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Get a copy of “Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve” via Issuu (view on your device) for $15. Get a hard copy mailed for $20 (+shipping). Order a copy of my book on the No Games Chicago Campaign (20% discount with promo code “AFLY03”). Make a non-deductable investment in Tom’s work via PayPal.

June 2023 – Dear Civic Comrades, Neighbors, Allies, and Supporters – After ten years of working on the CivicLab, I am stepping back from operations and much of the work of the CivicLab. I will stay involved with TIF training. Health issues have caused me to scale back my activities and I will not be updating this site. If you would like to stay connected and follow my new work, research, and writing (one book coming out in mid-2024 and another in the works), please subscribe to my Substack newsletter at http://tresser.substack.com. Thank you for all your support and interest over the years!

My take on What Happened (Disaster Election) – Part 1. Part 2.
My call to action for America’s progressive sector – from The Nonprofit Quarterly – What Now? It’s a call for a radical change in focus and behavior!

Tom explains TIFs and Illuminates the TIFs of Kane County and Aurora in his 225th public meeting since 2013. He was the guest of Aurora Alderman John Laesch and Working Families Auroura. They are working to stop the city of Auora from giving a billionaire casion operator $58 million in public TIF dollars! Sign the petition.

Special Offer for “Outside the Loop” Listeners!

Impeach. Remove. Restore. Revitalize.

Sign and share this petition directed to the leaders of the Democratic Party. It’s the only way to save democracy in America.

Arts & Community Practice Expert Bill Cleveland Interviews Tom Tresser on the Work – Artists as Leaders…

Super proud to have done this interview with longtime civic and creative scholar Bill Cleveland.

Read My Series on Nonprofit Power for The Nonprofit Quarterly!

The great folks at The Nonprofit Quarterly have been publishing my essays on the focus and future of America’s nonprofit sector since last December. Here is the latest piece:

How to Use Art Spaces to Build Civic and Politicl Power

Here are the other pieces:

“Time for Nonprofits to Generate Their Own Revenue for Political Power” – 10/20/25 – www.tinyurl.com/TT-NPQ-Revenue
“The Case for a Nonprofit Version of the Powell Memo” – 9/26/25 – www.tinyurl.com/NPQ-NP-Powell
“US Nonprofit Sector Documents Its Own Powerlessness, but What Will We Do?” – www.tinyurl.com/TT-NPQ-Powerless- 5-6-25
“What Now? Creating a Civic Infrastructure of 100,000 Local Elected Officials” – 12/18/24 – www.tinyurl.com/TT-NPQ-What-Now

Tom Co-Designs New Leadership/Candidate Training for Cultural Workers!

I am super proud and excited to announce that I am co-designing and will be part of the delivery of an amazing eight-week leadership/candidate training program aimed at artists and cultural workers that is being delivered by a partnership between the 100K Project, the National Guild for Community Arts Education, and the Cleveland Arts Education Consortium.

This is a civic leadership program designed to equip artists, cultural workers, and creative organizers with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to campaign and build people power at the state, local, and national levels. The program is via Zoom for two hours, beginning October 9. Learn more.

Sign up to attend a one-hour info session on Thursday, September 11 at 1pm Central Time.

Tom Channels Dad, “King of Simon Sez” at Borscht Belt Fest!

My dad, Allan Tresser, was an entertainer in the Catskills for 50 years. He was the Director of Activities and emcee at the nightclub at The Fallsview Hotel in Ellenville, New York. He also did a stichk using the game of Simon Says for comedy. He called himself “The King of Simon Sez.” Merle and I attended The Borscht Belt Fest, held in Ellenville for the third year, last weekend and it was a blast. Download the program.

There was a storytelling event and I recalled some of the craziness from working there over the years and then I tried to channel the zaniness that my father was famous for. Guests at the Fallsview told me (before it was closed, sold, and re-branded) that they had been coming for years, for generations really, because of my dad!

Tom Helps Launch the 100K Project!

Make a tax-deductible contribution to this work via Fractured Atlas, our fiscal agent!

We are doing our first online leadership/candidate training program for creative workers! Learn more. Watch the information session video below to learn all about this creative, interactive, and powerful learning opportunity.

Read my piece from the Nonprofit Quarterly, “US Nonprofit Sector Documents Its Own Powerlessness. but What Will We Do?” from May of 2025. Answering my own call to action from The Nonprofit Quarterly, I am helping to launch the 100K Project! We seek to recruit, train, and propel 100,000 people from the arts, nonprofit, social services, education, and science sectors (and their supporters) to run for local office or help those with our values run as champions of service, science, justice, equity, peace, creativity, and the public sector. All permitted functions inside the 501 c 3 framework. Read this piece from The Nonprofit Quarterly “From Service to Power – Retooling the Nonprofit Sector.”

Tom on TIFs, the State of Democracy, and a Challenge to the Nonprofit Sector on WVON

Tom Tresser on WVON 1-11-25 by Tom Tresser
Tom Tresser (www.tresser.com) was interviewed by Mike Stephen for “Outside the Loop” Radio for WGN on Januaru 11, 2025 (www.outsidetheloopradio.com). We covered the news about the mayor’s proposed use of TIFs and re-visited the reasons why TIFs are corrupting and racist.

We Need “More Public!”

In reponse to the Disaster Election, I am hoping to start a movement for “More Public!” and “Great Public!” in America. We need to celebrate, defend, and extend all things “PUBLIC” – so follow and share via BlueSky -> https://bsky.app/profile/morepublic.bsky.social.

Fight Megaprojects – New Article in Nonprofit Quarterly

Super excited to see my account of the No Games Chicago campaign and its connection to fighting megaprojects that threaten to gobble up billions of public dollars and vast swathes of public land published today by The Nonprofit Quarterly!