Meet Christine Leahy, Champions for Children Co-Chair

This May, the Champions for Children Luncheon will be a celebration of hope and possibility as we bring together nearly 600 of Chicago’s most influential business and community leaders and elected officials. This uplifting event takes place on May 23, 2019 at the Hilton Chicago at 700 S. Michigan Avenue.

We’re thrilled to name Christine Leahy, Chief Executive Officer of CDW, and Immediate Past Board Chair of Children’s Home & Aid, as one of the co-chairs for this signature event.

With a successful law career spanning nearly 30 years, Christine is an accomplished professional in her own right, and is now approaching her 17^th year with CDW. Her emphasis on giving back has remained strong throughout her career, as exemplified by her participation in several philanthropic endeavors.

Christine has been a longtime supporter of Children’s Home & Aid. For a decade, her dedication to our mission and her passion to help our children and families has inspired us all.

Devoting ten years on our Board of Trustees, Christine’s recent service as Board Chair has been nothing short of amazing. From strategy to innovation, she’s led the charge to keep children and families thriving by challenging Children’s Home & Aid to keep pushing forward. During her tenure, her leadership, direction and support as a dedicated Board member has helped Children’s Home & Aid set and achieve several milestones, including:

• Launching of our five-year, comprehensive Every Child Campaign.
• Opening the Family CARES Center in partnership with Northwestern Settlement. This innovative, community-based children’s mental health program provides much-needed services to families on the west side of Chicago.
• Pushing the envelope to assist children with severe mental health and behavior challenges at our Rice Child & Family Center. By incorporating ground-breaking techniques into therapy, the length of stay for children at the Rice Center has been significantly reduced.
• Introducing the Power of Fathers program, a cutting-edge, collaboration working to improve outcomes for families and young children by providing dads with tools to become more engaged in their children’s lives.
• Launching Choose 2 Change, a ground-breaking youth violence intervention program in crime-affected communities. This multi-million-dollar initiative, in partnership with Youth Advocate Programs, has been rigorously evaluated by the University of Chicago Crime Lab and supported by the Chicago Sports Alliance, the City of Chicago and several private foundation partners.

In addition, Christine has championed CDW’s investment and engagement to equip Children’s Home & Aid to effectively measure mission impact and has spurred our success in the construction of two new facilities:  the Jerri Hoffmann Child & Family Center in Carpentersville and a new facility with improved program space in Rockford with an expanded Crisis Nursery.

Christine continues to be a champion for children and passionate supporter of the life-changing work being done at Children’s Home & Aid. Please join Christine on May 23^rd at the Champions for Children Luncheon in Chicago and we’ll take a stand for children – together.