On a typical workday, Lupe Hinojosa gets herself and her four children up by 4 a.m. By 4:30 a.m., the children have fallen back asleep in their aunt’s apartment, just down the hall. Lupe arrives for her shift at the metal fabrication plant by 5:30 a.m. to set up her station, and is welding by 6 a.m., before many of us have woken up.

Welding is a demanding job, physically and technically, but Lupe has found fulfillment and stability in the work. “Of everything I’ve done, welding is the one thing I love,” she says. “I enjoy it, and it fits me.”

Lupe first began considering a career in welding while pregnant with her youngest child. She had recently left an abusive relationship, moving her three children into a domestic violence shelter, and struggled to find work while pregnant. She enrolled in Chicago Foundation for Women grantee Chicago Women in Trades’ twelve-week welding program in January 2018, shortly after the birth of her son.

A working single mother of four, Lupe worked nights in retail while enrolled in the program, sometimes sleeping just two hours a night. Support from family members and the staff at Chicago Women in Trades kept her going and ensured she stayed on track to reach her goal. Lupe graduated and began working as a welder full-time in May 2018.

Before becoming a welder, Lupe worked a series of low-wage jobs: earning minimum wage in retail, and commuting five hours a day to the airport to clean planes. Now she is on track to earn over $30,000 a year, with benefits, health insurance and paid vacation.

“It’s absolutely an opportunity for women,” Chicago Women in Trades instructor Scarlet Burmeister says. “The wages that you can earn in advanced manufacturing and in the trades are high, and it’s a skill and a career that’s going to grow with them. They’re able to support their families and live comfortably and be filthy at the end of the day but proud of what they are doing,” Scarlet adds.

Lupe is one of only three women welders on the factory floor, but she is hoping more women will be joining her soon. “It’s a new era,” Lupe says. “There’s been a shortage of welders for years, and lots of places are looking for new welders.” Once they employ one CWIT graduate, companies regularly return to CWIT for new hires.

“Because of the hand-eye coordination, multi-tasking and detail-oriented nature of welding, most men who have been doing this for a long time will tell you women make great welders,” Scarlet says.

In addition to the 350-hour welding course, Chicago Women in Trades’ Technical Opportunities Program arms women with basic skills and hands-on experience to pursue a variety of construction trades. Through its two programs, Chicago Women in Trades annually places more than 60 women in apprenticeship or other nontraditional employment earning nearly $18 per hour, on average, and putting them on track to yearly incomes of $38,000.

In addition to training and education, Chicago Women in Trades advocates for policies supporting equal employment opportunities for women, strengthening the industry’s commitment to recruit and retain women, and building tradeswomen’s leadership. Through CWIT’s advocacy, the Iron Workers became the first building trades union in the country to adopt a comprehensive maternity leave and pregnancy accommodation policy. CWIT also leads a national coalition of tradeswomen’s organizations to promote equity within the apprenticeship system.

For Scarlet and Lupe, women in the trades is about more than a paycheck. “The work that we do is so personal and so at its core feminist,” says Scarlet.

“It’s given me more confidence and I’m more independent,” Lupe says. “It’s given me goals. I can take care of my kids and put clothes on their backs. I opened a savings account, and I’m cleaning up my credit.” In five years, Lupe hopes to be a welding instructor.

When Ines came to her first appointment at HANA Center, a social service and advocacy organization located in Chicago’s Northwest Side and northwest suburbs, she was in the middle of what she describes as “a dark period.”

An immigrant to Chicago from Mexico, Ines was struggling to balance her own need to end an abusive relationship with her husband, against cultural and economic pressure to keep her family together.

Through tears, Ines told a HANA Center caseworker that her husband had left her and her four children with nothing to support themselves. Her situation was complicated by the fact that Ines was undocumented and unable to legally work in the United States.

HANA Center, formed in 2017 from a merger of Korean American Community Services and Korean American Resource and Cultural Center, was created to empower Korean American and immigrant communities (HANA means “one” in Korean).

