How Chicago Cares: Recent Episodes
Chicago Cares
Join Chicago Cares for a weekly podcast discussing civic engagement, corporate citizenship, and social impact.
For more information, visit ChicagoCares.org.
"When I got back to Chicago in 1991, I wanted to find a soup kitchen. Back then, you didn't have the internet or Google so you couldn't go online and search. So I found Chicago Cares in the phone book, and I called." As Chicago Cares turns 30 this month, our CEO Jenné Myers interviews Celeste Davis — a Chicago Cares board member who is also one of the organization's longest serving volunteers. Celeste, a former civil rights executive with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, shares her career experience combatting discrimination, as well as reflections on the state of our country today, why volunteerism and civic engagement are as important as ever, and her hopes for the future.
This week, Jenné chats with our friend Phil Kinnison about his 20-year "tenure" as one of our most engaged volunteers. Having served as a volunteer leader and corporate partner with us, Phil's diverse experiences with Chicago Cares are an important reminder for how volunteerism can be a tool for building connection and empathy between Chicagoans. Jenné and Phil share some of their favorite Chicago Cares volunteer stories, discuss what our impactful partnership with Accenture looks like, and discuss their hopes for Chicago Cares' next 30 years.
As Phil says, "The great thing about Chicago Cares is that there are a number of ways to give back [at ChicagoCares.org]. At the start of the pandemic when people were afraid to go outside, staff put together PPE and baby essential donation drives -- those were ways for people to get involved in person. But as you mentioned, there's also text banking and calling that companies can do in teams virtually."
In celebration of Chicago Cares' 30th anniversary, our CEO Jenné Myers sat down to chat with Yolanda Fields of Breakthrough, one of our closest partners that also happens to be celebrating thirty years in the sector! The two chat about adapting through the pandemic, how we've partnered over the past decade, and ways for volunteers to get involved during National Volunteer Month. "It is so wonderful to be in partnership and collaborate with organizations that are like-minded in values," says Yolanda. "Just the way we view how we serve individuals and how we show up is holistic. [...] We introduce this idea of creating a dignified space."
How are Chicago organizations addressing the racial wealth gap? On this week's episode, Jenné sits down with Daniel Ash, associate vice president of community impact at the Chicago Community Trust, to talk about the Trust's "Building Collective Power" strategy. Listen as Jenne and Daniel discuss power, following the lead of community members, and how the Chicago Community Trust is supporting efforts to address the racial wealth gap in the region.
As Daniel says, "Building Collective Power operates in three dimensions: people, voice, and action. We support community organizing because organizers are the engine -- the people -- who get people to show up and connect with one another to create shared agendas. We support storytellers and journalism because information is essential to the setting and advancement of those agendas. And we support campaigns directed by residents so that [...] the needs of residents are out in front."
How is Chicago's philanthropic sector collaborating to solve our city's most pressing issues? This week, listen to Jenné Myers' interview with Israel Idonije, retired NFL player, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who recently founded FBRK (“fabric”) Impact House in Chicago’s Loop. Jenné and Israel talk about Israel's long and varied career, from Chicago Bear to entrepreneur and philanthropist -- as well as how Impact House is connecting the philanthropic community for greater efficiency and impact.
"There's so much inefficiency because we're all doing the same things in siloes by ourselves," Israel says. "The vision of Impact House [...] had already begun to circulate, and I was just thankful to be part of it. So let's work together, let's build together, let's celebrate, and let's do more."
What is impact investing, and how are organizations like Chicago Beyond using it to build a more vibrant and equitable Chicago? This week, Jenné Myers interviews Liz Dozier, founder and CEO of Chicago Beyond, about how philanthropy needs to shift away from traditional definitions of charity toward mutualism. "Chicago Beyond has always believed that we need to show up in consciousness and understanding that our communities didn't get the way they are by happenstance," Liz says. "There's been policies and lots of history [...] behind that. When you show up in solidarity, we think that's how you affect change. That's how you create impact together."
What does it look like to "flip the script" on volunteerism? On this week's episode, Jenné Myers interviews Natalye Paquin, CEO of Points of Light, about how volunteerism and civic engagement can still be an antidote to pressing challenges facing our country. Jenné and Natalye discuss how individuals can scale up their impact to engender change on a systemic scale -- and the two share their optimism for the future of the sector.
"Systems are developed and dismantled one decision at a time. They are a collection of decisions. They are made by individuals," Natalye says. "You can build upon processes. But if you find flaws in those processes, you can help dismantle them and create new processes one decision at a time."
What does rebuilding trust between community and government look like? In the first episode of How Chicago Cares’ second season, Jenné Myers interviews Anna Valencia, Chicago’s City of Clerk, about how her office is viewing policy through an equity lens – and working to make policy and decision-making more accessible for Chicagoans. As Anna says, “I ask the question I always ask: how can I help? How can government help? […] Look around at your table and ask who is missing. We need to be very intentional about that because it is not something new. It’s just a matter of doing it.” Take a listen!
