The Naperville City Council directed staff this week to review the city’s Special Events and Community Arts program after Naperville City Councilman Josh McBroom raised questions about the criteria used to decide funding.
Known as SECA, the program provides financial help to organizations that hold social and artistic events in Naperville. Started in 2004, the money for the grants comes from a 1% tax collected on the sale of food and beverages.
Funding requests are evaluated by a city commission, which recommends how the available money should be distributed. The city council makes the final approval.
“Since before I was on council, I’ve always been a little skeptical of the idea of tax dollars being collected by a government and then being distributed to nonprofits, but I voted for the allocations the last two years,” McBroom said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
His concerns grew, however, after he started questioning whether some SECA recipients were engaging in political advocacy and whether that should not be part of the standards used when evaluating if a group should be given city funding.
Currently, SECA rules do not list an nonprofit’s political advocacy or statements as a consideration factor. The last time the ordinance was reviewed was in 2017, according to City Manager Doug Krieger.
“I think it’s time that we have a public discussion,” McBroom said. “I would hope that part of that would be some standards, conduct possible for applicants and then maybe really zero in on what the intention is and kind of safeguard the future and protect the program.”
His concerns were first raised last month when he saw a social media post made by LGBTQ+-focused Naper Pride in the wake of political advocate Charlie Kirk’s assassination. McBroom deemed the post political and said the organization needed to apologize or he would not vote for it to receive future SECA funding.
Since then, he has raised numerous concerns regarding the SECA program on his social media, ranging from criticism for specific recipients to broader concerns about whether the program is supporting organizations engaged in political advocacy.
Notably, he accused the Alliance for Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs, known as ALMAS, of discouraging people from attending the Naperville Sister Cities Hispanic Heritage Festival after a letter to the editor written by ALMAS was published in the Naperville Sun.
“Political advocacy is an important right. But should Naperville taxpayers be funding advocacy on federal issues through SECA? Or should SECA remain focused on cultural and community enrichment?” McBroom wrote in a Sept. 25 Facebook post.
ALMAS later clarified their statement at an Oct. 7 council meeting, noting that the letter was published after the festival took place and that they do not use SECA funds to engage in action related to federal issues.
McBroom responded to their council comments with a social media post, calling ALMAS’ claims “disingenuous” and saying his intention was to question whether SECA funding should “support organizations engaged in political or advocacy-based messaging.”
Council members were receptive to taking a look at the SECA program, voting 8-1 for staff to conduct a review of the program and include a timeline on it has evolved over the years.
“When you have an ordinance that goes back over 20 years … and it’s developed its own life over multiple councils who have been in place since then, I think it’s appropriate and timely that this council take a look at and see if we are giving the SECA commission the right instruction,” Mayor Scott Wehrli said.
Wehrli said he was particularly interested in finding ways to make the process easier for SECA commissioners, who are tasked with reading dozens of applications and determining how thousands of dollars should be distributed.
Councilman Benny White also highlighted the positive contributions the SECA program has made to Naperville.
White cited to the murals erected near Rothermel Family Skate Facility by local nonprofit Max’s Mission as an example of the positive contributions, which McBroom also acknowledged. Max’s Mission is a nonprofit started by a Naperville family that provides support, education and resources to those who have been affected by suicide loss, according to their website.
“That would not have happened without the help of SECA,” said White, who was supportive of reviewing SECA.
“I’ve been at events where I’ve seen things politicized,” White said. “So if we want to look at certain things, I’m fine with that, but as we do it let’s make sure that we’re focusing on those organizations, not necessarily what individuals are saying.”
City staff will return to the council with a report a future date. Council members will then decide if they want to hold a workshop to more formally discuss the program.
cstein@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/24/naperville-staff-review-seca-mcbroom/