According to Futures Without Violence, a survey of immigrant Korean women found that 60 percent had been battered by their husbands. HANA Center’s Family Empowerment Program, funded by Chicago Foundation for Women, provides intensive crisis intervention, counseling, peer support and skills-training to immigrant survivors and their children. HANA Center’s approach to these services is rooted in a core commitment to empowering women’s agency, and supporting and valuing community. HANA Center works to meet women where they are at and to empower them to decide what is best for themselves and their families – whatever that looks like for them.

HANA Center provides services attuned to the specific needs of immigrant women and their families – such as language barriers, immigration status and cultural attitudes – which may hinder their ability to seek support. In response to demographic changes in its service area, HANA Center is increasingly working with Latinx women like Ines and their families.

For Ines, this included being connected with pro bono legal help applying for a U-Visa, a visa specifically for victims of crimes – including domestic violence survivors – that provides a path to permanent residence. Thanks to its merger, which brought advocacy and direct service under one roof, HANA Center is able to not only assist with individual cases, but to engage in broader systems-change work. Recently HANA Center was involved in advocating for policies to standardize Illinois U-Visa policies and practices to ensure all survivors, no matter their citizenship status, are supported in reporting crimes to the police and seeking safety.

HANA Center also assisted Ines and her family with emergency financial assistance to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. Once their immediate needs were met, Ines and her children began counseling at HANA Center to address the impact of domestic violence in their lives. Ines credits counseling with giving her the strength and support to feel like she could begin to make decisions for herself and her family.

“When you’re so entrenched in family problems like I was, you can’t see what options and solutions you have,” Ines says, via interpreter. “HANA Center helped me see a light at the end of the tunnel and see solutions to my problems.”

“I felt like I couldn’t distinguish what I had to culturally tolerate versus what I could say no to,” Ines continues. She says HANA Center helped her to “value myself as a woman, and empower myself to utilize the tools and the resources to move ahead in life and see the worth and value in myself.”

HANA Center places an emphasis on diversity and innovation in meeting the needs of the increasingly diverse communities it serves. “It’s not one size fits all,” Janet Martinez, former Program Director for Community Wellness at HANA Center, says. HANA Center takes into account the values of its immigrant clients. For Latinx immigrants, this often includes “familismo,” a strong emphasis on family. HANA Center staff engages in regular cultural competency trainings to ensure staff are equipped to meet the needs of the various communities they serve.

“We have unconditional respect and regard for the decisions our community members make with regard to their relationships and families,” says Janet.

For Ines, that meant deciding to co-parent with her husband after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. Ines continues to receive supportive counseling at HANA Center while navigating treatment and her family life. “I can’t imagine how I would have coped with the different life changes and transitions that I’ve gone through” without the community she has built around HANA Center, Ines says.

“It’s hard to believe that any form of peace could come out of so many difficult experiences,” Ines says. “But, ironically, breast cancer gave me a gift: it showed me where my courage lies.”

It’s been nearly two years since the U.S. Department of State resettled seventeen year old Sorayya and her family in Chicago. Members of an ethnic minority, the family fled violence and persecution in Afghanistan.

Chicago Foundation for Women grantee RefugeeOne, a refugee resettlement agency, was ready and waiting when Sorayya, her mother and three siblings arrived in Chicago. Each year, RefugeeOne helps hundreds of refugees build a new life in Chicago.

After five years living as refugees in Turkey, Sorayya is happy to be settled into her new home and life in Chicago.

“In Turkey you easily can feel this difference: you are not Turkish, you are Afghan. You are always told ‘you are Afghan, you can’t do this, you can’t buy a house,’ because we were refugees,” she says. “In America, people never say ‘you’re a refugee.’”

“America gave us a chance.”

RefugeeOne arranged housing and financial assistance with rent and bills while Sorayya’s mother found a job. A RefugeeOne caseworker helped the family settle into the daily life many of us take for granted, everything from making doctor appointments to enrolling the children in school.

RefugeeOne also helped the family cope with the emotional tolls and stress of resettlement.

