We Create Lasting Impact

Our leaders tackle issues that seem insurmountable— affordable housing, health equity, public safety and neighborhood disinvestment—all in an effort to create positive change. Explore ways Fellows lead and collaborate to make a difference.

Challenges Across Our Region

Through the power of collective activation, our Fellows build solutions that promote health, education, economic opportunities, safety, equity and more in Chicago’s 77 community areas and beyond. We activate transformational leadership growth and lifelong civic engagement through exposing leaders to the critical challenges and opportunities facing the region and connecting them to a dedicated network of cross-sector change agents. In this moment, courageous and committed civic leaders are urgently needed to address pressing socioeconomic issues, including:

Access to Education and Workforce Opportunities

Equitable pathways to education and career opportunities help address racial and ethnic wealth gaps and improve quality of life.

EXAMPLE

White workers with only a high school diploma in Chicago earn, on average, the same as Black workers with an associate degree.

Challenges Across Our Region

Through the power of collective activation, our Fellows build solutions that promote health, education, economic opportunities, safety, equity and more in Chicago’s 77 community areas and beyond. We active transformational leadership growth and lifelong civic engagement through exposing leaders to the critical challenges and opportunities facing the region and connecting them to a dedicated network of cross-sector change agents. In this moment, courageous and committed civic leaders are urgently needed to address pressing socioeconomic issues, including:

Gaps in Health Outcomes

Factors like limited access to quality healthcare, jobs and housing, as well as higher rates of chronic diseases and greater exposure to environmental hazards drive significant health disparities across the region.

EXAMPLE

West Garfield Park residents have a life expectancy of approximately 69 years, while those in the Loop live to an average age of 85 years.

Challenges Across Our Region

Through the power of collective activation, our Fellows build solutions that promote health, education, economic opportunities, safety, equity and more in Chicago’s 77 community areas and beyond. We active transformational leadership growth and lifelong civic engagement through exposing leaders to the critical challenges and opportunities facing the region and connecting them to a dedicated network of cross-sector change agents. In this moment, courageous and committed civic leaders are urgently needed to address pressing socioeconomic issues, including:

Neighborhood Disinvestment

Historically, many neighborhoods in the South and West Sides of Chicago, as well as the South Suburbs, have faced chronic disinvestment, exacerbating all challenges facing these communities.

EXAMPLE

Chicago lost nearly 12,000 housing units in two- to four-flats between 2013 and 2019—most from the South and West Sides.

 

Challenges Across Our Region

Through the power of collective activation, our Fellows build solutions that promote health, education, economic opportunities, safety, equity and more in Chicago’s 77 community areas and beyond. We active transformational leadership growth and lifelong civic engagement through exposing leaders to the critical challenges and opportunities facing the region and connecting them to a dedicated network of cross-sector change agents. In this moment, courageous and committed civic leaders are urgently needed to address pressing socioeconomic issues, including:

Community Safety

Reducing gun violence in the most vulnerable communities remains a top concern for residents of the Chicago region. 

EXAMPLE

After a two-year spike during the pandemic, Chicago began to see a decline in homicides in 2022. 2024 was the third consecutive year of decreasing homicides, yet neighborhoods on the South and West Sides are still disproportionately impacted.

Our Network’s Impact

Xchange Chicago: South Side’s New $20M Tech Hub

Xchange Chicago is a first-of-its-kind tech workforce center in Greater Grand Crossing, designed to create pathways into the tech industry. Led by SDI Presence, P33, and the Comer Science and Education Foundation, the 28,000-square-foot facility will offer apprenticeships, training, and full-time roles for local residents.

With SDI Presence as the anchor tenant, apprentices will receive hands-on training and guaranteed job placements with SDI or its corporate partners like Peoples Gas and Northern Trust. The initiative aims to keep tech talent in Chicago, ensuring that corporate IT dollars stay local rather than going offshore.

Through partnerships with City Colleges of Chicago and Catalyte, Xchange Chicago will provide six- to eight-week training programs, tailored to employer needs. Wraparound support services will help apprentices successfully transition into tech careers.

Multiple LGC Fellows played a major role in bringing this initiative to life, leveraging their expertise and networks to help ensure that Xchange Chicago will provide new jobs and economic mobility to a historically overlooked community while reshaping the face of Chicago’s tech sector.

Contributing Fellows include:

  • Greg Mooney – President and Executive Director, Comer Science and Education Foundation (LGC Fellow since 2008)
  • Hardik Bhatt – President, SDI Presence (Daniel Burnham Fellow)
  • Brad Henderson – CEO, P33 (LGC Fellow since 2012 and Daniel Burnham Fellow)
  • Andrea Sáenz – President and CEO, The Chicago Community Trust (LGC Fellow since 2009 and Daniel Burnham Fellow)
Our Network’s Impact

A New Era of Wellness in West Garfield Park

The Sankofa Wellness Village in West Garfield Park has been awarded the $10M Chicago Prize to help close the neighborhood’s life expectancy gap and drive economic investment. Led by the Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative, this transformative project will develop five sites, creating a walkable hub featuring a wellness center, clinic, arts space, and grocery stores. A group of LGC Fellows played a key role in shaping this initiative, leveraging their expertise and networks to support its development. With a focus on behavioral health, maternal care, and child services, leaders aim to improve community health in the next five years while attracting additional investment to revitalize the area.

