.webp)
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 opportunities for Chicago to connect, flourish, and leave feeling empowered.
In April, on a beautiful spring afternoon, I had the opportunity to speak over the phone with Candice Payne. Many of you will know her as the woman who paid for hotel rooms for homeless individuals in Chicago during the Polar Vortex earlier this year.
Educator, writer, and facilitator Stacey Gibson urges listeners to practice the difficult emotional work of addressing how race impacts our lives and to commit to being anti-racist. Gibson spoke at the first of CWIP’s series of Courage-Centered Dialogues in mid-June.
Rachael Marusarz vividly remembers her first Chicago Women in Philanthropy (CWIP) event nine years ago, when she was a relatively introverted development officer at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. She enjoyed the event and learned a great deal from the speakers, but the most meaningful moment was when a program officer from a local foundation told her, “I’ll take off my funder hat, you take off your grantee hat, and we’ll just be two women here to support one another.” It was that atmosphere of support that propelled her involvement with CWIP.
