they work and see if we can build some tools or apps that will SOLVE some recurring problems they have and make their work more effective!
Chicago is the home of modern community organizing and we a hotbed of innovation and tool making. Let’s MIX these traditions and skill sets together to build a set of Apps For Activists that can be easily grabbed used, improved and re-used.
At this MeetUp let’s meet some experienced Chicago organizers and get a sense of how they approach their work. If people are interested in continuing to meet and do a design hack, we can lay the ground work for that effort.
At i c stars, 415 N. Dearborn Avenue, 3rd floor, 6pm to 8pm.
Technology & Democracy
Check out this TED talk by Clay Shirky on how peer-to-peer technology can open a new frontier of participatory democracy. It’s what the TIF Illumination Project and the CivicLab are all about!
How About A Civic Health Club?
From Denver we get word of a fun project that has its roots in Chicago’s own Hull House – it’s a civic health club!
“If asked about your physical health, emotional health, spiritual health or psychological health, you’d most likely have an answer at the ready, says Denver actor Evan Weissman. Perhaps you’ve recently discovered yoga; you’ve found God, a guru or a therapist. But what if you were asked about your civic health? “That’s harder for most folks to gauge,” Weissman said. There is no bricks-and-mortar place in Denver for people to regularly exercise their civic muscles. Weissman is out to change that by opening Denver’s first Civic health club. “Warm Cookies of the Revolution,” he says, will be a place for daily human connection offering fun and engaging programming for both personal betterment and social change.”
If You Are Keeping Score
From Professor Dick Simpson and the tireless researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Political Science Department…
Talk On Technology & Social Change
CivicLab co-founder Tom Tresser will be doing a talk and workshop on “Using Technology For Social Change & Community Organizing” at the Bronzeville Visitor Information Center, Friday, November 30, 2-4pm. 3401 South King Drive.RSVP to 773-819-2053.
Topics include:
- How are people using the Internet & social media to effect change and make their voice heard?
- How do you use Facebook & Twitter for social change?
- How might Chicago groups use these tools to affect change here?
Transformational Media Can Change The World
A group of social change and civic engagement practitioners gathered in London in September for a summit on transformational media. Wish we had been there!
“As in the greatest stories that have endured through the ages such as Greek m
ythology, transformational media explores the deep questions concerning our nature and the nature of the world we live in. Transformational Media may be focused on inner qualities, inspiring stories, or on practical solutions. It is transformational in the sense that its goal is to transform conflict into peace, to unite rather than divide, and transform environmental destruction into living in harmony with the natural world.”
Read more about transformational media here.
Youth Vote Won Re-Election For President
According to CIRCLE, the youth vote (18-29) was key to the President winning in these key states:
Update From Nonprofit Software Dev Summit
It’s day one for the gathering of coders, hackers, activists and technologists here in Oakland all focused on civic engagement and social justice sponsored by Aspiration Tec Here is the agenda and session notes. Some 125 people are discussing and sharing news around how technology can boost progressive social change. I am one of the older attendees here and it’s a kick to talk to the younger coders and activists a bout their take on the Internet and how social media and other online tools can bring people together for smart civic engagement and self-determination. I’m talking up the CivicLab, Apps For Activists and and on Friday morning I’ll do a demo of the TIF Report – which I’ve started calling the TIF Illumination Project. The entire event is facilitated by the super-energetic and passionate director of Aspiration Tech, Allen Gunn, or Gunner, who demands we turn off all our electronic devices and FULLY engage and connect with one another.
