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Events are so important to us because community is at the core of who we are. CWIP hosts a variety of networking forums, seminars, workshops, & panels that allow our members to learn together and from each other. We connect women with resources, mentors, and mentees in order to help our community grow and flourish. From breakfast events to lunch events to after-work events, we are committed to providing opportunites for Chicago to connect, flourish, and leave feeling empowered.
Angry. Scared. Disbelief. These are just a few of the rollercoaster of emotions I have been living with over the past six months. Like many others, I have been shuttered in my home since mid-March watching way too much news, stress eating, and confused about what is happening in the world.
How do you sum up a year? Especially one like 2020 part two (aka 2021). If you’re CWIP co-chair Jacki Davidoff who led the CWIP 2021 Annual Meeting on Wednesday, August 25, 2021, you would say that despite the challenges we all faced, we met them head-on and together with our CWIP community. In the past year, our CWIP committees connected us to each other and our communities, all while strengthening our organizations, our city, and ourselves with a collective resolve to enact change. Highlights from CWIP’s past year included a strong focus on women and girls of color, elevating diverse voices in philanthropy and community work, and moving racial equity forward in our sector.
Recently, Communications Committee members Katherine Dreher and Amber Crossen sat down with CWIP WLMP Mentor and longtime CWIP member, Christy Uchida, Senior Program Officer at The Brinson Foundation, to discuss the role of mentorship in Christy’s professional development and how the CWIP community has helped her build deeper and stronger connections to fellow women in philanthropy.
The reality is that philanthropy was not created for women and girls of color. But the current moment we are in provides an opportunity for us to rethink, change, and adapt to a model of philanthropy that is more inclusive and supportive. The question is—how do we do this?
