CITIZEN ADVOCACY CENTER INTERN PROJECTS 2006

The Citizen Advocacy Center is a 21st century advocacy organization where citizens, lawyers, students, and all kinds of community volunteers take matters of public concern to the street, to the airwaves, to the electronic networks, and to the courts. We are located in a storefront on the main road in downtown Elmhurst, a half-hour drive or train ride west of Chicago.

The Center trains individuals to use democratic participatory tools with our educational brochures and Democracy Workshops, and we have active citizens who monitor and evaluate government at all levels. The Center also offers an Open Forum for civic discourse where citizens are invited to drop-in, learn about our monthly issue of public concern, read books and newspaper clippings about the subject, get on-line, and appear on videotape for cable access or public discussion of community issues. A core component of our work is to supervise law student interns and coordinate pro bono lawyers year-round, and we typically have six to eight law student interns each summer to help with legal research and litigation.

We need interns and volunteers with a desire to investigate citizen reports of what appear to be violations of the law or undemocratic public policies and obstacles to civic participation. If you have a public policy project that involves the law and building civic participation, we would be delighted to hear your suggestions. The Center also invites community volunteers to do anything from basic research, preparing issue packets of information, assisting with filing, and operating video equipment, to letter writing and advocacy work on Center projects. Volunteering with the Citizen Advocacy Center is an excellent way to learn about how government really works-not just the standard "how a bill becomes a law" routine-and to develop an array of skills that are useful to good citizenship and to the practice of law including: how to make sense of state statutes and local codes, how to document facts, and how to make government and the law work for citizens.

Volunteers will also develop skills including: how to make requests for government information, how to conduct interviews, and how to coordinate press and publicly release information. In addition, legal interns are required to make one public presentation or teach one Democracy Workshop. The attached list presents some Center activities we will begin or complete --Hopefully with your help -- in 2006:

TECHNOLOCY & LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Center is interested in helping the State Archives and local governments develop requester-friendly policies and guidelines concerning open government and new technologies. For example, what should a public body do to make sure that it is preserving substantive E-mails? If a memo is delivered electronically to all members of the City Council, has that public body had a meeting in violation of the Open Meetings Act? How has technology impacted local government? What have the Illinois Attorney General and the courts decided on these issues? These questions and many more are going to be the continuing subject of public policy discussions, and should be made into a guide for the public.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT SURVEYS

On a yearly basis, the Center audits how public bodies comply with the Freedom of Information Act. We investigate how much public bodies charge for copies, how many FOIA requests public bodies receive annually, and whether or not public bodies actually comply with request. Summer interns will implement a Freedom of Information Act survey, analyze the results, and distribute the results in a press conference. Topics for surveys may include the number of USA Patriot Act information requests made to libraries in DuPage County, the record retention policies of local libraries, and the municipal policies regarding taxing teardown properties prior to residential ownership.

ELECTION REFORM IN ILLINOIS

The Illinois Election Code deprives people of access to the ballot because reasonable people cannot comprehend its provisions without experienced election code legal assistance. Hostile ballot-access provisions need to be removed through legal challenges. The Center wants to suggest citizen-friendly reforms to the Code. A previous summer intern performed a comprehensive analysis of the Illinois election code, and compared it to other states' election codes. This summer, the Center needs an intern to use this initial analysis to investigate ways to challenge unnecessary disincentives to participation in the election process either as a candidate or as a referendum/initiative petition circulator, and to make suggested changes to the code. Moreover, Illinois is one of the worst states for independent political parties and other citizen electoral rights. We need an enterprising volunteer to study how current laws can be amended to make Illinois accommodate greater electoral choices, such as "none of the above" ballot options, recall, impeachment, and greater initiative and referendum powers. The Center would also like to do an assessment of the regular undercounting of votes. Finally, the Center needs help monitoring the Illinois State Board of Elections to make sure that they are following the laws that provide for public oversight of elections, such as holding public hearings when required by law to do so. Also - the Center encourages citizens who are dissatisfied with their system of government to run for public office, but what does that mean? What is involved for the average citizen to run for public office - at the local, county or state level? What if a person wants to run as an independent? A comprehensive guide needs to be developed and presented to the community

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: MUNICIPALITIES, TOWNSHIPS, AND COUNTIES

Illinois has 6,722 units of government taxing and spending-more than any other state. Pennsylvania is a distant second with 1,574 fewer units. What are all of these boards and commissions and districts and levels of government doing? This is the question for three teams of volunteers: Municipal, Township, and County. The Center plans to produce a comprehensive report on the state of local government, and what citizens get for all of their tax dollars in DuPage County. Center volunteers will be responsible for studying the following: " Statutory powers of these local governments, jurisdiction, and assessing whether they are properly constituted; " Budgets and potential pitfalls for waste and duplicative services; " Information about government salaries, pensions, and benefits; " How local governing processes can be improved-such as with ethics codes and reformed bidding procedures-so that we may make taxpayer-friendly recommendations where appropriate; " How does the Municipal Telecommunications Act impact community? Finally, each team will produce a written report that can be used by citizens to understand the operations of local government and to encourage reforms where warranted. Center volunteers will also be responsible for coordinating press and public participation for the release of this report. Summer interns will also engage in a detailed analysis of local government budget and taxing issues including municipal tax structure.

