“I feel so lucky to do a job that I love and gives me purpose,” Grace Hou told a roomful of fellow philanthropy professionals during the Chicago Women in Philanthropy (CWIP) Annual Luncheon in March. Hou, president of Woods Fund Chicago, is the 2018 Making a Difference Honoree and was keynote speaker during the luncheon.
Hou talked about her early life as the daughter of immigrant parents from Taiwan. The family moved to Chicago when she was eight and she has worked her whole life in Chicago, which gives her a “shared history” with many of her colleagues. “Chicago is a beautiful place, a sweet home for many, but not for all,” Hou said.
“In my bones, I’m a journalist. I like hearing other people’s stories...The only thing that separates us as strangers is story,” she said. That love for story, plus a quest for the truth, guides her, she said. “You have to search for the truth; it’s often unintentionally hidden,” Hou said. She is now the mother of two boys and said she occasionally reads them the young people’s edition of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. She does this not to make them sad, she said, but because “sad is part of the journey to the truth.”
Much of Hou’s work at Woods Fund Chicago, a foundation that draws on the power of communities to fight poverty and structural racism, is driven by the need to “begin to unravel structural racism and force it to be a thing of the past,” she said. At Woods Fund, Hou said, “we fund organizations to unearth racism at the roots. We know racism has consequences. The question is how to move from knowledge to action.” The goal, she said, is “a time when we all now and completely reject racism.”
How can CWIP members help? Hou’s guidance to CWIP members is:
The Annual Luncheon also highlighted the CWIP’s Women’s Leadership and Mentoring (WLMP) program, now in its 10th year. WLMP co-chair Debra Walker Johnson noted that in that time the program has served approximately 350 women, both mentors and mentees. But there is still a gender gap in nonprofits that highlights the continued need for the program. The data shows that women want to be leaders, Johnson said.
The audience also heard from mentee Melanie Sillas, who said her experience with a mentor was helpful as she was trying to break into the field and then get a new role. “I’m grateful to have been connected with my mentor, and we remain connected,” Sillas said.
The event also featured a performance by Still Point Theatre Collective, “The Power of Grace,” which was created in partnership with Grace House, a home for women exiting the Illinois prison system.
CWIP past board chair Maricar Ramos updated the audience on the association’s work in the areas of racial equity and social justice, which has been a programmatic focus for the last year and a half. CWIP has presented two events to educate and support those working toward racial equity and social justice, as well as a training for its board. One more event is being planned for this year, Ramos said.
