In July, we celebrated Women Employed’s 2023 class of The Pattis Family Foundation Summer Leadership Program on National Intern day. Hear from them in their own words! We marked Black Women’s Equal Pay Day and National Disability Independence Day, and shared news on two disappointing Supreme Court rulings, and two new proposed ordinances in the City of Chicago. We then featured Wind Creek Chicago Southland as they presented Women Employed with a check for $70,000. Be sure to check the latest installment of out our ASPIRE Racial Equity and Inclusion Speaker Series featuring Dr. Royel Johnson, and all of the incredible work Women Employed is doing outside the office in our “Where in the World is Women Employed?” column.

In June, we celebrated Pride, and participated in LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day. We also celebrated Father’s Day this month, as the dads of Women Employed shared their paid leave stories and why not just moms, but dads need paid leave too, in our special edition of “He Says.” Also our 50th Anniversary The Working Lunch recap video is here! Be sure to check out our ASPIRE Racial Equity and Inclusion Speaker Series which continued with a workshop led by Dr. Sara Furr, the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at The Field Museum. Not to mention all of the incredible work Women Employed is doing outside the office in our “Where in the World is Women Employed?” column.

In May, we celebrated 50 years of smashing the status quo at The Working Lunch!  Your participation, either in-person or virtual, and your support whether in the form of sponsorship, participating in our raffle, or donating to WE, made it one to remember. We then featured Taylor Leven, Headspace Barber owner in “She Says,” who also shared her story at The Working Lunch and celebrated victories when the IL General Assembly passed the Salary Transparency bill and then the State Budget increasing $100M in Monetary Award Program (MAP) funding! Not to mention all of the incredible work Women Employed is doing outside the office in our “Where in the World is Women Employed?” column.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and more than 5 years after the hashtag #MeToo took social media and the public consciousness by storm, we are still deeply conscious of the need for more progress on sexual harassment and violence in our workplaces and our society. This month’s “She Says,” features WE’s Director of Business Development, Ibie Hart, as she shares her experience with sexual harassment at a prior job and finding safety at Women Employed. April is also National Volunteer Month and we’re looking for a robust group staff The Working Lunch, right around the corner! Not to mention all of the incredible work Women Employed is doing outside the office in our “Where in the World is Women Employed?” column.

In March, we celebrated Women’s History Month in a major way. Starting off with announcing the honorees for our 50th anniversary celebration, The Working Lunch, we then shared that Women Employed has received not one, but two proclamations. The first from the City of Chicago, declaring that March 8th, which is International Women’s Day, would be recognized as Women Employed Day in the city and the second from the state, recognizing WE’s work during the month of March. We then featured, Barb Yong, founder of of the Equal Pay Day Chicago Coalition in “She Says,” encouraged supporters to vote for Women Employed to receive a grant from Old National Bank, recapped our most recent ASPIRE Speaker Series with guest speaker, Angell Howard, and all of the incredible work Women Employed is doing outside the office in our “Where in the World is Women Employed?” column.

This month, we began our 50th anniversary celebration, with an opening letter from our President & CEO, Cherita Ellens, opened up registration for The Working Lunch, celebrated 30 years of FMLA with an invitation to the White House for the celebratory event and held a virtual press conference discussing the need for paid family and medical leave for all Illinois workers, highlighted Black History Month, shared our Equal Pay tip sheet, featured our Program and Research Coordinator, Efrata Sasahulih, in “She Says.” We also launched two new columns. The first, “Where in the World is Women Employed?” provides a recap of all the events we have attended, hosted, or participated in, and our ASPIRE Speaker Series.

This month, we celebrated a decades-long victory in passing the Paid Leave for All Workers Act, previewed our 50th anniversary celebration, opened up applications for our Summer Leadership Program, began accepting honorees for our annual luncheon, The Working Lunch, welcomed our new staff members, and featured Michelle Foik, co-owner of ERIS Brewery and Cider House in our “She Says” column.

This issue was a year-in-review, highlighting some of our major accomplishments. In the past year, we published our Intersecting Barriers research report that discussed the challenges to economic empowerment for domestic violence survivors, we won an additional $122 million for the Monetary Award Program (MAP) in Illinois, hosted a conversation with Congresswoman Cheri Bustos on the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act which was signed into law in March, launched our Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub and WE Consulting, helped launch the Illinois Full and Fair Wage Coalition, and we joined The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) as a lead partner on the Illinois FARE Grant project, which raises awareness of pay equity and pay transparency standards among women workers, particularly low-paid Women of Color. This issue also featured long-time WE supporter, Kate Everson, in our “She Says” column.

In this issue, we acknowledge the pay disparity between Native Women and their white, male counterparts, celebrate Board of Directors Chair, Board Chair Lynn Watkins-Asiyanbi on being recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of their 2022 Notable Nonprofit Board Leaders, highlight our Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub, as November is National Entrepreneurship Month, share what Women Employed is thankful for in a special edition of “She Says,” and promote some of our upcoming events.

October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month and in this issue we discussed the next stages of our work to support economic independence of domestic violence survivors in Chicago. Plus, check out our 2022 Impact Report where we highlighted our accomplishments over the past year and visit our Student Debt Resources page for up-to-date information for student borrowers and answers to their frequently asked questions. Learn about WE Consulting, our suite of consulting services to help companies build a culture of inclusion and belonging, read the latest installment of our “She Says” series, featuring Kathleen Flynn-Barnett, and join our next advocacy council meeting.