 |
About
CAC
Sign-up
for Center's free E-Newsletter
Democracy
Workshops
Internships/Volunteers
Annual
Report
Citizen
Initiative Awards
Newsletter
Contact
Us
Awards
Directions
to the Center
|
About
CAC
Hub
of Civic Information
Training
Workshops
Intake
Grassroots
Organization
Founder
& Staff
Board
of Directors
Advisory
Council
-
ABOUT CAC
-
-
-
The Citizen Advocacy is a non-profit, non-partisan community legal
organization dedicated to building democracy for the 21st century.
Center community lawyers and volunteers focus on strengthening the
citizenry's capacity and motivation to participate in civic affairs,
building community resources, and improving democratic protocols
within our community institutions. Through public education, community
organizing, issue advocacy, and precedent-setting litigation in
state and federal courts, the Center forges ahead with programs
to advance civic life. The Center is a free public resource to the
community.
Our storefront is located at 182 N. York Road in downtown Elmhurst
and houses the Open Forum, a space that provides citizens the opportunity
to: obtain free civic materials, ask our two full-time community
lawyers questions on matters of public concern, engage in civic
discussion, access electronic information, make videos, learn about
local issues, attend training workshops, and develop skills for
participating in the civic affairs.
Hub of Civic Information
The Citizen Advocacy Center is first and foremost a hub for civic
information. Everyday, the Center's staff and volunteers answer
questions from citizens who call or drop by to ask about matters
of public concern. For example, can the library prohibit citizens
from collecting petition signatures on the sidewalk, or does a public
contract have to go out for bid, or what to do about more sprawl
and development, or how to hold HMO's accountable. The Center's
legal staff and volunteers routinely research and answer hundreds
of such questions to enable more effective engagement in local affairs,
no matter what the issue or position on that issue may be.
Training Workshops
The Center conducts training workshops about the civic tools that
every citizen should know how to use. For example, the Center prepares
brochures and sponsors free workshops on topics such as how the
Illinois Freedom of Information and Open Meetings Acts work; what
"home-rule" means; how Tax Increment Financing districts work; how
small claims court operates and how government operates at the municipal,
township, county and state levels.
Intake
The CAC describes its mission as "building democracy for the 21st
Century by increasing civic participation at the community level
and by strengthening the public capacity, resources and institutions
for self-government. To that end, Center community lawyers answer
calls from citizens who have questions about issues which are a
matter of public concern and explains laws and regulations. Examples
of questions are:
-
What can I say during the public comment period
at city counsel meeting?
-
How do I obtain government held information?
-
How much can a government body charge me to
make copies of the requested information?
-
How can I get a stop sign put at the end of
my street?
-
How do I get a petition put on the ballot?
The Center does not provide private legal assistance. Projects that
come to the Center's attention are carefully evaluated by the following
criteria:
-
Is this a matter of public concern where a systemic
change will occur?
-
Was this person shut out of the democratic process
because of a systemic defect?
-
Does this question concern access to publicly
held information, a citizen's access to local government, the
court, the airwaves, or citizen initiatives on the ballot?
- Does the CAC have the resources needed for the project?
- Would assistance on the issue systemically address the problem?
- What can be done to effect long term change?
- Is this call with in the Center's user area, the western suburbs
of Chicago?
Grassroots Organization
The Center operates on a local level, starting with our own community
of Elmhurst. Grassroots organizing means reaching out to the community
in a variety of ways to educate citizens. The Center fields intake
calls for people asking questions about matters of public concern,
and produces numerous educational brochures for those who want to
become educated on how their local government operates, whistleblower
laws, electronic commerce, jury duty, and much more.
In addition, the Center hosts the Open Forum where community evening
discussions and brown bag lunches are held. The Center also provides
a space for citizens and organizations to hold meetings, engage
in civic discourse and do on-line research. Finally, the Center
offers our free Citizen Training Corps seminar, which teaches the
basics of community participation. Our program has been regionally
and nationally recognized as "civic boot camp" with "clout".
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Ms. Terry
Pastika, Executive Director/ Community Lawyer.
-
-
Ms. Pastika joined the Citizen Advocacy Center staff as a community
lawyer in 1999 and became the Center's executive director in 2001. As
a community lawyer, Ms. Pastika spearheaded the Center's three suburban
Civic Fairs, networking with more than 150 community organizations and
civic leaders throughout the Chicago metropolitan region. She coordinated
the Center's Citizen Training Corps, recognized regionally and nationally
as "civics boot camp with clout," and provides legal assistance to citizens
and organizations that contact the Center with concerns about issues
of public significance. Additionally, Ms. Pastika regularly facilitates
seminars throughout the Chicagoland area teaching the public how to
use the law to have a voice in their community.
-
- As executive director, Ms. Pastika is responsible for public speaking
engagements, media relations, and oversees the day-to-day operations
of the Center, including supervision of staff, volunteers, interns,
and all programs and litigation. Ms. Pastika coordinates the fundraising
needs of the Center and is a liaison to the Center's diverse twelve
member Board of Directors. Ms. Pastika regularly meets with the Center's
fifteen-member citizen Advisory Council which is a community ambassador
program that informs the Center of current community issues.
