INSIDE: 02 YWCA Early Childhood Program 03 Economic Empowerment Program 03 Donor Spotlight: Web of Benefit 04 2013 Leader Luncheon

The YWCA Board of Directors was pleased to announced the appoint-ment of Dorri McWhorter to chief executive officer effective March 1. Leveraging her depth of experience in accounting, finance, business consulting, fundraising and philanthropy, McWhorter brings new leader-ship into the YWCA as it seeks to execute its strategic growth plan and deliver first-in-class services in four program areas—economic empow-erment, sexual violence and support, early childhood and racial equity services.

A proven leader with deep operational and financial expertise, Mc-Whorter brings nearly 20 years of experience to the position. Most recently, McWhorter was a partner at Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest accounting firms in the U.S., where she spent nine years and was a key leader in the risk consulting business unit. There, she oversaw corporate governance, enterprise risk management and internal audit consulting for a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit clients. Addition-ally, McWhorter has held senior positions with Snap-on Incorporated and Booz-Allen and Hamilton.

“The Board of Directors is very pleased to have identified such a capable and business-minded executive to lead the organization at this critical point in its history,” said Gwendolyn L. Butler, YWCA board president and president of Capri Capital Partners, LLC. “With Dorri’s strong busi-ness acumen and undeniable passion for the organization’s mission, we have every confidence in her ability to successfully lead the YWCA and achieve long-term growth and success.”

McWhorter has been an active member of the YWCA’s Board of Direc-tors since 2005. During her tenure, she served as vice president of the Board of Directors, chair of the Development Committee of the Board

YWCA Board of Directors Names Dorri McWhorter as New CEO

A YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Publication www.ywcachicago.org Spring 2013

YWCA Metropolitan Chicago new CEO Dorri McWhorter. Continued on page 2.

The White House recently announced a comprehensive agenda designed to invest in and strengthen early childhood education for our nation’s young-est children. YWCA Metropolitan Chicago has long believed that quality early childhood education can help prevent achievement gaps before they start. The YWCA recognizes children as our most critical national resource and has invested in them at an early age.

Given the demand for high-quality early childhood services in our region, the YWCA’s Patterson and McDaniel Family Center in Glendale Heights offers onsite and home-based child care and food ser-vices, referral services and provider training for families. Among its many programs, the YWCA’s Parent Services provides information and child care refer-rals to help families in Kane and DuPage counties find the right child care solution for their needs.

The YWCA also facilitates early child-hood professional development train-ing for new and existing home-based

and center-based child care providers. Each month, a wide range of training opportunities are offered to child care professionals, allowing participants to remain current on state licensing require-ments. Training topics include: healthy

child development, curriculum planning, nutrition and exercise, safety, and cul-tural sensitivity along with other relevant

topics.

In addition, the YWCA Angela Rose Annunzio Library contains a wonder-ful assortment of books, DVDs and curriculum materials to help home-based child care providers develop and enhance their daily curriculum. Our literacy specialist delivers edu-cational materials directly to home-based child care providers and dem-onstrates interactive literacy activities with the children.

The YWCA is committed to helping families access and provide high-quality early childhood services.

YWCA staff is pleased that there is a renewed national focus on the issue

and look forward to seeing the future im-pact of the federal government’s agenda on Chicagoland’s children. For more information on the YWCA’s compre-hensive Early Childhood Services, visit www.ywcachicago.org.

Renewed Focus on Early Childhood Services Brings Attention to Programs Administered by the YWCA

2

YWCA Staff Member Kathy Robson conducts a train-ing for Early Childhood professionals.

of Directors and founding chair of the Audit Committee. She brings deep, established relationships with the YWCA’s core stake-holder groups, including donors, employees, board members and volunteers.

“I am honored to serve the YWCA as its new CEO and look forward to leveraging my depth of business, civic and philanthrop-ic experience to grow the organization and help Chicago’s women,” said McWhorter. “Having worked with a variety of differ-ent for-profit and not-for-profit business models, I intend to combine social and eco-nomic value-creation principles to make the YWCA a global leader in women’s wellness and empowerment.”

A socially-conscious business leader throughout her career, McWhorter has been inspired by social service and is an active member of Chicago’s civic, business and philanthropic communities. She currently holds board and membership positions with local organizations, including the Chicago Finance Exchange, The Economic Club of Chicago, The Executive’s Club of Chicago, Institute of Internal Auditors, National As-sociation of Black Accountants, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, Chicago Child Care Society, Conscious Business Net-work, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois and the Museum of Science and Industry, among others.

She has been widely recognized for her civic, philanthropic and professional leader-ship and has won numerous awards and accolades, including Athena International’s Young Professional Leadership Award (2010), Chicago Business Leader of Color (2009 honoree), Diversity MBA Magazine’s Top 100 Under 50 Executive Leaders (2009 recipient) and the Illinois CPA Society’s Outstanding Leadership in Advancing Di-versity Award (2010).

