By: Andrea Mac | October 18, 2023

In lieu of the “If you can only take me in small doses section”, this: 

As a mother, wife, friend, and citizen, I'm deeply moved by what is happening in Israel and Palestine. In reverence for the state of the world, we’re in and lives being lost to brutal, inexcusable violence, here are a few ways we can help from our safe little corners: 

Magen David Adom is Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, and blood bank service — the equivalent of a Red Cross. It says donations will be used to make sure responders and volunteers have all the training, equipment, and medical supplies (including blood) to treat injured people. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Bloomberg Philanthropies will match all donations to Magen David Adom. Make a matching donation here. 

IsraAID is the largest humanitarian aid organization in Israel. Donate here: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/israaid-us-global-humanitarian-assistance-inc/israaid-emergency-response-fund 

Anera addresses the development and relief needs of refugees and others hurt by conflicts in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan. Donate here: https://support.anera.org/a/palestine-emergency 

The Jewish Agency for Israel is a global nonprofit dedicated to securing "a vibrant Jewish future." Its Fund for Victims of Terror provides immediate financial assistance to victims and their families. Donate here: https://www.jafina.org/crisis-in-israel/ 

Please see this NPR article for more organizations and ways you can donate.  

Building Prequal #14: In the Room Where It Happens 

One of my greatest privileges as an adult is learning about the things I genuinely want to know more about. Unlike school, where the coursework is somewhat predetermined, educating myself on the topics I care about is a luxury.   

One of the things I'm continually studying is economic development. Under that broad topic, I'm especially interested in what can be done individually to foster economic opportunity in a system that doesn’t leverage capitalism to advance marginalized communities. In my free time, I read about poverty traps, women and economic developmenteconomies of developing nations.  

An ironic aside: It may not surprise you that I was typically an A student who loved sitting in the front row of every class. Economics is the only class I ever got a D in.

 Economic development interests me so greatly that I have been thinking about returning to school to get a master's in economic and social development, preferably with a gender focus (but let's not get too cray, too soon.) There's a lot of application of that degree in my current life and the impact I'm trying to create. While researching degrees, the Chicago Leadership Council ("CLC"), a program run through the University of Chicago in conjunction with Crain's Chicago, came up.   

The CLC is an idea from the University of Chicago's Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies to impact social change and advance social impact in Chicago. The University approached Crains for this partnership because they knew Crains had access to influential professionals who care about these issues.   

The program functions as an 8-month cohort, where 15 participants in Chicago are selected to participate. These are individuals who are professionally committed to social advancement to some degree. The plan is to meet monthly to learn, discuss, and innovate on some of the city's most complex social issues. The culmination of the participant's time and work is a capstone project that advances social change or creates social impact in some way.  

Well, I should say that will be the culmination of our work. I applied to the program and was accepted in the current cohort. Yay me. 

My cohort convened for our initial session a little over a week ago. I was so interested to see who my fellow cohort members would be. Who would be my fellow change-makers and disruptors? Who else is as interested in these topics professionally and personally as I am?

Conversations around economic stability and social progress are very complex, so to address some of the city's most significant issues, this group's diversity and experience mirrored the complexity of the issues we're addressing. My cohort comprises people who work in housing, have considerable education experience, can speak to Chicago's infrastructure and real estate, come from grant-making or lending perspectives, persons with political capital and influence. And there's me. My contribution will be looking at these issues from a revenue generation perspective, especially for marginalized communities.  

For our initial meeting, there was a lot of groundwork to cover. The curriculum focused on the history of Chicago because, to think about innovative solutions, we had to spend time examining the past through the lens of segregation, education, politics, and healthcare.  

We spent a full day at U of C's Hyde Park campus, participating in sessions and lectures from several key individuals in Chicago who could bring perspective and historical context to our work. They included a U of C professor, past city hall officials, and WBEZ reporter Natalie Y. Moore, to name a few. We also took a historian-guided tour of the South Side and three of its neighborhoods (Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn). We observed the racial and economic differences and the historical impact people moving into and living in those neighborhoods have.  

The CLC program goes through May 2024. During that time, our cohort will absorb information, brainstorm, innovate, and create a capstone about how we're going to advance economic development, combining what we have learned along with our professional experience. I, for one, cannot wait to see what unfolds. #ilovehomework

It is not lost on me that I am privileged to be surrounded by people who care about the same things I do. After our first day, it was inspiring to think that I could be a part of an innovation that changes lives or improves the trajectory of Chicago. 

It's exciting to be in the room where it happens. How lucky are we, fellow Chicagoans, to be located in a hub of intellectual and educational wealth? 

 -A. 

P.S. As a business sidenote, In a little over a week, we’re hosting Prequal’s first Lead to Sales workshop. In this workshop, you’ll learn my methodology and get Prequal’s tools for creating a sustainable, predictable sales process. Because this is our first time, we’re offering Lead to Sales at a beta price. Even if you can’t attend the workshop on Thursday, Oct 26th, you can enroll now and take advantage of the price while getting access to a live workshop in the future. Learn more about Lead to Sales and enroll here: https://theprequal.com/lead-to-sales-training-course