With support from Chicago Foundation for Women, the Women’s Health Project at RefugeeOne provides all newly-arrived refugee women with mental and physical health screenings, and offers resources to help manage their health, including medical assistance, therapy and educational workshops.

Reports of anxiety and depression among refugees spiked due to uncertainty around the U.S. refugee program, making access to mental health care more important than ever.

On rainy nights in Chicago, The Night Ministry Youth Engagement team walks through cars on the ‘L’, handing out hygiene kits and talking to those taking shelter on the train for the night.

“I talk to a lot of women. When I go looking, I go looking for mothers, young people with kids,” says Sharday Hamilton, Peer Outreach Professional for The Night Ministry.

At 22 years old, Sharday is close in age to many of the young people served by The Night Ministry.

“They feel more comfortable talking to me,” Sharday says. “I’m able to share my story. I lived at the RAPPP (Response-Ability Pregnant and Parenting Program) program for nine months. A lot of people are afraid of judgement. It’s relatable to me when a youth says they don’t want services, because that’s how I was. But look at me now, now I have housing.”

The Night Ministry provides housing, healthcare and supportive services to adults and youth who struggle with homelessness or housing instability. The Response-Ability Pregnant and Parenting Program (RAPPP), funded by Chicago Foundation for Women, offers pregnant and parenting youth ages 14 through 21 and their children safe and nurturing short-term housing in an environment that fosters stability, responsibility, and independent living skills. RAPPP is the only housing program in Chicago that reserves beds for pregnant or parenting minor-age girls as young as 14 who are also experiencing housing instability.

This year, the Council made grants to Brave Space Alliance, the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, and Transformative Justice Law Project, which provides free and holistic support, advocacy and criminal legal services to poor and street-based transgender people in Illinois.
“Funding those small scrappy organizations that are doing work that may escape the gaze of larger organizations is critical,” Kim adds.

For Kim, one of her proudest memories is a Council conversation that led to the funding of Assata’s Daughters, a collective of young Black women providing year-long education programming through a queer Black feminist lens to young Black girls and Black teens, and Black Youth Project 100, a member-based organization of Black youth activists creating justice and freedom for all Black people.

Although both groups focus specifically on racial justice, they are led by and inclusive of young queer and gender nonconforming people. “The lens they bring to the work and the intersectionality they bring to the work is hugely important for the movement work going on,” says Kim.

In addition to bringing her own community affiliations and values with her to the grantmaking table, the LBTQ Giving Council also created space for new community building. “It’s also about building a network, expanding and building skills and developing some really incredible relationships,” Kim says. “I have friends from this Council who will be my friends even after I step away.”

“Your whole family is locked up when a mother is locked up,” says Lavette Mayes.

Chicago Foundation for Women grantee Chicago Community Bond Fund (CCBF) operates a fund for people charged with crimes in Cook County who cannot afford to pay bail, while advocating for the end of the money bail system. The Fund prioritizes assistance for those most likely to experience trauma while incarcerated, including Black women and mothers.

Lavette had never been to jail before. 46 years old and a mother of two, she found herself in Cook County Jail in 2015 after an altercation with her mother-in-law, the byproduct of an ongoing divorce.

Despite no previous record, Lavette’s bond was set at $250,000. Standing in the courtroom for her pre-trial detention hearing, Lavette describes feeling “like I was in an auction.” With her family unable to afford the $25,000 needed to free her, Lavette remained in Cook County Jail for fourteen months.

During her fourteen month pretrial incarceration, Lavette was forced to spend down her family’s savings on legal fees, attempting to keep her small business afloat and keeping her home. “Jail isn’t free,” Lavette adds. The costs of maintaining life inside and outside of the jail eventually became too much, and Lavette lost her business and her home. Still in the midst of divorce proceedings, Lavette nearly lost custody of her children. The remainder of her savings were used to supplement $5,000 contributed by CCBF to pay her bail, which was eventually reduced to $9,500.

Since December 2015, CCBF has posted more than $900,000 in bond for over 160 people.

