How can mentorship help to build resilience amid hardship?
Event Details
Join the Booth Alumni Club of Chicago, Booth Alumni Nonprofit Consultants, and the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation to get a first-hand look into the power of mentorship through The Road Up, a documentary following four participants in Cara, a Chicago job-training program. As these participants work toward finding stable employment, they are guided and motivated by their impassioned mentor, Mr. Jesse. Drawing on learnings from his own past, Mr. Jesse supports members of the Cara community in finding hope and a path forward as they grapple with poverty, addiction, homelessness, and trauma.
During this event, Caroline Grossman, '03, executive director at the Rustandy Center and adjunct assistant professor of strategy at Chicago Booth, will moderate an exclusive and inspiring conversation with Maria Kim, '12, President and CEO of Cara, and one of the filmmakers, Greg Jacobs.
By registering, you'll receive private access to the film beginning on April 19, 2021. Viewing information will be shared with you separately at that time. Check out the trailer to learn more about the film.
Speaker Profiles
Maria Kim (Speaker) '12
President & CEO, CARA
https://carachicago.org/
After 13 years in insurance, Maria Kim joined Cara – a Chicago-based social enterprise reconnecting people experiencing poverty with gainful employment. Cara has helped people secure over 10,000 jobs, with permanent placements at retention rates over 20 points higher than national norms, and with 80% of employed participants transitioning into permanent housing in which their families can thrive. Today, they take the insights gained over the last three decades to equip other organizations and employers with the tools and practices needed to build a more inclusive economy. Their hope is that as more and more jobseekers get back to work, and more and more employers realize the value of this untapped workforce, the narrative of what talent looks like in our country will forever be changed; and most importantly – infinitely more families will realize the lasting power of hope, jobs, and opportunity. Maria serves on the governing boards of the EPIC Academy and Rebuilding Exchange, and on the advisory boards of the First Women's Bank and the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab. She is a 2008 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, a 2012 American Marshall Memorial Fellow, a 2018 Vital Voices Global Ambassador, a former co-chair within Chicago Mayor Lightfoot's 2019 transition team, and a 2020 Presidential Leadership Scholar. Maria holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Greg Jacobs (Speaker)
Owner, Co-Director, Siskel/Jacobs Productions
http://www.siskeljacobs.com/
Greg Jacobs is the co-director, with Jon Siskel, of the new documentary The Road Up, which premiered in October 2020 at the Chicago International Film Festival, winning the Audience Award for Best Documentary. The co-founder of Chicago-based Siskel/Jacobs Productions, Greg most recently wrote and co-directed No Small Matter, the first feature documentary about the power and potential impact of early childhood education. Prior to that, Greg co-directed the acclaimed documentary Louder Than a Bomb, about the world's largest youth poetry slam, which won seventeen festival awards and had its global premiere on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Greg served as Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-winning documentaries 102 Minutes that Changed America for History and Witness: Katrina for the National Geographic Channel, and co-directed the public television documentary Unexpected Justice: The Rise of John Paul Stevens. A native of Columbus, Ohio, Greg is the author of Getting Around Brown: Desegregation, Development, and the Columbus Public Schools, and a 2016 New America Fellow.
Caroline Grossman (Moderator) '03
Executive Director, Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Str, Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at Chicago Booth
https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/rustandy
Caroline Grossman, '03, is the executive director of the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, the destination at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for people committed to helping solve complex social and environmental problems.
In her five years at the Rustandy Center, Grossman has led efforts to pursue research partnerships worldwide, driven student and alumni engagement across the University of Chicago, and developed strong relationships across Booth, the university, the social sector ecosystem in Chicago and beyond. Most recently, she led the center's suite of programming to foster opportunities for students and alumni to channel a business toolkit for social impact through nonprofit board service, social entrepreneurship, and co-curricular experiential learning.
As an adjunct assistant professor of strategy, Grossman has designed and taught two Booth courses. One of those lab courses, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Social Impact Practicum, allows students to delve deeply into a project to consider the role of the firm in society. Past classes have explored the domains of corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion efforts, as well as global social impact.
Beyond Booth, Grossman has extensive experience as an educator and business leader, teaching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and DePaul University, and in brand management at Kraft Foods Inc. Grossman is a partner at Social Venture Partners Chicago, a partnership of philanthropically minded individuals working to fund innovative and scalable nonprofits and social enterprises, and serves on the finance committee at Temple Sholom of Chicago. She's also served on the nonprofit board at North Lawndale College Preparatory School and is board member emeritus and past board president of the Playmakers Laboratory Theater.
Grossman is a 2003 graduate of Chicago Booth's Full-Time MBA Program and holds a BA in history from Yale University.