Advancing Racial Equity In the Field of Philanthropy, Non-Profit, and Fundraising
2019 Breakin' It Down Conference - October 11 , 2019
THEME
2019 BID THEME - Fulling The Promise: At the center of nonprofit fund development and management is fulfilling the promise - of the organization, its mission and vision, its community, and its donors and funders. Are nonprofit organizations able to live up to their potential given the systemic barriers at play, predominately in communities of color that have dealt with historic structural racism?
At 2019 BID, we’re exploring the ways nonprofit professionals and philanthropists are realizing their promises given historic and systemic barriers. Inspired by a Racial Equity framework and commitment to healing practices, 2019 BID seeks to engage the nonprofit fundraising professional's and philanthropy leader's relentless pursuit of equity and healing to overcome historic barriers and fulfill its promise. We aspire to spark conversation on how to respond to the state of our society and shape it moving forward through a racial equity framework and lens of the practice of healing as we explore donor-donee and funder-grantee relationships, diversity, racial equity and inclusion in the nonprofit sector, and the role of philanthropy and more.
At 2019 BID, we seize the moment to look backward and forward, to examine how diverse professionals have progressed and what we must do to be a society that is inclusive, equitable, and capable of sustaining its forward momentum. At 2019 BID, we will explore how our analysis and engagement can help transform systems, attitudes, and outcomes, and increase impact on society.
*Please note that agenda and speakers are subject to change.
WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT BID
"Learned some new things and met some great people at Breakin' It Down Chicago. I look forward to implementing strategies in Doris & Clara Community Initiative and staying connected with the people I met.
Thankful for opportunity."
- Cheronda Everett
2019 BID Scholarship Recipient
PLENARY PANEL SPEAKERS
Felicia S. Davis
President and CEO
Chicago Foundation for Women
Felicia S. Davis, President and CEO of is a self-described “girl from the South Side of Chicago.” Davis has spent the bulk of her professional career in public service. Most recently, Davis served as the interim president of Olive-Harvey College, one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). She was named to this post by CCC Chancellor Juan Salgado in May 2017. As interim president, her primary responsibility was to provide vision for the College and continuous leadership and direction for the planning and operation of all aspects of the College's programs and services in conformity with CCC Board policies, Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) and Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) rules and regulations, and State law. She was also responsible for developing, maintaining and evaluating the academic programs and student services of the College and creating a climate which enhances student learning, stimulates creative approaches to teaching and learning and motivates both staff and students to optimum achievement.
Prior to joining City Colleges, Davis held several executive positions in city government. She served as Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first deputy chief of staff, the first executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement, and as commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Buildings. She also led the Public Building Commission (PBC) as its executive director. As a public developer, the PBC plans, designs and builds schools, parks, libraries and municipal buildings that help to make the communities of Chicago and Cook County better and safer places to live. Under Davis’s leadership, the PBC developed more than
$200 million worth of public projects. With Davis at the helm, the PBC’s annual Minority Business Enterprise and Women Business Enterprise participation rate was nearly forty percent.
Davis spent ten years in administration at Kendall College, rising to vice president of operations and student administration. Davis began her public sector career with the Chicago Police Department (CPD), where Davis served with distinction for ten years. Davis is a native Chicagoan and life-long resident of the city’s South Side, where she resides with her family. This dynamic leader and mother of five is deeply committed to community. She s proud to serve on the Advisory Board for the Willie’s Warriors Leadership Initiative and is a founding member of the South Side Giving Circle at Chicago Foundation for Women.
Antonio Martinez, Jr.
President and CEO
Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation
Antonio Martinez, Jr. is President and CEO of the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation. As
president and CEO, Martinez leads and directs the advancement and fulfillment of the mission of the
Community Foundation. He is responsible for the achievement of the operational and strategic goals,
including fund and donor development, fiscal management, grants and programming, board relations,
staff oversight, community relations and management.
Before joining the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, Martinez served as director of
development for The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago’s community foundation, where he was
instrumental in increasing the organizations assets by $1.6 billion.
Martinez also worked for the American Bar Association, Museum of Science and Industry and the
Chicago Cubs. Martinez serves on the board of the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement, The
Resurrection Project and Future Leaders of Chicago. Martinez is founder and chair of LEARN West
Rogers Park, a collaboration of nonprofits, community leaders, and business leaders focused on building
solutions to address the needs of Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood.