-
- Ms. Pastika was part of the team of Center community lawyers that
in 1999 received an award for "Most Innovative Advocacy" in
the Chicagoland region and regularly speaks at conferences, law schools,
and community groups on topics such as the First Amendment and Open
Meeting laws, the Freedom of Information Act, Tax Increment Financing
and community empowerment. Ms. Pastika has been a guest speaker at the
John F. Kennedy School of Politics at Harvard University, and was nationally
recognized in 2003 by the Washington DC non-profit, OMB Watch, as one
of only three young people being inducted into the first "Public
Interest Rising Star Hall of Fame" for leading a new generation
in pursuit of social justice. Ms. Pastika was graduated from Marquette
University in 1992 and Creighton University School of Law in 1997. She
is a member of the California, Nebraska and Illinois Bar.
Ms. Natalie Brouwer, Community Lawyer
Ms.
Brouwer joined the Citizen Advocacy Center staff as a community lawyer
in August 2007, several years after her experience as a summer legal
intern with the Center during the summer of 1998. As a Public
Interest Law Initiative intern for the Center, Ms. Brouwer worked with
community groups and testified before the Illinois House of
Representatives tax subcommittee regarding tax increment financing
issues. As a community lawyer, Ms. Brouwer is the project manager for
the Center’s Midwest Open Government Project. She answers legal
questions from the community, assists community groups in organizing
around issues of public concern, works with educators to promote
hands-on civic education and mentors students who intern at the Center. -
Originally from Melrose Park and raised in Miami Beach, Ms. Brouwer
graduated from the University of Chicago in 1992 with a B.A. in
Political Science. She completed four years of Ph.D. coursework
and taught several undergraduate classes in Political Science at
Indiana University at Bloomington. Ms. Brouwer graduated from
Cornell Law School in 2000, during which she served on the Executive
Boards of the Latino Law Student Association and the National Lawyers
Guild. After law school, Ms. Brouwer worked as a civil litigator
in Miami and Washington, D.C. for six years, volunteering her pro bono
services for Lawyers for Children America. She is currently a
volunteer for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago where she and
her husband, a patent attorney, prepare immigration petitions for
domestic violence victims under the Violence Against Women Act.
Ms. Brouwer is a member of the Illinois, Florida and District of
Columbia Bars.
-
Ms. Theresa Amato is
the founder of the Citizen Advocacy Center. In 1993, Ms. Amato started
the Center to strengthen the public's capacities, resources, and institutions
for self-governance at the community level by teaching about civic
tools, by advocating on matters of public concern, and by identifying,
confronting, and removing undemocratic governing practices and abuses
of local power.
-
-
Ms. Amato, a native of Itasca,
Illinois, was graduated with honors from Harvard/Radcliffe Colleges
in 1986 with a degree in Government and Economics, and from the New
York University School of Law in 1989. Ms.
Amato was a litigator at Public Citizen in Washington, DC, and the
Director or of the Freedom of Information
Clearinghouse where she was a frequent lecturer on U.S. information
policies and open government laws. The American Lawyer recognized
Ms. Amato as one of the future leaders of the legal profession by
naming her among the country's 45 young lawyers (under 45) outside
the private sector. She has also been recognized as a Wasserstein
Public Interest Law Fellow, and has won the NYU School of Law Public
Service Award. Ms. Amato is licensed to practice law in New York,
Washington, DC, and Illinois.
-
-
- The Board of Directors
meets four time a year to oversee the operation of the Center.
-
-
President:
Ms. Theresa Amato, Esq.
-
-
Vice
President: Ms.
Barbara Greenberg,
Esq
- Secretary: Dr.
Gordon Goodman
-
- Treasurer: Mr.
Brian Conlon
-
- Directors: Mr.
Keith Allen, Esq., Mr. Steve DeLaRosa, Mr.
Jim Ekblad, CPA , Ms.
Patricia Hicks, Mr. Milt
Honel, Dr. Claire Nader, Dr. Andrew Prinz, Mr. Josh Silverstein, Esq.
-
- The Citizen Advisory Council provides community representation to
the Center on issues of public concern and promotes the mission of the
Center in the communities we serve. The Council meets twice a year to
develop recommendations for the Center. Council members suggest to the
Center activities that will assist citizens to participate in community
affairs and ways to strengthen systemically the public's capacities,
resources, and institutions for self-governance. As ambassadors to the
community for Center activities, Council members look for ways to promote
the Center's mission and also serve as "the eyes and ears"
of the Center in the community.
-
- The Council is comprised of 10-18 people who serve for a term of
two years with an option to renew service for an additional two years.
The Council's role has grown as the Center continues to develop. Members
of the Council serve in an advisory and volunteer capacity only. The
advisory counsel's role is to help the Center stay connected to and
continue to meet the needs of the community it serves. Advisory counsel
members represent a variety of the western suburbs of Chicago.
- Porus Dadabhoy, Downers Grove
- Marcia DeLaRosa, Villa Park
- Matthew DuPree, Glendale Heights
- Rita Gonzalez, Addison
- Myrrha Guzman, Elmhurst
- Corinne Johnson, Bensenville
- Ken Lerner, Downers Grove
- Kate Millett, Elmhurst
- Scott Mitzner, Clarendon Hills
- Toni Parker, Lyons
- David Pezza, Elmhurst
- Ellen Raymond, Wetsern Springs
-
-
-
-
|
--HOME
--