Applications open for Black Bench Chicago leadership program

During winter 2021, South Side labor organizer Anthony Driver was excited to be a part of Black Bench Chicago’s first cohort.

As the Service Employees International Union Healthcare’s political and legislative coordinator and a former aldermanic candidate for the 20th Ward, he was selected to be part of the program in which a Black leadership pipeline can be developed and knowledge from longtime Black leaders can be passed to the next generation of community leaders. In two years, the free program has already made leadership inroads in the city.

Having gone through the program, Driver, 30, now serves as president of the Community Commission of Public Safety and Accountability, an interim commission tasked with finding the city’s next police superintendent. Black Bench Chicago graduate Ashley Munson, a former senior manager of advocacy for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, is now at the Obama Foundation, serving as a manager of community engagement and government affairs. And community organizer Ronnie Mosley, 31, became the 21st ward alderman and the youngest person on the Chicago City Council.

“I’m immensely thankful for it because it has changed the political scene,” Mosley said. “What’s so rewarding for me in every space that I go, I can find someone from Black Bench, like Anthony Driver. We’re continuing to grow that connection, communication, camaraderie so as we work to deliver for the Black community in Chicago, we know ambassadors, leaders, influencers of our community and have a real connection.”

Applications for the next Black Bench Chicago cohort opened Tuesday. Black community leaders ages 25 to 45 serving in the fields of civic engagement, civil service, elected office and strategic leadership from Chicago’s South, East and West sides are eligible to apply. Participants have to commit to the schedule and can miss only one session.

“What we’re looking for in an applicant is someone who is an expert in their field — their field can be anything from being a lawyer, a focus on public health, an organizer or activist,” said Black Bench Chicago co-founder Alexandra Sims, who is also president and founder of APS & Associates. “We just want folks who care about Black progress and social impact to feel comfortable in applying.”

Sims, who is familiar with the Leadership Academy for the Chicago Latino Caucus Foundation, a program that grows Latino leadership in Chicago, said she’d often hear Black people talk about “needing one of our own” such programs.

So Sims, Mosley and Hyde Park Summer Fest organizer Jonathan Swain, founded Black Bench Chicago in 2021 to educate millennial and Generation Z Black Chicagoans over the course of six months on legislative processes, special interests, the history of Black organizing in Chicago, and campaigns and budgets, among other topics. Experts lead discussions with participants in a collaborative, in-person format one day a month. Funded by Black donors, the new session of Black Bench Chicago will start Aug. 26.

The first cohort had 30 participants from 200 applicants. Interest in the program was so great that the advisory board doubled the number of members in the first cohort to 30 fellows. This year, Sims and Mosley are expecting over 250 applicants for just 30 spots.

“I want to encourage more women to apply,” Sims said. “We want to make sure our class is very diverse with where political opinions are set, where they live in the city, gender and sexual identity, all of those things are things we think about in making sure it’s the best experience for everybody. It’s a cool opportunity for young folks to get in front of a lot of Chicago’s movers and shakers.”

With feedback from alumni, Sims said the program will be tweaked to make sure the it is as strong as it can be. Former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and activist Jacquelyne Grimshaw will continue to be involved with Black Bench, along with civic leader Andy Zopp; lawyer and political organizer Michael Strautmanis; Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union and executive vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers; and Anton Seals Jr., executive director of Grow Greater Englewood.

“Black Bench has given us an ability to understand each other,” Mosley said. “There’s a diaspora of Black people throughout Chicago that come from all different walks of life and experiences. By being together and understanding those individuals, we can better understand the issues. I’m the youngest council member now, but surely there is someone who is 18 that could run for office, work in a government office or a nonprofit, or the civics art space, and we want to make sure that they are prepared for that.”

The deadline for Black Bench Chicago applications is July 16.

drockett@chicagotribune.com