LOCAL COURTS

Several people have complained about the preponderance of "sealed" files in our Illinois court system. The Center needs an intern to study the legal standards for sealing court records and how to get sealed records unsealed. Court records are presumptively open to the public, but there are an inexplicable number of sealed cases that need to be challenged and prevented in the future. The routine sealing of records is an abuse of the public's right to know.

CONSUMER LAW

The Center has been producing educational materials to be used by lawyers to teach about consumer law. Interns/volunteers would research and produce instructional materials on: Automobiles: lemon laws, repairs, buying/leasing, octane ratings; Property: truth in leasing, time shares, financing/mortgages, landlord obligations; Professional Services: insurance, legal services, medical service, banking; Utilities: gas/electricity; At Home Shopping: telemarketing, mail, door-to-door sales, infomercials, unordered merchandise, Internet shopping, home shopping network; Advertising: tobacco, deceptive ads, television; Protecting Yourself in the Marketplace: leaving a paper trail, buyers' rights, canceling contracts, warranties, charitable giving, and rain checks; Condo and Homeowner Association rights and regulations; Home Services: lawn care, plumbing, heating/cooling; and Funeral industry practices and regulation.

TAX INCREMENT FINANCING DISTRICTS

Tax increment financing ("TIF") is easy money for municipal redevelopment-but at whose expense? Based on our involvement in previous litigation, our year of monitoring of TIF projects, and calls from a variety of taxpayers against TIFs throughout DuPage County, we have seen how municipalities abuse the state law by improperly designating areas as "blighted" so that they may create a TIF district. TIF redevelopment operates to increase the equalized assessed valuation of property/commercial development in a blighted area, and thus theoretically to generate increased property tax and sales tax revenues for the municipality. The Center would like to do a study of TIFs in DuPage to see how TIFs have actually operated in the County, whether they are producing the much-ballyhooed projections of increase revenues, or whether they are a municipal fund grab that distorts funding sources for schools, parks, and other local taxing districts. The Center needs a volunteer to work with professionals who have volunteered their expertise in tax assessing and municipal finance to investigate the abuse of this law, to assist in the completion of the county-wide study, and to develop guidelines for citizens and elected officials who are questioning the municipal use of TIF districts and their tax liability or benefit. Finally, the Center needs an intern to develop and facilitate a community forum on TIFs to the community.

IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

The Chicago suburbs have an extraordinarily high immigrant population. Many immigrants (both documented and undocumented) do not realize that they have rights regardless of their citizenship status. The Center needs an intern to help organize an education campaign directed at suburban immigrant communities to inform them of their rights under the Bill of Rights, as well as of the legal tools that they can use to be effective community leaders (FOIA, Open Meetings Act, etc.). Interns will organize the community education program, publicity and outreach.

EDUCATIONAL BROCHURES

The Center has more than 30 educational brochures educating the public about important laws that impact citizens everyday. We need interns to update current brochures, and create new brochures on complex legal issues. Interns will also present a series of programs on these issues and announce the release of the updated brochures.

EDUCATION FUNDING IN ILLINOIS

The Center has received several calls from individuals concerned with education funding in Illinois. An intern will research the education funding process in Illinois, school budgets, the money "path," and options for reform.

DEMOCRACY WORKSHOPS

The Center hosts regular "Brown Bag Lunches" and "Evening Programs" that are open to the community. These are forums to stimulate community discussion on issues of public significance. The Center needs interns to choose topics of interest and prepare community workshops. Past programs have included campaign finance reform, home rule, social security reform, the School of the Americas and the World Trade Organization.

YOUTH CIVIC EDUCATION

Civic education is not formally taught in Illinois, leading to youth who are uninformed about how communities operate or how to address an issue they care about. The Center has a vast youth civic education project, called the Civic Empowerment Zone. We need interns to work with Center community lawyers to create hands-on projects and program that teach youth what it means to be a 'good citizen' in practice. We have already converted more than 40 issues into civic lesson plans, but we need help in expanding the program, and in identifying how to systemically reform curriculum in Illinois to include civic education.

LITIGATION

The Center has argued several cases in both federal and state courts, and has removed unconstitutional policies and practices at the local. The Center is currently in litigation with DuPage County regarding an Open Meetings Act violation and a landmark Freedom of Information Act case against the DuPage County Election Commission regarding public access to the ballot. Interns will assist in drafting pleading, conducting research and observing litigation proceedings.

DUPAGE COUNTY PROCUREMENT

The Center recently completed a study of DuPage County Procurement policies and procedures, as well as a study of campaign contributors to 71 elected officials from DuPage County. The Center would like an intern to continue the study by searching for contributors to County Board members, the principals of those companies, how much they gave to whom, and how much they received from the County annually. The Center would also like to announce its procurement resources to local college and university political science Ph.D. programs for further study.

CASE BRIEFS

The Center needs an intern to brief all Illinois cases and attorney general opinions relating to FOIA and the Open Meetings Act.

LOCAL ZONING

In affluent DuPage County, zoning issues have become a point of contention that have pit neighbor against neighbor. "Tear downs" and sprawl are a common occurrence. How do local governments and community members come together on these issues? How are vacant lots and redeveloped properties taxed while they are unoccupied? How do interested individuals get involved and have input on zoning issues in their communities? The Center needs an intern to examine all of these issues, and to prepare and present workshops and brochures for the community.

ANSWERING CITIZEN INTAKE CALLS

The Center answers more than 300 calls a year from concerned citizens asking about issues of public concern. Interns answer questions, help organize community campaigns, and help citizens understand the law. This is hands-on experience in helping the community become active and engaged citizens.