What makes someone or something essential? On this episode of How Chicago Cares, Jenné Myers connects with Maria Kim of Cara, a Chicago-based social enterprise that reconnects people experiencing poverty with hope, jobs, and opportunity. Jenné and Maria discuss essential employees as the core of our workforce, including Maria's recent op-ed and the role of trauma-informed workplaces in our "new normal" during the COVID-19 pandemic. "I wonder if we're getting the language twisted," Maria says. "I wonder if when we say 'Oh, these are essential workers or essential services,' we lose the thread. We forget that people are always essential. If we can recognize the essential humanity in each of us and see the talent in the people who have kept us as a country glued together and cleaned, fed, and safe, then maybe we will newly recognize what talent we have in this country."
This week, host Jenné Myers interviews Vaughn Bryant of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), a division of Metropolitan Family Services that works in partnership with community-based and citywide organizations to coordinate, support, and sustain services designed to heal communities that have experienced the highest levels of gun violence. Listen as the two discuss the work his team is doing in response to the public health crisis that is gun violence -- and how Chicago organizations are adapting their outreach programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're a rich city. Rich in resources," says Vaughn. "But we have to create the conditions for everyone to be able to access them -- and everybody's got to be on board with moving in the right direction. [...] We have the most alignment we've ever had with the state, the city, and the county in terms of investing in these areas, and I just think we have to respond."
On today's episode, host Jenné Myers interviews Adam Alonso of BUILD Chicago, one of Chicago's leading gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organizations. Listen as Jenné and Adam discuss how BUILD is adapting its services to engage young people in the current health crisis – as well as what BUILD’s street outreach workers are seeing with the recent surge in violence in our city. "For the mom who just lost her eldest son, she's in no position to be in anything other than an utter state of shock and grief," Adam says. "So where we can pitch in and provide support for the family, that's what we do. That's the work. And with everything that's happened, it just feels that much heavier."
This week, Jenné Myers interviews Tim Russell, Vice President of Community Engagement at WTTW and a former Chicago Cares board member, about best practices in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and how companies must engage and compensate their Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). "Diversity is relatively simple. It's representation," says Tim. "With inclusion, there's more of a cultural piece. Are people being invited to participate at the table? And then equity seeks to ensure that there's fair treatment, there's equality of opportunity, and there's fair access and resources."
This week, host Jenné Myers interviews Jonathan Swain from LINK Unlimited about what he’s seeing as a leader in both the nonprofit and business sectors. We’ll talk about how the current health and economic crises are affecting LINK scholars – and how recent unrest has impacted smaller Black-owned and Black-led businesses in the city. "We're trying to create space for [students] to think about how they're navigating issues [...] in an environment where their opinions are not policed," Jonathan says. "What we're trying to do in our programs is give opportunities for teachers and students to bring their whole selves so they know that their experience and perspective is validated."
On this week's episode, host Jenné Myers interviews Vu Le of Nonprofit AF. With Vu's no-BS approach and irreverent sense of humor, the two discuss how the nonprofit sector and funders must adapt their practices and framework in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest. As Vu says, "Maybe what we need to do, instead of focusing on empathy as the only condition or the only factor in helping people, is we target justice -- which means we do what is just no matter if we can sum up enough empathy or sympathy for someone."
Did you know that over $650 billion in federal funding is allocated nationwide based on the results of the U.S. Census? On today's episode of How Chicago Cares, host Jenné Myers interviews Lindsey Evans from the Mayor's Office to discuss why completing the Census is so important and how the City has pivoted its outreach efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you haven't completed the Census yet, there's still time! Get counted at 2020Census.gov.
Listen to host Jenné Myers as she interviews Pastor Chris Harris of Bright Star Community Outreach about how service must be mutual in order to be transformative. As Chicago’s nonprofit organizations look to redefine service in an era of physical distancing, Jenné speaks with Pastor Harris about what he is seeing and how we can create service opportunities that center the community’s voice. As Pastor Harris says, "I'm working locally and making sure I raise my voice vocally in my community [...] but you have to have the heart to say 'I'm not looking down on someone else.' I'm looking over to my brother and my sister."
On the second episode of How Chicago Cares, host Jenné Myers interviews Michelle Morales, President of the Woods Fund Chicago, about how we as Chicagoans must create a "new normal" that is more equitable and vibrant for all. As Michelle says, “If you're volunteering [in a food pantry], why isn't there a question of 'Why is there a food pantry?' or 'Why does a food pantry even have to exist?' If people start asking those questions, it points back to the systems in place that create those conditions." Take a listen!
Listen to the inaugural episode of How Chicago Cares. Host Jenné Myers interviews James Rudyk, Executive Director of the Northwest Side Housing Center, about what allyship looks like in this moment in time. As James says, “How can we use this moment and take it moving forward to re-envision a city, a community, a neighborhood that is more racially equitable. We have to use this opportunity to do exactly that. Because a lot of these small actions of small groups of people or small organizations coming together is what’s going to change the world.” Let’s get inspired to take action together!