CivicLab In 2021
2021 was the busiest year for the CivicLab since we left our West Loop home in 2015!
Our CEO, Jonathan Peck, was named “2021 “Social Justice Champion” by Chicago African Americans In Philanthropy. We are thrilled that Jonathan’s decades of social justice work was recognized by this major body of philanthropy leaders! Watch this 6 minute clip from the awards ceremony:
2021 also brought unprecedented major media coverage to the CivicLab. We have no paid staff or office so it’s hard to get the word out on our work – but, the word HAS gotten out. Here are the major stories:
– Front page Gazette Chicago 12/21 – https://gazettechicago.com/2021/12/more-than-65-million-in-28th-ward-went-to-tifs-instead-of-services-in-2020 = https://tinyurl.com/28th-Ward-TIF
– Front page Gazette Chicago 11/21 – https://gazettechicago.com/2021/11/city-has-2-billion-in-tif-money-slush-fund-but-it-is-not-spending-it-civiclab-charges = https://tinyurl.com/GazetteChicago-Nov-21
– Front page Gazette Chicago 10/21 – https://gazettechicago.com/2021/10/chicago-is-not-broke-book-argues-for-citys-solvency
– 10/21 Gazette Chicago editorial – https://gazettechicago.com/2021/10/get-the-word-out-by-the-book-chicago-is-not-broke
– Article from Chicago Tribune 4/23/21 – http://tinyurl.com/Trib-About-TIP
– Tom Tresser interviewed on WBEZ 5/10/21 around “Chicago Is Not Broke”: http://tinyurl.com/Tresser-Reset-5-10-21 (16 min, 11 sec)
– Jonathan Peck & Tom Tresser interviewed on WBEZ5/19/21 about the TIF Illumination Project: http://www.tinyurl.com/TIP-Reset-5-19-21 (13 min, 38 sec)
– 180th public meeting covered in Chicago Tribune 5/25/21 – http://tinyurl.com/Trib-Citizens-Look-At-TIFs
We were chosen as the training partner for the Illinois Access to Justice and rolled out over 40 workshops and executive coaching experiences for the 60+ front line social justice member organizations. We covered all aspects of nonprofit organizational effectiveness – including building the board of directors, budgeting, program development, public policy advocacy, civic engagement, and movement building. It is our honor and privilege to work with hundreds of social justice champions who are working in the immigration and justice spaces every day in Illinois.
We were extremely active on the TIF Illumination front – even in COVID, groups have been reaching out to the CivicLab on a regular basis for assistance in understanding and fighting corrupt Tax Increment Finance Districts that have been pushed in their communities.
We were thrilled to be a finalist in the MIT Global Antiracism Technology in the US Challenge! Seven winners were chosen from the 15 finalists from this challenge. There were four other global challenges and over 1,800 solutions were submitted from 29 countries. The 35 winners across all five challenges shared a $2 million prize pool! An amazing field of justice champions and innovators. See our solution at http://tinyurl.com/Vote-4-CL-Tech-Challenge.
We worked for most of the year with an amazing grassroots organizing group, the Detroit People’s Platform on a massive TIF Illumination for the TIFs of Detroit. We coached over 20 organizers to dig deep and reveal how badly TIFs are stealing from the people in Detroit. Details never known were made public and incorporated into community meetings and candidate forums for their Fall 2021 city elections.
We delivered TIF Illuminations for organizers in Berwyn, IL – with our hosts newly elected Berwyn City Councilman Rob Pabone and the Rizoma Collective. Read coverage from the Chicago Tribune here and here.
We worked with the grassroots organizing crew of Save Our Southland SOS to deliver the “TIFs of Matteson” and started on a plan to Illuminate all ten villages in Rich Township!
We worked with an entire slate of grassroots candidates seeking office in Evanston, IL to Illuminate a new TIF being proposed for the African American community there. We revealed details about the complete history of TIFs in Evanston that had never been known before (which ALWAYS happens when we do a TIF Town Meeting). Read this story about the event.
We worked with activists in a number of cities to brief them on TIFs and to learn about the outrageous project being push upon them – including folks in Louisville; Norman, OK; Paducah, KY; and St. Paul, MN. Remember – we have no paid staff or office. We do no marketing – imagine if we had a staff and outreach budget? Want to help make that happen? How about investing in our work – Click here to donate.
There’s lots more to tell – but these are the highlights. Won’t you sign up for our email newsletter so we can keep you informed on our work and training sessions? Click here.
Our 2020 Report
We delivered 37 civics workshops and experiences through the POWER Institute and impacted over 500 people directly. Since the POWER Institute launched in 2017, we have delivered our workshops to 2,000 people. Six candidates for public office were in those sessions!
In response to the COVID lock-down we planned and delivered a series of online workshops around “Civic Engagement In A Time of Isolation” and over 50 civic engagement leaders from across the USA attended! We had the rising musical talent Devin Marie perform live at these events.
The TIF Illumination Project released its analysis of all of Chicago’s 140 TIF districts for 2019 and you can order it here: http://www.tinyurl.com/Get-2019-TIF-Report – Spoiler Alert: At the end of 2019 there was $1`.8 BILLION sitting in Chicago’s TIF accounts. We are now working with activists in 11 cities.
We were invited to present or speak at CTU members at Lindbloom High School, STOP on the South Side, the Freedom School, STRUT Learning, Black Women Organizing for Power, candidates running in Evanston, DePaul University’s Steans Center, and Temple Sholom’s Social Justice Committee.
We created a Juneteenth workshop for Legal Aid Chicago. We were engaged to design and deliver nonprofit management training for the Illinois Access to Justice Coalition.
Between the “Chicago Is Not Broke” Book Project and the TIF Illumination Project, the CivicLab has been invited to present an astonishing 180 times in 35 wards across the city!
Over 13,000 people have attended these meetings. This work is making a difference and we are expanding our city’s civic imagination and helping people build a new civic narrative based on abundance and possibility – rejecting the mayor’s talk of scarcity and his message of “there’s nothing for YOU in our city’s budget and plans.”
Our presentations online continue to attract viewers. In 2020 17,691 people viewed this work. Since the CivicLab was founded in 2013, a staggering 245,309 people have viewed our presentations on civics and the research of the TIF Illumination Project.
We also provided start-up advice and fiscal agency support services to new organizations led by people of color: The Ubuntu Institute for Global Learning and the Instituto Gaspar Yanga.
Democracy is not free. If you would like to simply make a tax-deductible donation to the CivicLab, please visit https://tinyurl.com/Support-CivicLab.
DOWNLOAD OUR 2020 FINANCIAL REPORT AND IRS 990 FILING