Free Educational Topics in Chicago
It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3: Browse for a topic, Click the orange request button, Fill out the contact form.
Now the speaker will contact you in the next few days to coordinate details.
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Rising Economic Inequality: how much, why it happens, why it matters, and what we can do about it.
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
Request This Free SpeechEconomic inequality has been rising in the US for decades, damaging our economy and society in the process. This presentation will discuss how high it has become, why it happens, how it damages our country, and what we can do about it.
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Raising Innovative Children
Stephen A. Di Biase, Ph.D., President, Premier Insights, LLC.
Request This Free Speech"10 Secrets for Raising Innovative Children" describes what parents can do to help their children build upon their natural tendencies to be innovative while offering a buffer to the potential damage they'll experience when they begin their formal education at age 5. There is significant evidence that from age 5 to age 20 the typical person experiencing the traditional US educational system will lose almost all of their capabilities for being innovative. MORE >
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Start Early, Start Smart: How to Choose a Motivating College Major
Georgia Koch, Community Outreach Coordinator, Career Vision
Request This Free SpeechIs it possible for students to identify potential college majors and career directions while still in high school? You bet! Students and parents will learn what they need to know before choosing a college, and how identifying a college major and career direction can build a student's motivation and confidence while reducing college expenses. MORE >
Receive information and resources to guide your student and take the stress out of making these important decisions. This program is for parents and students of high school and college age. -
The 3 Biggest Problems with Utility Bills
Kate Shonk, Sustainable Communities Liaison , Citizens Utility Board (CUB)
Request This Free SpeechMost Illinoisans are overpaying for gas and electricity and don’t even know it! In this engaging lecture, I’ll show you how to decode your bills, spot errors, and take advantage of real programs designed to save you money. MORE >
CUB is a non-profit, statewide utility watchdog organization created in 1983 to work for lower gas, electric and telephone rates. CUB has been on your side for 30 years—blocking utility rate hikes, winning consumer refunds and helping to pass important consumer protection laws. Our outreach team has spoken at hundreds of community meetings across Illinois and would love to come to yours.Please note that depending on my availability, another one of our trained outreach staff may take my place as speaker at your meeting, but I will confirm when you contact me.
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What’s an Assault Weapon, and why are they so deadly?
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
Request This Free SpeechThere's been a lot of discussion lately about tighter regulations on assault weapons like the AR-15. If we are going to regulate these weapons, we will need a legal definition describing them. And instead of a definition that depends upon specific configurations or cosmetic appearance, we propose a definition based on the factors that make this class of weapons so deadly. MORE >
This presentation focuses on the development of this class of weapons, the factors that make them so deadly, and how we can use those factors to legally define an "assault weapon" for future regulation thereof. -
How to Create Resilient Equitable Communities in a COVID-19 World
Kelwin Harris, Urban Planning, Race, Civic Engagement Speaker
Request This Free SpeechOur cities face serious threats; growth is uneven; neighborhoods are struggling; and streets are erupting in protest as COVID-19 has made existing inequalities worse. Now more than ever, we must address racial equity and provide strategies for prosperity for the good of everyone. Drawing from his experience as a community leader on the South Side of Chicago and as an urban planner, Kelwin Harris uses an equity lens to discuss multiple facets of systemic racism that persist and offers strategies and interventions for the road ahead. MORE >
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Understanding Project 2025
Ed Spire, Co-lead, Restore our Democracy Project, NWSOFA-Indivisible
Request This Free SpeechProject 2025 is a huge document. It's very difficult to consume and understand. This presentation makes details available, but focuses more on HOW they intend to implement these unpopular policies, showing that their methods themselves are a direct attack on our Democracy.
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Demonstrating and Teaching Mental Math Methods
Cliff Petrak, Retired Teacher, Brother Rice High School
Request This Free SpeechLearn to master a multitude of little-known, super-shortcut computational methods involving addition, subtraction, fractions, squaring and multiplication. Unfortunately, our country consistently finishes among the bottom third of industrialized countries in the annual mental math competition for students. Learning these strategies and methods will leave your calculator-dependent friends in the dust!
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A Consumer’s Guide to Going Solar
Kate Shonk, Sustainable Communities Liaison , Citizens Utility Board (CUB)
Request This Free SpeechAre you interested in going solar? Learn if solar is right for your home and how to get the most value out of your solar system from consumer advocate experts. In 2019, CUB staffers gave over 70 solar presentations, and we are excited to answer all your solar questions! MORE >
CUB is very excited about new solar incentives available to homeowners in Illinois. However, we know that with all the new advertising and high pressure sales pitches it can be confusing to know what is best for you. At this presentation we will go over solar basics, including:
---why now is the best time yet to go solar,
---how solar panels work with your home and the grid,
---an overview of state and federal incentives,
---why it is almost always better to purchase, rather than lease solar panels.Please note that depending on my availability, another one of our trained outreach staff may take my place as speaker at your meeting, but I will confirm when you contact me.
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Targeting Colleges for Affordability
Joseph Orsolini, President, College Aid Planners, Inc.
Request This Free SpeechThe presentation will focus on strategies to target colleges for merit-based financial aid. Armed with this understanding and knowledge of the college aid process, a college education may become more affordable.