Chicago Booth faculty will be instructing 34 accomplished African-American professionals as part of a leadership program run by the Chicago Urban League. The IMPACT Leadership Development Program’s mission is to develop African-American leaders in the private, non-profit, and public sectors. Booth will serve as the Urban League’s education partner, providing programming, faculty, and classroom space for the nine-month session.The students were admitted in a competitive selection process, as the 34 fellows were chosen from a field of 115 worthy applicants. Organizers say the goal of the program is to “provide promising African-American professionals ages 30 to 45 with the skills and training to be effective leaders, to connect them with other established professionals.”
In corporate boardrooms and within executive ranks, “diversity still has a ways to go,” said Andrea Zopp, president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League. African Americans make up 6.6 percent of the 1,523 corporate board members in metropolitan Chicago and the Great Lakes region, according to a 2013 Chicago Urban League survey.
The fellows will meet once a month for all-day sessions through May. Four Booth faculty members will provide leadership training. Those sessions will be mixed in with modules developed by the Urban League that will provide historical and political contexts.
The program is funded through grants from The Chicago Community Trust and The Joyce Foundation. Booth is also donating classroom space in the NBC Tower, 455 North Cityfront Plaza Drive.