CHICAGO AFRICAN AMERICANS IN PHILANTHROPY 'CONNECTING PHILANTHROPY AND COMMUNITY' EVENT

Ariana Portalatin

Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy (CAAIP) recently held its annual “Connecting Philanthropy and Community” event honoring two local leaders for their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the philanthropic sector and black community.

CAAIP advocates for investment in communities of color and provides training for leaders in the social sector. The theme of this year’s event, streamed Feb. 26 on YouTube, was “Leading Through Adversity.” Honorees were Corliss Garner, senior vice president and head of corporate social responsibility and diversity & inclusion at First Midwest Bank, and Jonathan Peck, founder and CEO of the CivicLab. CivicLab is a nonprofit organization devoted to increasing democracy and civic engagement.

The keynote speaker was Nikole Hannah-Jones, a New York Times Magazine reporter who recently received a Pulitzer Prize for her work on The 1619 Project, a 2019 multimedia project that retells the development of the U.S. through the lens of slavery on its 400th anniversary and discusses the contributions of Black Americans.

The event opened with a performance by local musician Sam Trump and was followed by remarks from ABC 7 News reporter Evelyn Holmes, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot.

Hannah Nikole-Jones

(James Estrin photo).

“Our theme, ‘Leading Through Adversity,' is an opportunity and a challenge for you to reflect, to define and redefine how to lead, when to press, when to stand, where to lead, and to elevate your voice and invest resources to eradicate injustices and racial inequities,” event chair Claudette Baker said. “And while you are leading, please support, nurture and share space with new and rising leaders.”

Holmes celebrated Garner’s accomplishments during her professional career before presenting her with the Champion of Diversity Award. Garner successfully implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at First Midwest Bank and BMO Harris Bank and works to serve her community through multiple avenues, including volunteer, and life trustee of the advisory board of The African American Legacy at The Chicago Community Trust. She created the Murry L. Garner Scholarship Fund in support of African-American girls from Chicago’s West Side.

Screen captures from the Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy (CAAIP) "Connecting Philanthropy and Community" event. Corliss Garner, senior vice president and head of corporate social responsibility and diversity & inclusion at First Midwest Bank, accepting an award.

images provided by Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy

In her acceptance speech, Garner reflected on the events of last year and described the steps she took to lead through the adversity, including sending an email to her team during

the protests over George Floyd’s death to initiate a conversation about the events.

“I started 2020 with these amazingly wellthought-out plans and I got to about 40 percent of them,” Garner said. “While COVID-19 and racial tensions shifted everything for the strategy I was building, in many ways, it accelerated the urgency for this work and forced those who weren’t paying attention before to begin doing so now.”

Holmes said during the events that the Champion of Social Justice Award “highlights a special commitment to racial-ethnic equity and improved outcomes for the African-American community by a nonprofit professional.” Peck has worked to advance social justice in more than 15 countries, advocated for Black youth and families through various campaigns, and has participated in multiple organizations, including the Tucson Urban League, the Southwest Youth Collaborative, and the Community Relations Working Group of the Police Accountability Task Force of the City of Chicago.

Screen captures from the Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy (CAAIP) "Connecting Philanthropy and Community" event. CAAIP director Jessyca Duley

images provided by Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy

“We are in the eye of the storm and I know that it requires such a level of passion and attention that at times is exhausting but all the time is so fulfilling and purposeful,” Peck said. “What I offer is the opportunity to be who I am because you are, the notion that our shared humanity is permanently interwoven and we can lead together with our collective shared spirit of ubuntu in these challenging times and be in right relationship with each other and with the environment that we are in.”

Following the award presentations, Hannah-Jones discussed The 1619 Project with Kayce Ataiyero, managing editor of communications at The Joyce Foundation.

“Long before The 1619 Project, Nikole was fiercely focused on telling our stories. The battles she fought before and those she fights today in defense of her work hold important lessons in leading through adversity,” Ataiyero said.

Hannah-Jones said she has been thinking about the significance of the year 1619 (the year the first enslaved Africans arrived in British North America) since high school and she wanted to educate people on the history of Black Americans. She experienced pushback early on in her career to tell these stories by editors who she said felt that she was too focused on race in her work. It was not until she began working at Proby

Publica in 2011 that she was able to write about what she wanted. Editors at The New York Times Magazine loved her idea for The 1619 Project when she pitched it and supported her throughout its development.

Screen captures from the Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy (CAAIP) "Connecting Philanthropy and Community" event. Jonathan Peck, founder and CEO of Civic Lab, accepts an award

images provided by Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy

Hannah-Jones said she was surprised by the response to the project after its publication, both its support nationwide and the amount of backlash. One of the criticisms came from statements made in The 1619 Project that a main reason for the Revolutionary War was the preservation of slavery. Former President Donald Trump opposed The 1619 Project and Iowa lawmakers recently introduced a bill that would ban public schools in the state from using the project to teach students about slavery.

“It’s both a blessing and a curse,” she said. “The dream is to produce something that in this society, where our attention spans are this long and every day we’re inundated with thousands of stories and words and images, that you can create something that people are still talking and arguing about and affected by a year and a half later, but a year and a half later that bills are being introduced against your work of journalism in schools, it’s unsettling.”

According to Hannah-Jones, the U.S. cannot address racial injustice until the public reaches a common understanding of the country’s history.

“We can’t understand the country we live in based on the history we’ve been taught. The history we’ve been taught is the history of a different country,” Hannah-Jones said. “The glorified narrative of exceptionality does not get us to this America. We have to have a true understanding of that which this country was built upon if we want to become the America that we believe that we are. My project is just playing a role in that education.”

Hannah Nikole-Jones in conversation with Kayce Ataiyero

images provided by Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy

Ariana Portalatin is a multimedia journalist from Chicago. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2019 and enjoys writing about history, culture, social issues, and people.