With just three full-time staff members and a volunteer network of over 70, Chicago Community Bond Fund is small but mighty. While the revolving bond fund addresses immediate needs, CCBF advocates for an end to a money bail system, “where wealth, not safety, is the primary determinant of whether someone is released while awaiting trial.”

In 2017, efforts by CCBF and the Coalition to End Money Bond resulted in a court order limiting the use of money bond in Cook County and subsequently decreasing the jail’s population by 1,400 people, including an 18% decrease in the number of women incarcerated before trial due to their inability to pay money bond.

The effects of pretrial incarceration continued after Lavette was released. While under electronic monitoring, Lavette wasn’t able to leave the house to work, or even take her children to school.

“The system traumatizes your kids, your family, your community,” she says. Her children became anxious whenever she left the house, worried Lavette wouldn’t return from her court dates. Lavette ultimately accepted a plea deal to avoid the stress on her children and additional costs of an ongoing court case. Now with a felony conviction, Lavette struggled to find a job and is ineligible for public housing – Lavette and her two children make do in a one-bedroom apartment. “I paid my debt, but it continues to haunt me,” Lavette says.

This year, Lavette joined Chicago Community Bond Fund part-time as an Advocate. “I wanted people to see the injustice and how bond reform is important,” she says. “Other women can’t speak out – I can be that voice.”

After consistently hearing from grantees struggling to find board members with a full understanding of the expectations and responsibilities of nonprofit board leadership, Chicago Foundation for Women launched the Board Member Boot Camp program in 2011.

Board Member Boot Camp is a comprehensive, two-and-a-half day training and evening networking event for those interested in nonprofit board service, but with limited or no experience on nonprofit boards. Through the interactive training, participants gain an understanding of board roles and responsibilities, nonprofit financials, and fundraising best practices through workshops, activities and panel discussions with current nonprofit board members.

Nyla Diab had recently joined the board of Esperanza Health Centers when she decided to enroll in Board Member Boot Camp in 2015. She initially joined the board “to contribute and give back in a meaningful way” and to support “work that needs to be done to make sure communities continue to have access to quality affordable healthcare,” Nyla says.

“My career background had always been in nonprofits and so I’ve always been on the other side,” Nyla says. “Getting some of that initial understanding and vocabulary was very helpful. If you’ve not spent any time on a board or close to a board, it may feel a little daunting.”

“Board Member Boot Camp gave me a great deal more confidence, specifically focusing on the fundraising and visibility raising, leveraging your personal and professional network for the mission of the board you serve on.”

Nyla now serves as president of the Esperanza Health Centers board, and is helping guide the organization through a $20 million capital campaign. Board Member Boot Camp left her feeling “more sure footed,“ she says. “I feel better situated to continue in this role after the capital campaign is over.”

In addition to learning about board roles, Board Member Boot Camp engages future board members in conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion in board development.

“One of the goals of Board Member Boot Camp is to increase the number of women, particularly women of color, serving on nonprofit boards,” says Eli Marsh, Philanthropic Education Officer at CFW. “We wanted to be intentional about including a focus on gender and racial equity in our training to explore how board members can really show up for equity, and to give them the tools to implement practices that promote equity at an individual, organizational and structural level.”

The Board Member Boot Camp curriculum includes conversations about promoting equity in the boardroom and evaluating equity in hiring practices, investment policy, board recruitment and donor engagement.

Women and people of color are especially encouraged to participate in Board Member Boot Camp, in order to build a pipeline and grow the pool of potential and future board members. During Board Member Boot Camp, participants meet with local organizations to explore ways to begin their nonprofit board service.

Malik Gillani, Executive Director of CFW grantee Silk Road Rising, credits the Board Member Boot Camp Networking Night with connecting his organization to two new female board members. “We met with several candidates that were exciting to us and were a good fit with our organizational needs and values,” Malik says. “There is no way we’d have met these two amazing people outside of the networking event.”

Since 2011, Board Member Boot Camp has graduated 297 members. Approximately one in three graduates have joined a Board of Directors or taken steps to join a board. An additional nine percent have joined an associate or advisory board – a first step to eventually joining a board of directors.