Community Foundations for Civic Health: Live in Chicago!

We invite you to the Community Foundations for Civic Health: Live in Chicago! event on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Central. We will host a networking cocktail reception the evening prior, Monday, September 29th. The registration deadline is Friday, September 12, 2025 and space is limited.

Who

We are welcoming community foundation CEOs and/or one other senior member of your staff who is leading civic health work (or who is likely to be part of future work). The convening is closed-door, private, and will follow Chatham House rules.

Speakers

• David Brooks, New York Times columnist, commentator for PBS NewsHour and NPR, and founder of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute
• Simeon Banister, President & CEO, The Rochester Area Community Foundation
• Ian B. Bautista, Senior Director of Civic Engagement, Greater Milwaukee Foundation
• Martin Carcasson, Founder and Director, CSU Center for Public Deliberation
• Jonathan Collins, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
• Stuart Comstock-Gay, President and CEO, Delaware Community Foundation
• Shannon Green, President & CEO, PACE (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement)
• Joseph K. Hoereth, Director, Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement, University of Illinois Chicago
• Melissa Newman, Strategy Advisor, Press Forward Bluegrass
• Isaiah Oliver, President and CEO, Community Foundation for Northeast Florida
• Jodie Riesenberger, Vice President, Community Impact, NoCoFoundation
• Daniel Stid, Executive Director, Lyceum Labs
• Nancy Van Milligen, President and CEO, Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
• Jillian Youngblood, Executive Director, Civic Genius
• Richard Young, Executive Director, CivicLex

Registration Details

Please register by clicking the button below and reach out to Enida Jeteric at ejeteric@cfleads.org with any questions.

Register now.

Background

Community Foundations for Civic Health, an initiative of CFLeads, the Rhode Island Foundation, the National Civic League, and other partners, is aimed at increasing the number of community foundations confidently engaging in strengthening civic health in their communities. Civic health matters. Strong, ongoing connections between residents, robust relationships between people and public institutions, and positive attachments between citizens and the places they live are highly correlated with a range of positive outcomes, from better physical health to higher employment rates to better resilience in the face of natural disasters.

Civic health is based on the quality of civic opportunities and the strength of civic infrastructure. When these supports are weak, people of different backgrounds and political perspectives are less likely to communicate or work together, which exacerbates partisan polarization.

We look forward to partnering with you on this critical work.