Thomas Lenz

Call Tom at 312-925-6505

Email Tom at Lenz@ConsultHLT.com
View Tom’s LinkedIn Profile

Tom began consulting following 30 years of work in neighborhood development, public policy, and community organizing. 

In his work with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the nation’s oldest and largest network of broad based community organizations, he worked with religious congregations, unions, and nonprofit organizations to build their internal leadership capacity and shape successful campaigns in health care expansion, education reform, and affordable housing. Tom led the project planning team that created Waukegan to College, a successful college readiness program in Lake County, Illinois. He designed and led a leadership development program for the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living (INCIL) and continues to work with the disability community.

As a consultant, he was integrally involved in the creation of the Partnership for Resilience, a cross-sector effort to address childhood trauma, access to primary care and family engagement in Illinois.  He has worked with Catholic Relief Services, the City of Evanston, Episcopal Charities and Community Services, Full Circle Communities and the Peoria Opportunities Foundation on a range of strategic planning and community engagement initiatives. 

Tom says, “Strengthening civil society institutions to help them achieve their missions is a passion for me. This requires both recovering old skills – particularly listening to constituents and developing leaders – and acquiring new capacities.”

Lenz holds a Masters in Urban Planning and Policy (MUPP) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame. He has written for Social Policy, Shelterforce, and the Public Administration Review.

Representative Clients

Civic Engagement/Advocacy

Bread for the World

Invisible Institute

Leadership Evanston

Leadership for Educational Equity

Pastoral Migratoria

Progress Center for Independent Living

Education

Axelson Center

Community Learning Partnership

Consortium for Educational Change

Harvard Education Redesign Lab

Partnership for Resilience

SIU Medicine Department of Population Science and Policy

UIC Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement

Housing and Community Development

Center for Economic Progress

Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives

City of Evanston

Full Circle Communities

Greater Southwest Development Corporation

Housing Opportunity Development Corporation

LISC Chicago

Mercy Housing Lakefront

Peoria Opportunities Foundation

Rogers Park Business Alliance

The Resurrection Project

Religious

Archdiocese of Chicago

Catholic Leadership Institute

Catholic Relief Services

Episcopal Charities and Community Services

St. Simon Episcopal Church

St. Paul Lutheran Church

Top