NY Times bestselling writer and researcher Dr. Dominic Cappello launches bold new book collection and exhibit to empower residents fighting for affordability, democracy, and justice.

Dr. Cappello shares, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a billionaire with a chainsaw slashing through affordability, democracy, and justice. But we can change the future. In the fight between the affordability movement and bad billionaires, we actually have a shot at winning—by making housing, healthcare, food, transportation, and childcare truly affordable for all.”

At the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, Dr. Cappello debuts his “5 Essentials Platform” book collection—seven playbooks designed to help residents, advocates, and public leaders counter authoritarian government and oligarchic power. Each book offers a practical, accessible roadmap for those ready to defend communities and rebuild systems around people, not profit. The titles in this collection, grounded in his doctoral research and on-the-ground field work, include:

• If You Meet a Bad Billionaire with a Chainsaw on the Road

• Five Essential Services, Public Health, and Bad Billionaire Backlash

• Mayors, Affordable Cities, and Bad Billionaire Pushback

• Bad Billionaires vs. Good Governors

• The Little Red Schoolhouse vs. Bad Billionaires

• Bots, Bread, and Bad Billionaires

• Stories of Surviving and Thriving: The Annotated Dissertation

“Pick your battle. Pick your book.” With that invitation, Cappello calls on readers and visitors to choose the arena—schools, cities, states, public health, technology, or community storytelling—where they will push back against concentrated wealth and support a future grounded in affordability, democracy, and justice for all.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The Historic Santa Fe Foundation is pleased to present “Bots, Babies, and Billionaires,” a thought‑provoking art exhibition, book collection launch, and public discussion featuring resident writer/artist Dr. Dominic Cappello. This exhibition combines his stark black‑and‑white illustrations with spoken‑word storytelling to address three urgent crises of our time: the rapid rise of technology, the vulnerability of childhood, and the outsized influence of unchecked wealth.

As an artist, writer, and advocate for change, Dr. Cappello asks visitors to look past comforting narratives and confront the real threats facing children, families, and everyday workers. Through this artistic intervention, the exhibition surfaces both the dangers and the possibilities facing communities in an era defined by artificial intelligence and oligarchy.

In an immersive gallery experience, illustrations are paired with narrative vignettes that challenge myths about a benevolent AI revolution, expose the shrinking safety net for residents, and question the dominance of billionaires whose greed drains public resources and undermines democracy. The work presses the audience to wrestle with uncomfortable questions: Who truly benefits from our technological breakthroughs? Who is being left behind? What does it cost society when the wealthiest few “take everything not nailed down”? And why has the federal government become weaponized against the public—and how can everyday altruists respond?

Drawing on social struggles and lived experience, Dr. Cappello highlights strategies for organizers, public servants, and community members determined to resist oligarchic power. The exhibition and book collection together offer a call to action: demand access to affordable essential services, defend democracy, and insist on justice as the foundation of our shared future.

Onward and upward, shares Dr. Cappello, “apathy is not an option if we hope to fix this disrupted democracy.”

Contact: Anne Kelly at anne@historicsantafe.org or call 505.983.2567 for more information.

ABOUT THE ARTIST AND AUTHOR

Dr. Dominic Cappello—aka Dr. Dom—designs learning experiences and systems that empower communities to reclaim the essentials: affordable housing, healthcare, food, transportation, and childcare. Through his 5 Essentials Platform book collection and policy work, he focuses on real change that matters to everyday lives. A New York Times bestselling author and visionary consultant—featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show—Cappello blends technology, creativity, and public scholarship to address urgent challenges in public health, safety, education, and social justice.

Cappello grew up in working-class Costa Mesa, attending public schools and working his way through college as Captain Hook at Disneyland, a teacher’s aide, juvenile detention educator, youth shelter staff, and freelance artist, writer, and designer. He specialized in quality improvement training, developing programs for public health and child welfare, including NYC’s child protective services. He studied at California State University, Long Beach; Stockholm University’s international program, and Regis University, earning an MA. He completed his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at New Mexico State University's College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation.

Drawing on doctoral research in community engagement, transformational learning, and social change, Cappello develops practical solutions rooted in lived experience. His mission: to cultivate change agents who become and inspire government leaders to deliver sustainable solutions for a just world—one free from billionaire influence—that moves communities from disruption and division toward collaboration, resilience, and stability.

Contact: Anne Kelly at anne@historicsantafe.org or call 505.983.2567 for more information.