A graduate of Columbia College, Martinez holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing Communications. He
has served on the Bateman Elementary Local School Council in Chicago and has volunteered on
aldermanic and congressional campaigns. Martinez is a 2017 Edgar Fellow, 2014 Leadership Greater
Chicago Fellow, a 2012 Fellow of Great Cities Institute at University of Illinois Chicago, and a 2008
graduate of Metropolitan Leadership Institute. In 2017, Martinez received recognition for his work in
nonprofits by Negocios Now in their annual Who’s Who in Chicago Hispanic Power magazine edition.
WORKSHOP PRESENTERS
Joan Flanagan
Professional Fundraiser, Consultant, Speaker, and Author
Nationally-recognized fundraising expert Joan Flanagan is the author of three bestselling "how-to" books, including international best-sellers The Grass Roots Fundraising Book: Raising Money in Your Own Community and The Successful Volunteer Organization. As a professional, she has raised money as the director of development for the Interfaith Worker Justice's national office in Chicago while she served as consultant to its sixty-five local worker rights chapters nationwide. As a trainer, she has led fundraising workshops in forty-seven states, six Canadian provinces, and seven formerly Communist countries. Flanagan worked for two grant-making foundations in Chicago and Washington, D.C. that have made more than $300 million in grants.
Currently, Flanagan serves as the fundraising advisor for ECON, the European Community Organizing Network, serving leaders and staff from nine formerly communist countries to establish a fundraising mentoring program. She volunteers for her church, where she is leading a $60,000 campaign to create a columbarium, and Journey Care Hospice and Palliative Care.
Tuyet M. Le
Independent Consultant
Tuyet M. Le is an independent consultant for nonprofits and government. Previously, Le served as
executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago (Advancing Justice | Chicago) for
nearly 19 years. Established in 1992, Advancing Justice | Chicago is a pan-Asian, not-for-profit
organization that builds power through collective advocacy and organizing to achieve racial equity.
During her tenure, Le grew the organization from one staff to fourteen full-time staff. Advancing Justice |
Chicago’s programs included civic engagement, community organizing, leadership development and
legal advocacy. Her current board service includes Access Living, and One People’s Campaign. She has
been a panelist, keynote, and rally speaker on a wide range of issues including immigration, disability
rights, census, redistricting, and political empowerment.
Le is a polio survivor and came to the United States as a refugee at the age of three from Vietnam.
Some of her previous board service includes the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights,
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Disabilities Fund, and the Leadership Fellows Association for
Leadership Greater Chicago. She was also a 2013 Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow, and a 2004
Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow.
Caronina Grimble
Program Officer
Woods Fund Chicago
Caronina has been a Program Officer at Woods Fund Chicago since 2013.
As Program Officer, she shares responsibility for reviewing grant proposals, making informed funding recommendations to Woods Fund’s Board of Directors, monitoring relationships with organizations that Woods Fund supports, and identifying service gaps and areas appropriate for Woods Fund’s support. Caronina works to leverage the impact of Woods Fund’s grantmaking into increased interest and engagement from other foundations. In addition to supporting Woods Fund’s grantmaking, Caronina also leads the foundation’s racial equity work.
Before joining Woods Fund Chicago, Caronina served as Acting Associate Director of the Division of Family and Community Services at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), managing a group of human services programs that provided homeless services, emergency food services, immigrant and refugee services, domestic violence services, and managed a federal block grant that funded an array of community services programs. Prior to that, she served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary at IDHS, where she was responsible for the planning and execution of executive level tasks, special statewide projects, multi-agency projects, and other initiatives.
Prior to that, Caronina worked as a therapist and case manager at Wheaton Youth Outreach, a multi-purpose community resource center, where she provided mental health services for individuals and families, emergency crisis intervention for locked-out and runaway youth and their families, and an array of services to homeless and at-risk youth, as well as pregnant and parenting teenage girls.
