Chicago Is Not Broke: Presentation, Q&A, and book-signing

The Mayor claims we cannot afford many services without drastic tax increases. But are there other ways to raise revenues that are progressive and not regressive? Come hear Tom Tresser and other authors talk about their essays from the book, "Chicago Is Not Broke: Funding the City We Deserve."They will speak about how Chicago got where we are now and viable alternatives to create the city we deserve. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. More information on the book: www.wearenotbroke.org. Speakers will include: Hilary Denk is an attorney, mediator and community leader furthering social justice and civic issues. She has held past Board positions with the Illinois Coalition to End Homelessness, the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet. Hilary is currently Vice President on the Board for SCARCE, a DuPage County environmental education organization, and is a Director for the League of Women Voters of Illinois. In 2013, Hilary participated in a League sponsored training with the Center For Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) to become a specialist and advocate for the graduated rate or progressive income tax in Illinois. In 2013 and 2014, she presented to numerous groups about this issue and lobbied legislators locally and in Springfield with her LWVIL colleagues. LWVIL took the lead in advocating for the Fair Tax in 2016. This work will continue until Illinois voters have the opportunity to vote for and implement a progressive rate income tax in Illinois. Amara Enyia is a public policy consultant across policy areas. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of ACE Municipal Partners LLC, a full service municipal consulting firm that works with small and mid-sized cities in the Chicago area, Central America, South America and West Africa. She has also served as Executive Director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Policy Director of Manufacturing Renaissance, and Public Policy Analyst in the City of Chicago Mayor's Office. Amara was a candidate for mayor in Chicago's 2015 elections. Jonathan Peck, is the South & West Side Coordinator for Restorative Justice at Alternatives, Inc. He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tucson Urban League and has over 25 years experience working within the community development field facilitating projects, coalitions, and alliances at the neighborhood, citywide, regional, national and international levels. Jonathan worked as a community organizer, and later as Associate Director of the Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC), a Chicago based organization dedicated to the healthy development of low-income children, youth and families. Jonathan Peck has extensive experience in the international arena, most notably working on the ground in Southern Africa and Nicaragua. Jonathan has worked and visited over 15 countries across North and Latin America, Europe and Southern Africa. Mr. Peck has extensive experience as an Advisor and Consultant, providing strategic advice in the areas of organizational development, strategic planning, and nonprofit executive leadership and business management. Mr. Peck is a Master Facilitator, Organizer, Trainer, Coach and Mentor and has provided these services to over 5,000 individuals. Jonathan recently served on the Community Relations Working Group of the Police Accountability Task Force of the City of Chicago Tom Tresser is a civic educator and public defender. His first voter registration campaign was in 1972. 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. 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. Located in Chicago’s West Loop, the space operated for two eventful years closing on June 30, 2015. He is the lead organizer for the TIF Illumination Project that is investigating and explaining the impacts of Tax Increment Financing districts on a community-by-community basis.