Contact: tom at tresser dot com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tomtee

Tom Tresser is an educator, organizer, creativity champion, public defender and fighter of privatization. He has been doing civic engagement and grassroots democracy efforts for over 50 years. His first voter registration campaign was in 1972.

Tom has acted in some 40 shows and produced over 100 plays, special events, festivals and community programs. He was director of cultural development at Peoples Housing, in north Rogers Park, Chicago, where he created a community arts program that blended the arts, education and micro-enterprise.  Tom was elected to the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School’s Local School Council and served from 2004 to 2006.

In 2008 he was a co-founder of Protect Our Parks, a neighborhood effort to stop the privatization of public space in Chicago. He was a lead organizer for No Games Chicago, an all-volunteer grassroots effort that opposed Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid. He has taught workshops on “The Politics of Creativity – A Call To Service” for arts service organizations in six states. He teaches a number of classes on art, creativity and civic engagement for Loyola University, School of the Art Institute, the Illinois Institute of Technology,  DePaul University and for i c stars. Tom has published a web-based project, “America Needs You!” – about the need for artists to get involved in politics.

Tom was the  Green Party candidate for the position of President of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County in November 2010 election. With Benjamin Sugar Tom co-founded The CivicLab, a  co-working space where activists, educators, coders and designers came to work, collaborate, teach, and build tools for civic engagement.  The space was located in Chicago’s West Loop at 114 N. Aberdeen and operated for two eventful years closing on June 30, 2015. Its work continues via publishing and training projects.

He is the lead organizer for the TIF Illumination Project that is investigating and explaining the impacts of Tax Increment Financing districts on a ward-by-ward basis.  Tom and the TIF Illumination Project are profiled in the cover story of the July 22, 2013 issue of The Nation entitled “Chicago Rising!” He has presented on how TIFs impact neighborhoods all over the city. These public meetings are called Illuminations and since February of 2013 he has presented at a staggering 230 public forums in front of over 16,000 people. He is working with activists from 20 cities over TIF scams and campaigns for economic justice. In 2023, with support from the MuckRock Foundation, he Illuminated ALL the TIFs of Illinois – 1,453 TIF districts across 534 municipalities!

In October of 2014 Tom was named a Purpose Prize Fellow by the Encore Foundation – which recognizes change agents over the age of 60). He was named a “Best of Chicago 2015” as “Best activist in the interest of the public defense” by NewCity Magazine.

In July of 2016 Tom published a book of short articles by local experts on how we can save and generate MAJOR revenues for Chicago. “Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve” was made possible by a crowdfunding campaign that attracted 203 contributors. Legendary political organizer Don Rose calls it “required reading.” He’s done presentations on the book all over the city. Bring him to YOUR community!

In June of 2017 Tom and Jonathan Peck launched The POWER Institute to offer training and advanced skill building for civic life and community work. Check out www.powerinstitute.us for the latest workshop schedule. Over 5,000 people have been trained to date.

In 2020 Tom was named to the National Advisory Board of the Public Banking Institute. They are working to implement public banking across the USA.

Routledge Press published his third book, No Games Chicago – How a Small Group of Citizens Derailed  the City’s 2016 Olympic Bid in September 2024.

Watch the first eight minutes of this video to get an overview of Tom’s civic work. The TIF Illumination Project was in Woodstock, Illinois on October 20, 2015. The video covers Tom’s presentation (1 hour, 11 min). The simple URL for this video = http://tinyurl.com/Woodstock-TIF-Forum. The video was recorded and edited by Ahoj Productions]

Listen to this 47 minute podcast where Tom was interviewed about his background, civic work and the connections between creativity and democracy.

Over 290,000 have people viewed my presentations at SlideShare! You can, too.

Listen to this August 7, 2014 Heartland Institute podcast interview with Tom, covering the founding of the CivicLab, the work of the TIF Illumination Project and more (39 minutes).

In the Summer of 2024 Tom was a Take A Breath Fellow at the ActionLab’s New York retreat center.