The Civic Pulse - Summer Issue
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Hi Neighbor,

One of the things I love most about our Chicago Cares community is the way you show up—for your neighbors, your communities, and the city we all call home.

As we head toward fall and the upcoming election cycle, I hope you’ll take a moment to check your voter registration and make sure your voice is ready to be heard. Check your voter registration here.

And, as always, there are so many ways to show up for Chicago. Find your next volunteer opportunity with Chicago Cares, and join us in building a stronger, more unified Chicago.

Rosie Drumgoole, CEO

Chicago Cares

35th Birthday Party & Milestone Reflections

We had a blast at our 35th Birthday Party on Saturday, July 18, at Ogden "Williams" Park. Thanks to all who attended and supported. It was a joyful gathering on a beautiful day that included a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the stunning Mosaic Mural with our community partners, Green Star Movement and Ogden Park/Chicago Park District. The Mural represents the past, present, and future of Englewood, and was assembled by Englewood community members and individuals across our city. Attendees also enjoyed delicious food, the iconic Rainbow Cone, a bounce house, and participated in an onsite service project.

Two days prior, Chicago Cares CEO Rosie Drumgoole was featured on WGN's Spotlight Chicago program with hosts Sarah Jindra and Ji Suk Yi. Rosie shared how Chicago Cares advances civic action and civic love through volunteer service with partners and volunteers working primarily on Chicago's South and West Sides. She also gave viewers a sneak peek into the scheduled birthday party festivities. Take a watch and listen here.

In July, we launched Chicago Cares' 35 for 35 Campaign, spotlighting at least 35 stories over 35 years from the Chicago Cares community of volunteers, community and corporate partners, donors, organizational funders, interns, staff, and board. Enjoy four video reflections above featuring Rosie, Stacy, Hina, and Lynette on what civic love, civic action, and community-building mean to them, and what their anniversary wishes are for Chicago Cares. Share your written or video reflection for inclusion in our 35 for 35 Campaign here.

Cheers to Our Volunteers: It’s that time of year! As we go into our "Cheers" season, we want to nominate and honor our volunteers and their contributions to creating a more vibrant and equitable Chicago, alongside Chicago Cares! We have two categories for public nomination: 1) Volunteer of the Year Award- specific to Chicago Cares leaders who have shown commitment to community. Parameters of winning this award include being a consistent volunteer and volunteering multiple times. 2) The Volunteer Leader of the Year Award- specific to Chicago Cares leaders who have shown commitment to community. Parameters of winning this award include completion of Chicago Cares' volunteer leader onboarding requirements and volunteering multiple times in one neighborhood or for one specific impact area as a Chicago Cares volunteer leader. Submit your nominations here, and see you in November!

Special Merch: To celebrate our anniversary, we're selling special Chicago Cares merchandise and hosting events all year long. We've spent over three decades investing in the transformative power of service, and we can’t wait to see what we accomplish together in the next 35 years. Visit our store, and get your swag on here .

Meet Macklin, Our New Teammate!

We recently welcomed Macklin Luke (she/they) as Coordinator of Volunteer Programs at Chicago Cares. In this role, they will work with community partners to connect volunteers to already existing projects and local events, ensuring project completion and managing volunteer engagement. Along with their teammates, Macklin will assess data and create comprehensive documentation to ensure quality and efficiency during every step of the process. Prior to Chicago Cares, Macklin served as Civic Engagement Team Leader at City Year Chicago. We're happy to have you with us, Macklin!

Intern Spotlight on Brooke & Isabel

Thank you, Brooke and Isabel!: The Chicago Cares team had these two talented interns with us this summer. Check out the cool things they worked on and their valuable contributions to our organization, community partners, and funders.

Brooke Jenkins (left photo), an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, interned with Chicago Cares' Advancement Team. She supported an Individual Giving portfolio that culminated in her Capstone Project of creating a relationship map of more than 150 individuals that organized donors, board members, staff, foundations, and nonprofits into a single network. By mapping LinkedIn relationships and color-coding connection ownership, she helped multiple Chicago Cares teams identify opportunities for new relationships, connections, and strategic donor engagement that go far beyond a traditional spreadsheet- not to mention it’s way prettier!

Isabel Ramirez (right photo), an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, interned with Chicago Cares' Capacity Building and Advisory Services team (CBAS). Her work also culminated in her Capstone Project- developing evaluative measures for training outcomes and development. She created standard operating procedures for organizational use, focused on sustainable methods for data collection and evaluation of stakeholder engagement, and managed the data and evaluation storage process, particularly for storytelling in fundraising. Isabel also developed and maintained branding for capacity building engagements.

