Ted Wysocki
Ted Wysocki is CEO of the Institute of Cultural Affairs-USA and founder of U2Cando Consulting. Previously, Ted was CEO of the Local Economic & Employment Development Council, now North Branch Works, and CEO of the Chicago Association of Neighborhood Development Organizations (CANDO). Ted is also a director emeritus of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
Reawakening “Courageous Philanthropy”
A review of Courageous Philanthropy: Going Public in a Closely Held World, by Jennifer Vanica.
Endangering Community Investment with Tax “Reform”
There wasn’t one Republican senator who was willing say tax reform aimed at growing our economy should augment, not diminish, community investment.
Empowering Human Development Across the Globe, Locally
One blessing of my job as CEO of the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) is being able to tap into the wealth of human...
The “Greeding Out” of Affordable Housing
There have been a number of stories in the papers over the last two months that, from my perspective, are connected. Unfortunately, their common denominator is the demise of affordable housing caused by the malignant neglect of government at all levels.
Failing The Equitable Development Test
I wondered whether the Americans who suffered the injustice of our most recent Great Recession haven’t already been not only forgotten but abandoned by the White House and Congress, despite their votes.
Disclosure Remains Our Right
I was interviewed last month for a book on redlining that took me back to the ‘70s. Going through my file of the national...
You’ve Seen This Movie Before. You Know What to Do
I prebooked my post-election group therapy by getting a ticket to hear Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, speak...
Do Developers Know They’ll Get Old, Too?
Mid-July marked the 20th anniversary of more than 700 Chicagoans dying in a heat wave. When the temperature peaked at 106 degrees on July...
This Book Changes Everything
Book Review: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein
The Day The Fed Stood Still
With the Federal Reserve Board’s first meeting of 2015 last month and the upcoming 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, I had Mr. Peabody crank up the “Wayback Machine” and set it for April 14, 1980. (If Millennials think they can’t afford to buy their first home now, mortgage interest rates then were heading to […]
Still Learning, After All These Years
How do we build the next generation of leaders? There are many local initiatives on which communities and colleges could better partner in our collective striving to improve lives and the economic health of families.
Reclaiming America on Columbus Day
As a college sophomore in October of 1968, I marched as part of the ROTC color guard at the front of the Columbus Day parade in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Those were challenging times for our country. I chose to leave ROTC less than a year later as protests against the Vietnam War called our […]
When Will Attitudes Change Toward Solar?
It was a bright, sunny day in Chicago on September 24. Celebrants were singing, “You Are My Sunshine,” as the solar panels had already saved $64 since the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) in the US had started them up just a few hours earlier. With 483 panels, each producing 310 watts, ICA’s 166,000 square […]
Congress Misses AmeriCorps’ 20th Birthday
AmeriCorps turned 20 on September 12th. To celebrate, the agency had an immensely successful Thunderclap campaign that reached over 51 million people on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. It was the 4th most popular Thunderclap campaign so far. Now I’m an old dog still learning new social media tricks so I didn’t know what a Thunderclap […]
Fleeced Again… Plundering Our Elders
Review of Fleeced: Speaking Out Against Senior Financial Abuse
Too High to Pay
The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future, by Joseph Stiglitz. Norton & Company, Inc., June 2012, 448 pp. $27.95 (cloth).
Watching This Movie is an Act of Patriotism
Since I concluded my book review of Joseph Stiglitz’s The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our...
Our Financial Reform, Our Health
The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future, by Joseph Stiglitz, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., June 2012. 448 pp. $27.95 (Hardcover). Available on Amazon.
The Ripple Effect of Thoughtful Planning
In a post on Rooflines on April 18, Shelterforce editor Miriam Axel-Lute wrote that gentrification in Brooklyn is the...
Uncertain Future in the Absence of Planning
Planning Chicago, by D. Bradford Hunt and Jon B. DeVries. APA Planners Press, 2013, 352 pp. $34.95.