McWhorter received her bachelor’s in busi-ness administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her in business ad-ministration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

McWhorter - Continued

Donor Spotlight: Web of Benefit

After starting Web of Benefit, Inc. in Boston, founder Johanna Crawford realized her long-term dream in June of 2009, by expanding her nonprofit to Chicago. Through a natural alignment in mission, Web of Benefit contacted YWCA Metropolitan Chicago to foster a partnership to empower women and help them rebuild their dreams.

Web of Benefit takes applications for grants only from women recom-mended by supporting organizations who make sure the women are ready to take positive steps toward improv-ing their lives. Grants are given to help with education, computers, housing, transportation and much more. The most important part of the application is the “Dream Proposal.” Women must answer three questions: What is your biggest dream? What are the steps and goals to achieve that dream? And what is the cost of the first step? “We can only pay for the cost of the first step so we say dream big and focus small,” said Crawford.

Web of Benefit was founded in Boston in 2004 by women affected by do-mestic violence, who were interested in helping other women escape from domestic violence. Please visit their website at www.webofbenefit.org for more information.

3

As families continue to struggle in the present economy, the YWCA Economic Em-powerment Institute (EEI) offers women a partnership for long-term personal and financial success. With the help of a professional empowerment coach, EEI members establish personal goals and begin their journey toward financial stability.

The YWCA EEI program fosters financial stability and asset acquisition through career coaching, individual development plans and a financial curriculum called “As-set Building,” offered in partnership with the Heartland Alliance. YWCA EEI works with participants so they can build capacity to access and manage personal finances through coaching, small group work, seminars and a network of additional resources. Women in the program better understand all of their assets, their net value, how and when to access emergency funds and how and when to borrow and use credit. YWCA EEI coaching empowers individuals and families to create their own unique and real-istic paths to economic security instead of prescribing a “one size fits all” model.

The EEI program addresses the specific challenges of participants by identifying realistic and challenging goals and a specific plan to attain them. The program works robustly with a strong cohort of collaborators in the community in order to connect participants to the resources they need to obtain financial stability and acquire assets. Some of the partners in our cohort include: PepsiCo, Frito Lay, Coca-Cola, The Il-linois Department of Employment Security and Dress for Success.

Through program evaluation, we identified the following strengths within our pro-gram activities:

• Responding to Financial Crisis – Our niche is the immediate crisis. We have developed expertise in a 30-60-90 day plan for our women, moving them from emergency status to stability and on to strategic financial management.

• Identifying Creative/Alternative Income – YWCA coaches are supporting wom-en pursuing second incomes, continuing education and helping women identify cost savings where possible. Working, bankable women are losing ground, ex-hausting checking and saving accounts, trying to access public services to which they are entitled.

• Providing Services to a More Mature Audience – Using an increase in program inquiries from women over 55 years-old, we have shaped our training and finan-cial education to support a more sophisticated demographic with different learn-ing styles and unique financial interests. Many of our mature clients are experi-encing unexpected layoffs, forced career changes or catastrophic life changes, and are entering a new work place technology that will require new skills.

• Improving Our Service Referral Pipeline – To advance client goals, we have iden-tified strategic alliances with best-practice service providers, such as: Chicago Women in Trades, Heartland Human Care Services, and CARA Program.

For more information about how you can support the YWCA’s Economic Empower-ment Program, visit us online at www.ywcachicago.org or contact us at 312.762.2710.

Economic Empowerment Program Lays a Pathway for Success

Headquarters: YWCA Metropolitan Chicago1 North LaSalle Street, Suite 1150Chicago, IL 60602

YWCA Honors 2013 Outstanding LeadersEach year, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago honors five leaders for their outstanding professional and community achievements at its annual Leader Luncheon event. Now in its 41st year, Leader Luncheon continues to be one of Chicago’s most prestigious salutes to outstanding leaders. Leader Luncheon will be held on Thursday, October 10 at noon at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.

This year’s Outstanding Leaders are accomplished, innovative and driven by a desire to change our metropolitan Chicago com-munity for the better. Our 2013 honorees are: Community Lead-ership – Connie Lindsey, Executive Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, Northern Trust; Promise – Tarrah Cooper, Press Secretary, Mayor Rahm Emanuel; Racial Justice – Sandra Finley, CEO, League of Black Women; Business – Maureen Beal, President and CEO, National Van Lines; Professions – Margaret Stender, Chairman and Minority Owner, Chicago Sky.

For more information about Leader Luncheon, please visit www.ywcachicago.org.

NONPROFITORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDCHICAGO, IL 60602PERMIT NO. 4980

contact us: Please contact us with any questions at: Mail - YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, 1 N. LaSalle St., Ste. 1150, Chicago, IL 60602 | Email - info@ywcachicago.org | Phone - 312-762-2710 | Facebook - “YWCA Metropolitan Chicago” | Twitter - @YWCAChicago | YouTube - “YWCAMetroChi”

(Left) 2011 Outstanding Leader Honoree - Racial Justice, Gloria Castillo with (Right) 2012 Outstanding Leader Honoree - Racial Justice, Bernie Wong at the YWCA’s 2012 Leader Luncheon.