In 2019, the City of Chicago entered a new era with the historic landslide election of its first female African-American mayor, Lori Lightfoot. In assembling her transition team and cabinet, the political outsider turned to a number of rising stars in Chicago nonprofits and government.
Sybil Michelle Madison (CLA’19) joined the Civic Leadership Academy seeking a way for “nonprofit and government leaders to rethink how they connect and create change.” Then educator who worked with school administrators and who served on a police accountability task force, Madison recognizes that educators and law enforcement cannot solve problems alone. New solutions require collaborations among intersecting systems. At CLA, she noted, “each fellow is deeply connected to their field; CLA creates opportunities with people you’d never know. If you don’t know or can’t connect with someone in the field, you don’t think of these opportunities.”
Madison now serves as Chicago’s new Deputy Mayor for Education and Human Services.
Madison’s testimony reflects the experience of CLA fellows from the first class in 2015 to recent graduates. For the nearly 150 fellows who have completed the program since 2015, it has served as a dynamic, aspirational learning environment that combines practical leadership development strategies with a supportive professional network. Forging strong personal bonds of respect and trust encourages exchange and testing of ideas that foster professional growth and the capacity for change—for individuals and, ultimately, for the institutions and communities they serve.
