This book is an extension and evolution of the TIF Illumination Project that began investigating and explaining Chicago's massive Tax Increment Financing program in 2013. We use data mining, investigatory reporting, map making, graphic design and community organizing to expose the impacts of TIFs on a ward-by-ward basis.
We reveal our findings in community meetings called Illuminations.
So far, we've done 64 public TIF meetings in front of 5,200 people. All done with ZERO budget - no staff and no marketing.
We have gone to the public for funds since this civic Illumination work has been turned down 15 times by Chicago and national funders who say they support innovation, journalism, civic engagement and government accountability work. These funders include the Knight News Foundation's Prototype Fund and News Challenges, the Institute for Nonprofit News' Innovation Fund, the McCormick Foundation, the Chicago Community Trust and the MacArthur Foundation.
A heartfelt thanks to the Voqal Fund for their grant to the CivicLab in 2014 - that kept our lights on for a year! And a special shout out to the Crossroads Fund for the $500 they gave us in 2013 to support he printing of TIF Illumination graphic posters at TIF Town Meetings and to the Crary Family Legacy Fund for their 2015 gift of $1,000.
Our goal was to flood the civic market in Chicago in the spring and summer of 2016 in order to influence debate on the city's 2017 budget. In 2015 the mayor pushed through a half-billion dollar plus property tax hike with virtually no substantive debate. If the City Council had our ideas before them and had enacted ANY ONE of them - we wouldn't have had to swallow that tax hike - not to mention other regressive fees and the ongoing insult of red light cameras. Even though the League of Women Voters did a press event at Chicago City Hall in September of 2016 and delivered the book to the mayor and all our aldermen - we received no coverage from the major local media or any book reviews from them!
There have been two budgets passed since the book was published in July of 2016 and the mayor has held ZERO public meetings to explain his priorities. We have been stuck with almost TWO BILLION DOLLARS in regressive tax hikes and new fees over that time. Again, the major media here (Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Reader, Crain's Chicago Business, Chicago Magazine, WBEZ Public Radio, WTTW Public TV) have all REFUSED to review the book or cover the 55 public meetings held around the book!
Our goal, as civic educators, is to ELEVATE and DEEPEN the conversation in Chicago about who plans what for who using what dollars. We want MORE civic imagination.
We want to move from a civic narrative of scarcity and "there are no resources for what YOU want" to one of abundance and civic possibility.
We're asking everyone to engage in the question of "What makes a world class city?"
Our book proves that we have the funds to pay for deliverng our answers.
We reveal our findings in community meetings called Illuminations.
So far, we've done 64 public TIF meetings in front of 5,200 people. All done with ZERO budget - no staff and no marketing.
We have gone to the public for funds since this civic Illumination work has been turned down 15 times by Chicago and national funders who say they support innovation, journalism, civic engagement and government accountability work. These funders include the Knight News Foundation's Prototype Fund and News Challenges, the Institute for Nonprofit News' Innovation Fund, the McCormick Foundation, the Chicago Community Trust and the MacArthur Foundation.
A heartfelt thanks to the Voqal Fund for their grant to the CivicLab in 2014 - that kept our lights on for a year! And a special shout out to the Crossroads Fund for the $500 they gave us in 2013 to support he printing of TIF Illumination graphic posters at TIF Town Meetings and to the Crary Family Legacy Fund for their 2015 gift of $1,000.
Our goal was to flood the civic market in Chicago in the spring and summer of 2016 in order to influence debate on the city's 2017 budget. In 2015 the mayor pushed through a half-billion dollar plus property tax hike with virtually no substantive debate. If the City Council had our ideas before them and had enacted ANY ONE of them - we wouldn't have had to swallow that tax hike - not to mention other regressive fees and the ongoing insult of red light cameras. Even though the League of Women Voters did a press event at Chicago City Hall in September of 2016 and delivered the book to the mayor and all our aldermen - we received no coverage from the major local media or any book reviews from them!
There have been two budgets passed since the book was published in July of 2016 and the mayor has held ZERO public meetings to explain his priorities. We have been stuck with almost TWO BILLION DOLLARS in regressive tax hikes and new fees over that time. Again, the major media here (Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Reader, Crain's Chicago Business, Chicago Magazine, WBEZ Public Radio, WTTW Public TV) have all REFUSED to review the book or cover the 55 public meetings held around the book!
Our goal, as civic educators, is to ELEVATE and DEEPEN the conversation in Chicago about who plans what for who using what dollars. We want MORE civic imagination.
We want to move from a civic narrative of scarcity and "there are no resources for what YOU want" to one of abundance and civic possibility.
We're asking everyone to engage in the question of "What makes a world class city?"
Our book proves that we have the funds to pay for deliverng our answers.