Pedro A. Serrano, MPH
Project Director
Hektoen Institute LLC
Pedro A. Serrano, MPH, is Project Direct for the Hektoen Institute LLC. He is a public health researcher with experience directing epidemiological, behavioral and clinical trials. In particular, his research has utilized mobile and web health strategies to improve HIV prevention efforts among gender and sexual diverse adolescent and young adult populations. He has worked on protocols of the Adolescent Trials Network, HIV Prevention Trials Network, Microbicide Trials Network and is currently directing a limited interaction targeted epidemiology study named “#keepingitLITE: Exploring HIV Risk in Vulnerable Youth with Limited Interaction." #keepingitLITE is a cohort study designed to describe and characterize multi-level socioecological factors that impact attitudes toward sex, sexual behaviors and ongoing HIV/STI infection trends across the United States.
Serrano’s experience is how to employ social media to engage youth in public health campaigns, specifically young queer youth of color. He has learned how organizations can effectively employ social media to have authentic engagement with youth. These lessons can be applied to building young professional board, crowd rising for small campaigns, and building support for advocacy.
Linda X. Tortolero
President and CEO
Mujeres Latinas en Acción
As of September 2017, Linda X. Tortolero assumed the position of President and CEO of Mujeres Latinas en Acción. She is a highly regarded development and communications professional, having served most recently as the director of development at the Association House of Chicago. In her role, she was responsible of managing Association House’s daily operations for all fundraising and marketing activities. She built strategic relationships with stakeholders and created and executed the annual development plan in order to support the organization’s mission. Previously, Linda served as the special projects director at the National Museum of Mexican Art and as the development manager at Mujeres. In addition to having more than a decade of fundraising experience, Tortolero brings a legal and policy background to her new role. In 2012, Tortolero was a Proteus Fund Diversity Fellow at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation — a one-year fellowship designed to provide individuals of color with a comprehensive understanding of the philanthropic sector. Tortolero has a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Political Science and History of Modern Latin America and a Juris Doctor from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
The Denise Stennis Awards.
The Denise Stennis Awards pays tribute to the memory of Denise Stennis, a community leader, mentor, friend and a founding member of the Breakin' It Down conference. Well- known and regarded in the metropolitan Chicago nonprofit community, Denise served a number of social benefit, educational and cultural organizations. She directly influenced countless nonprofit decision-makers, fundraising volunteers, and the work as well as careers of many Chicago area development professionals. Denise wrote: “I use the word serve as a description of my responsibilities to the nonprofit community. I do not take that responsibility lightly. My love and faith in mankind is a driving force in my commitment to the profession and to those non-profits I have been fortunate to work with.”
2019 Awards Committee
Chair
Rose Olea
Deborah Clark
Tekla Syers
INAUGURAL DENISE STENNIS AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
The 2019 Breakin' It Down's Planning Committee is pleased to announce that the inaugural Individual award in memory of Denise Stennis was presented to Sharon Bush, Executive Director, of the Grand Victoria Foundation.
The selection of Sharon rewards her tireless commitment to empowering communities in Illinois to thrive.
"Throughout her tenure, she has always focused on philanthropic solutions that are responsive and equitable in communities of color. Her experience in business commerce has also informed how workforce development and economic opportunities increase community viability for the persons who live there. Sharon is a natural collaborator and has used her voice at the table of influentials to effect system change in workforce development and environmental issues."
"She is a clear bridge builder and always finds a way to create connection and community with all whom she encounters."
"She is also aware of the organic nature of the environments in which she operates and allows them to inform her strategy and approach."
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The 2019 Breakin' It Down's Planning Committee is pleased to announce that the inaugural Organization award in memory of Denise Stennis was presented to Erie Neighborhood House.
The selection of Erie House is for "their monumental legacy in lifting up disadvantaged immigrant communities and empowering them through education, training, advocacy, and support. Transformative work like that of Erie Neighborhood House is what creates a just, more inclusive society. We cannot think of a better way to celebrate their strength and resilience that has brought positive change to Chicago over the last 150 years ..."
"Erie House has proven their collaborative spirit through sharing best practices and screening tools ... . This is a testament to their continuing efforts to collaborate with sister organizations, stay action-oriented and create powerful communities."
"Erie Neighborhood House collaborates with the community they serve to enable participants to engage in advocacy issues which are important to them and their community. Through their extensive education, mental health, and other supportive programming, Erie Neighborhood House is creating leaders within disadvantaged communities, and in doing so, creating equity in a more inclusive Chicago. Erie Neighborhood House is an example we should all live by."
Partners
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