Thank you, Brooke and Isabel, for your outstanding work! We thoroughly enjoyed having you on the team, and we warmly welcome you to Chicago Cares' unofficial Alumni Club. We wish you a fruitful academic year and are rooting for you all of the way!

Volunteer Spotlight on Jackson

This issue's volunteer spotlight is on the incredible Jackson Noland, a committed Chicago Cares volunteer who consistently signs up and shows up for weekend service projects. And we know how precious weekends are! We greatly appreciate his dedication and joyful engagement. Further, we're delighted to share that Jackson recently achieved his goal of becoming a Volunteer Leader with Chicago Cares. To top it off, he is currently working with his employer, White Lodging, to co-design a Corporate Volunteer Partnership with one of our community partners. Thank, you, Jackson, for your steadfast efforts as a volunteer extraordinaire!

Community Partner Spotlight on Experimental Station & Kingdom Avenue, Inc.

Shout out to our community partners, Experimental Station and Kingdom Avenue, Inc. Many thanks to Experimental Station in Chicago's Woodlawn community for featuring us in their lovely newsletter for the 61st Street Farmers' Market and for their partnership over the past few years in increasing volunteer engagement. Kudos also to Kingdom Avenue, Inc. on a successful Stomp the Yard event in July in Englewood, where we distributed 1,000 backpacks with school supplies for kids going back to school that were packed by volunteers from our corporate partner, Kintra Wealth. Many thanks to all of you for making this happen. We couldn't have done it without you.

Programs Scoop

The Chicago Cares Team was booked and busy this summer with volunteer service projects, professional development trainings, and community conversations. See below for a few highlights.

•Advancing Civic Action Through Youth Development: Prime Finance, Palenque LSNA, and Chicago Cares designed this mock interview engagement advancing deeper civic action and youth development. Through these interviews, asking thoughtful questions, and providing constructive feedback to youth as they prepare for internships, jobs, and higher education, volunteers learned more about how local community leaders on the Northwest Side are empowering youth to successfully transfer from high school into higher education and the working world. Volunteers for this project also contributed to the youth’s individualized personal and professional development goals.

• Connecting People & Ideas Across Neighborhoods: On Thursday, July 9, Chicago Cares launched the pilot of our Neighborhood Exchange Meal Series, which aims to foster conversation and connection among community and corporate partners, funders, and volunteers over a shared meal in Chicago's neighborhood communities. We were delighted to co-host this first conversation, "Development without Displacement," with Northwest Side Community Development Corporation at Baha Restaurant, a small family-owned business in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood. The topic generated candid conversation among table mates. Participants made wonderful connections and enjoyed delicious food and live music! Enjoy the short video reflections above from Jason, Patricia, and Kristen from the Northwest Side CDC team.

• Harnessing the Power of Volunteers: Chicago Cares' Capacity Building & Advisory Services Team (CBAS) facilitated a Volunteer Engagement Workshop at the end of July. This collaborative workshop was designed to challenge and strengthen participants' approaches to volunteer engagement. Drawing from activities featured in our Volunteer Management Training Series (VMTS), we explored a values-driven perspective on volunteerism and unpacked Chicago Cares' model for meaningful, community-centered engagement. Together, we examined what effective volunteer engagement looks like in practice and identified opportunities to better align participants' volunteer strategy with their organization's mission and goals. Through guided discussion and peer collaboration, participants developed a baseline action plan tailored to their organization's unique context.

• Deepening Empathy & Understanding Through Service: Last month, we partnered with Chicago Emerging Stars on their Back-to-School Bash in East Chatham on Chicago's South Side. This was a youth-led community impact event that brought together 5,000+ youth and families for a powerful day of educational readiness, workforce development, wellness resources, family support, and community connection. This project was designed to invite volunteers to learn about community needs in East Chatham, reflect on the impact of their service, and discover new ways to increase and diversify their engagement.

Get Connected

Get Connected: In partnership with our lead agencies, Chicago Cares has brought volunteers from across Chicago together to educate one another about the assets, challenges, and opportunities in each neighborhood, encouraging volunteers to stay involved to truly build a more vibrant and equitable Chicago. Our lead agencies are key organizations in each community that assist us in identifying and building volunteer projects that accelerate the implementation of the community’s Quality of Life Plan, a roadmap highlighting priorities ranging from better education, housing, broader job choices, safer streets, new economic opportunities, and stronger personal finances.

We encourage you to stay connected with these organizations after your day's service. For more information about each lead agency and their plan for community investment, visit here.