Contributing Fellows include:

  • Ayesha Jaco – West Side United Executive Director (LGC Fellow since 2021)
  • Cindy Moelis – Pritzker Traubert Foundation President (Daniel Burnham Fellow)
  • Dr. Lee Francis – Erie Family Health Centers President & CEO (LGC Fellow since 2000)
  • Swathi Staley – Former YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago Chief Community Investment Officer & General Counsel, (LGC Fellow since 2023)
  • Kemena Brooks – The Community Builders, Inc. (TCB) Vice President of Real Estate Development (LGC Fellow since 2025)
Our Network’s Impact

LGC Leaders Driving Lasting Impact on the South Side

The revitalization of Pullman is a testament to the power of cross-sector collaboration, driven in part by Leadership Greater Chicago (LGC) Fellows. Once a neighborhood struggling with disinvestment, Pullman has seen $450 million in public and private investments, bringing major employers like Amazon and Blue Cross Blue Shield, creating over 2,000 new jobs, and improving community safety.

LGC Fellows have played a pivotal role in this transformation. Projects like Pullman Gateway, a new commercial hub featuring major retailers and a green manufacturing hub with Method Products and Gotham Greens showcase the neighborhood’s resurgence.

LGC’s network of bold changemakers continues to shape Chicago’s future, bringing investment, development, and opportunity to communities that need it most.

Contributing Fellows include:

  • David Doig – President, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives (LGC Fellow since 1994)
  • MarySue Barrett – Former President, Metropolitan Planning Council (LGC Fellow since 1994)
  • Richard Townsell – Executive Director, Lawndale Christian Development Corporation (LGC Fellow since 1999)
  • Lyneir Richardson – Executive Director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED) (LGC Fellow since 1998)
  • Paula Robinson – Bronzeville Community Development Partnership President, (LGC Fellow since 1992)
  • Ciere Boatright – Commissioner, Chicago Department of Planning and Development (LGC Fellow since 2020)
Our Network’s Impact

LGC Fellows in the Center of Chicago’s Violence Reduction Initiative

Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago (SC2) is a groundbreaking effort to scale up CVI (community violence intervention) programs and curb gun violence. The initiative aims to serve 75% of those most at risk of violence in the next ten years with visions of decreasing shootings and homicides by 50% in five years and 75% in ten years.

Together, their efforts have enabled $66 million in new dollars to support programs and leverage unprecedented collaboration across sectors. SC2 is already being implemented in seven neighborhoods and will expand citywide. Under the leadership of LGC Fellows, Chicago is now a national model for community-driven violence prevention.

Contributing Fellows include:

  • Vaughn Bryant – Executive Director, Metropolitan Peace Initiative (MPI) (LGC Fellow since 2016)
  • Arne Duncan – Founder of Chicago CRED (LGC Fellow since 1995)
  • Esther Franco-Payne – Executive Director, Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC) (LGC Fellow since 2015)
  • Derek Douglas – Public Safety Task Force, Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago (LGC Fellow since 2013)
  • Eric Smith – Public Safety Task Force, Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago (Daniel Burnham Fellow)

Our Library

Our LGC Fellows are making an impact in the Greater Chicago region and beyond. Explore books written by our Fellows, along with TED Talks, podcasts and other channels where these dedicated leaders share their insights and experiences. These resources are designed to spark your continued civic leadership journey and inspire civic engagement.

WATCH

Poverty is a Superpower
Dominique Jordan Turner (LGC Fellow since 2016) challenges you to rethink traditional rubrics for assessing leadership and success.

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READ

Becoming
In her memoir, Michelle Obama (LGC Fellow since 1993) chronicles the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.

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LISTEN

Money, Meet Meaning
Host Tom Levinson (LGC Fellow since 2009) and guest Eboo Patel (LGC Fellow since 2004) explore the intersection of religion and spirituality with personal finance.

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From Fellows and Partners
I knew that being part of a diverse group of leaders exploring the challenges and opportunities of our great city including public safety, healthcare, housing and workforce, would be a gift. Mandee Polonsky (LGC Fellow since 2022)
Mandee Polonsky (LGC Fellow since 2022)
One of the things that you get most excited about is the opportunity to engage beyond our corporate clients, engage civically in social impact work. And our relationship with Leadership Greater Chicago is a fantastic vehicle that allows us to do that.Brad Martens – BCG
Brad Martens - BCG
This has been a transformative experience with such an extraordinary class of Fellows, and I look forward to continuing our impact and to #leadgreat together.Kim Tran (LGC Fellow since 2022)
Kim Tran (LGC Fellow since 2022)