Republican Illinois House candidate Jim Geldermann is encouraging residents to move beyond political arguments and become more involved in local government through the North Cook Democracy Project, an initiative he says is designed to turn public frustration into civic engagement.

Now in its third month, the initiative recently hosted a free workshop titled "How to Have Difficult Conversations with People that Disagree with You," led by Maria Goldstein, co-founder of NorthWest Families for Life. The event focused on strategies for engaging with people who hold opposing viewpoints and was livestreamed and recorded, with attendance limited by reservation.

Geldermann said the session reflected the broader purpose of the North Cook Democracy Project, helping residents address difficult issues through discussion rather than political confrontation.

"We had a workshop a couple weeks ago on how they have difficult conversations with people that disagree with you," Geldermann told North Cook News. "So the woman who put it on for us, she's a sidewalk counselor for pregnancy crisis in front of abortion clinics. So we figured if you can talk about abortion with people, you can talk about anything."

"So what we're trying to do is raise the discourse from debate to conversations.” 

The project is also recruiting residents to speak during public comment portions of municipal meetings throughout the area. Geldermann said participants receive assistance preparing three-minute remarks that are later shared online to encourage civic participation.

Geldermann said the project’s public speaking initiative is modeled after the Illinois House Republicans’ special order speeches of the 1990s, adapting the concept for local government meetings.

"So what we're recruiting people to do is, you know, we'll train them and help them write a speech, a three-minute speech," he said. "They give the speech, we pull it down off the website. We add it into our YouTube channel. So we're not trying to influence the boards at all. We're just standing in a public space. They're recording it for us."

Rather than lobbying elected officials, Geldermann said the project is intended to help residents become more comfortable speaking publicly about issues they care about.

"It's something that we can start giving people the courage to stand up and talk about," he said. "So we can move people to stop being outraged and start doing something."

Geldermann said recordings from the workshop are also available through the project's YouTube channel to reinforce its message.

"So the real, from the workshop, which is online at our YouTube channel is how to stop debating people and start having conversations," he said.

He said the project is intended to provide a forum for residents to raise concerns they believe deserve greater public attention. 

"The first month, one of the things I wanted to talk about is minor children being used as props by panhandlers," Geldermann said.

Geldermann’s focus on the issue comes amid broader concerns in some communities about adults panhandling with children near intersections, parking lots and roadways.

Illinois’ Wrongs to Children Act prohibits using children under 14 for begging or activities that could endanger their health or safety.

"DHS misplaced 325,000 kids between 2020 and 2024, and Chicago is a hub for human sex and child trafficking. You don't know what the relationship is, and the municipalities won't do anything about it," Geldermann said. "Even though there's two statutes that they're supposed to call DCFS because it's child abuse. And they're supposed to get their misdemeanor tickets, but they're supposed to get ticketed, and nobody does anything."

Geldermann, who was involved in and ran ministry programs through Our Lady of Perpetual Help for 15 years, has made civic engagement a recurring theme of his public activities. 

Geldermann has made government accountability and public oversight central themes of his political message. 

Following the conviction of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan on federal corruption charges, he argued that the case reflected broader transparency issues in Illinois government under a Democrat majority and called for structural reforms. 

Geldermann is challenging fourth-term incumbent State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview) for the Illinois House of Representatives in District 17 in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.

Illinois House District 17 includes portions of Cook County centered on Evanston and includes parts of the Evanston, New Trier, Niles and Northfield townships, as well as the villages of Glenview, Golf, Morton Grove, Northbrook, Skokie and Wilmette.