To our CWIP Community,

As summer comes to a close, we reflect on all the wonderful opportunities we have had to come together over the last few months. From career coaching and valuable trainings to our sold-out networking events—we learned from one another, celebrated and sparked joy.

In July, the CWIP Board and Committee Co-Chairs also held our Annual Retreat in-person for the first time since 2019. It was wonderful to be together, having impactful conversations, dreaming up plans for the organization and our exceptional membership and prioritizing a refresh of CWIP’s strategic vision. Learn more about the refreshed priorities in the gray box on the right!

At a time when the political environment around us continues to strip away individual rights and create a less equitable and fair society for women and girls across the country, CWIP’s

leadership and volunteers feel passionately that we have a responsibility to make judicious use of our voice and platform to not only empower one other, but to do our part in creating a more

equitable and inclusive sector around us.

We look forward to sharing more about this strategic plan and our vision for the year ahead at the CWIP Annual Meeting on August 18th. We will outline ways that you can lend your voice, expertise and support to make these bold goals a reality. Most importantly on that day, we look forward to being together and celebrating the work this beautiful community of women has achieved over the last year. We hope to see you there.

For now, enjoy the work spotlighted in this newsletter. We hope the joy and spirit that filled the rooms at these events comes off the page. If it inspires you to learn about how to get involved,

please reach out to us at info@cwiponline.org. To highlight the wisdom offered to us by our incredible CWIP Luncheon Honoree this year, Liz Thompson—we all have something to share

and pour into one another. We hope you will lend your unique time, talents and passion to this community. Together, we are more powerful than the sum of our parts.

Clare & Lindsey

CWIP Board Chairs

Quick Links

Want to navigate this newsletter quickly? Here's a list of the content included:

-Upcoming Events + Application Deadlines

-CWIP Membership Check

-2023 Luncheon Highlight

-Loud & Clear Event Recap

-Committee Updates

Refreshed CWIP Priorities

Strength and Clarity focuses on how we create well-defined roles for Board, Committee Co-Chairs and Committees and emphasizing how we collaboratively work towards our mission, embedding equity into all we do.

Community will enable us to lean into how we help the greatest diversity of CWIP professionals join our network and become empowered to build the most equitable, inclusive and connected social sector.

Voice determines how we use our influence in the field and ensures that CWIP stands for its vision both internally and externally.

Upcoming Events + Application Deadlines

Annual Membership Meeting | August 18, 8-11 AM

Maggiano's Little Italy: 516 N Clark St.

Join the CWIP community at the Annual Meeting, awards ceremony and networking breakfast. During this breakfast event, you'll learn about CWIP's programmatic work, events and leaders within the community that are taking incredible action to improve the Chicago community. All are welcome! Register here.

Mentoring Program Applications

Women’s Leadership Mentoring Program (WLMP) Recruitment Opens Soon!

The Women’s Leadership Mentoring Program is CWIP's one-year mentoring program for professionals in Chicago. WLMP provides mentoring and mentee opportunities via two cohorts, one for Emerging Leaders and the other for Mid-Career Leaders. The WLMP strives to engage a racially and ethnically diverse group of participants from a variety of nonprofit and philanthropic fields with different types of job responsibilities, professional experiences and career goals. Click the link below to learn more!

Girls Igniting Real Leadership & Service (GIRLS) Mentor Applications Open this Fall!

The GIRLS Mentoring program focuses on mentoring, coaching and bringing opportunities for leadership development to girls ages 9 - 18 years of age. Mentor recruitment will start this fall and the program will include virtual and in-person meetings with mentees. Don't miss this opportunity to help support girls and young women in Chicago!

Learn more and engage in CWIP's Mentoring Programs here!

CWIP Membership Reminders

There are SO many incredible benefits available to CWIP Members. Members have free or reduced tickets to CWIP events, opportunities to connect to other CWIP members, access to job postings within the local nonprofit sector, networking and development through committee engagement and MORE!

Is your CWIP Membership Active? Here are a few quick steps to check:

Go to CWIP's website and login.
Once logged in, click on "My Profile" in the top right corner of the screen.
Click "Membership Info" within the “My Profile” section on the right hand side menu.
Membership Info will display your membership type and expiration date if active.
If your membership is not active or if you don't have a login, you'll need to sign-up or re-activate your membership.

Have you recently changed jobs or job titles? Be sure to update your title in your Member Profile.

On Tuesday, March 7th CWIP members and friends gathered for the CWIP Annual Luncheon held at the Marriott Hotel Downtown. This year, CWIP honored Liz Thompson, President of the Cleveland Avenue Foundation for Education (CAFE). The luncheon raised over $108,000 (our highest fundraising total ever)– with over 370 attendees, one of the largest!

Check out this luncheon recap video for a peek at the luncheon as well as video coverage of programming and photos on the CWIP website.

It was a lively and celebratory event and attendees commented that this year’s luncheon felt like the first one back to pre-pandemic levels, and the excitement of our members to gather and see one another was palpable! Representing different ages, life stages and career paths, the common themes of support, mutual learning and the importance of sisterhood came through in each speaker’s story.

The luncheon program included a welcome from CWIP’s board leadership, mentors and mentees from both the Women’s Leadership & Mentoring Program (WLMP) and Girls Igniting Real Leadership & Service (GIRLS) Program also shared their experiences.

This program also included a fireside chat with honoree Liz Thompson and Honorary Annual Luncheon Co-Chair, Na’ilah Suad Nasir, President of the Spencer Foundation. The two colleagues, and friends, spoke about the importance of leading with love, mentorship, and how closely the Black community is tied to philanthropy.

Loud & Clear! Summer Event Series Recap

In May and June 2023, CWIP hosted two NEW back-to-back professional development programs entitled

Loud and Clear: How to Advocate for Ourselves and Our Colleagues (And Why It Matters!).

This two-part event series engaged members in an active conversation around how to advance both your career and to uplift those around you.

Part 1 featured a lively discussion with featured speakers Alida Miranda-Wolff, Founder & CEO

of Ethos, and Eddie Johnson, Chief People Officer at Youth Guidance. Moderator Jacki Davidoff, Principal and Senior Consultant, Davidoff Strategy invited Miranda-Wolff and Johnson to share their advice about self-advocacy, and supporting teams as a leader, with the gathered participants. Participants also worked on their own and in small groups to build or refine their

individual purpose statements. Big thanks to The Dalcy for hosting and welcoming CWIP for this event.

Part 2 featured small-group coaching circles facilitated by coaches Allison Baron, Cheryl Collins,

Laura Traut-Coyle, Tina Erickson, Maiko Heflick and Eleena Korban. Each participant joined another program participant and coach to discuss a current professional development or organizational/team challenge of their choice. The time and knowledge exchanged were full of

deep attention, powerful questions and graceful feedback. We are grateful to the Chicago Housing Authority for hosting and welcoming CWIP for this event.

We look forward to hosting more events of this nature in the future! Keep your eyes and ears peeled for more programming coming soon.

Want to get more involved?

Leadership Opportunities Available!

Our Committees are looking for new members. Contact us at info@cwiponline.org for an introduction to one of our amazing committee co-chairs, who can tell you more about service.