The Civic Federation is a Chicago-based non-partisan research organization focused on governments in the Chicago area and the state of Illinois.
The newspapers adopted Mugwumpery as a way of building support for municipal reform among working-class voters in the late 19th century and the Progressive Era.
Some of those projects include: The Civic Federation also discusses government finance and policy issues on its blog,[8] updated weekly.
The Federation blog has researched topics such as Cook County township government, privatization and tax increment financing or TIF.
The Civic Federation was founded in 1893 as a reform organization by several of Chicago's most prominent citizens, including Jane Addams, Bertha Honore Palmer and Lyman J. Gage.
The group's formation was catalyzed by a book by a visiting journalist, William T. Stead, who appealed to the Social Gospel sensibilities of Protestant activists.
Steel magnate Clayton Mark, who built Marktown, the planned worker community in Northwest Indiana, served several terms as President of the Civic Federation.