Please Join Us on Friday, March 7th @ 12 Noon!

On the home front: Habitat for Humanity confronts Chicago’s housing crisis

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for the Jennifer Parks speaker luncheon at the Union League Club.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 7, 2025 | $60 Nonmember | $50 Member* of First Friday Club of Chicago | $600 Table (10 seats) | All tickets include three course meal + presentation

Online reservations close Tuesday, March 4, 2025 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after March 4th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

*How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75 is good for one membership, September 2024 through May 2025, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

On the home front: Habitat for Humanity confronts Chicago’s housing crisis

Chicago's severe housing deficit is undermining our city's vitality. We simply do not have enough decent places, especially affordable places, for people to live. Habitat for Humanity, with current projects in three Chicago neighborhoods, plays a small but critical role in righting this wrong. Join us as Jennifer Parks tells stories of her organization on the national and local level: When and why HFH got its start. How Jimmy Carter used his public presence to bring the organization to international prominence. How HFH decides which Chicago neighborhoods to invest in, and how individual families are chosen to partner with HFH. Don’t miss your chance to learn from and ask questions of this experienced champion for affordable housing in Chicago.

MORE ON JENNIFER PARKS … Ms. Parks brings over 25 years’ experience in the Habitat network to Habitat for Humanity Chicago (Habitat Chicago). Joining the team in 2011, Jen leads a dynamic and dedicated team that champions healthy neighborhoods by investing in resident priorities, building quality homes, and supporting homeownership. Under her leadership, efforts were realigned to focus on the long-term impacts for improving the neighborhood housing market, connecting the community, improving physical conditions, and elevating the neighborhood appeal. Existing programs -- Affordable Homeownership, Construction, and Volunteers -- have grown; new programs have been established – Homebuyer University, Neighborhood Grants Initiative. It operates two ReStores, a social enterprise selling new and gently used furniture, home goods, and building supplies to the public at affordable prices. Habitat Chicago continues to evolve and has a bold plan to invest $42M in three focus neighborhoods over the next five years. With a team of 60+ and a $11.1M budget, Jen is committed to growing Habitat Chicago by increasing neighborhood investments and creating long-term positive impact with our Chicago neighbors. Jen graduated from Marquette University and obtained a Master of Arts in Organization Leadership from Immaculata University.

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Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us on Friday, February 7th @ 12 Noon!

Providing Ripples of Hope in Chicago: Learn how Jahmal inspires youth, empowers communities, and builds a better world one block at a time

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for the Jahmal Cole speaker luncheon at the Union League Club.

Tickets go on sale Friday, January 10th, 2025 | $60 Nonmember | $50 Member* of First Friday Club of Chicago (All tickets include three course meal + presentation)

Online reservations close Tuesday, February 4, 2025 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after February 4th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

*How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75 is good for one membership, September 2024 through May 2025, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Providing Ripples of Hope in Chicago

In 2013, Cole began volunteering at the Cook County Jail and realized many of its youngest occupants had never once been out of their neighborhoods. Jahmal Cole and his team began providing opportunities for teens to step outside their comfort zone and explore new communities, cultures, and cuisines and gain a greater understanding of the world. These experiences would also show communities how service, empathy, and collaboration can make a difference not only on their own block but in the city of Chicago. Join us as Jahmal Cole, founder of My Block My Hood My City, speaks about inspiring youth, empowering communities, and building a better world one block at a time.

MORE ON JAHMAL COLE … Jahmal Cole received his B.S. degree in communications from Wayne State College in 2005 where he was one of the first African American players on the Wildcats basketball team, and recipient of the Scholar Athlete Award. Cole later received his M.S. degree in internet marketing from Full Sail University Online in 2011.

Cole founded the Role Model Movement, a not-for-profit organization offering a series of initiatives geared toward empowering underserved youth, and authored Athletes and Emcees, a motivational book providing candid advice on careers, confidence, friendship, school, ingenuity and determination. In 2013, he founded My Block, My Hood, My City, a non-profit organization based in Chicago, dedicated to providing opportunities to underprivileged youth focused on STEM, arts & culture, citizenry & volunteerism, health, community development, culinary arts, and entrepreneurism. He is also the author of The Torch of Decency: Rekindling the Spirit of Community Organizations, along with Exposure Is Key: Solving Violence By Exposing Teens to Opportunities, Mud Sharks, and 50 Excuses to not Follow Your Dreams.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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The Menace of Sports Gambling: exploring the long term effects on Collegiate and professional sports

Tickets go on sale Friday, December 6, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for the Lester Munson speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, January 10, 2025 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, January 7, 2025 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after January 7th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2024 through May 2025, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

The Menace of Sports Gambling

Gambling isn't new, in fact it was around before Christ and actually played a role in financing the American Revolution. The challenge of the game and the promise of a quick dollar continues to attract a variety of players, especially with an increased presence of online platforms. But with today's targeted advertising and the ease of placing bets online for collegiate and professional sports, what are the real long term costs of gambling?

For 30 years, Lester Munson worked as a journalist specializing in legal affairs and investigations in the sports industry. He has written about money, celebrity, violence, sex, drugs, race, gender, greed, falls from grace, labor, litigation, and legislation in the world of sports. He worked as a staff writer at Sports Illustrated and at ESPN. His assignments included antitrust litigation in college and professional sports; attempts at reform in the NCAA; criminal prosecutions for domestic violence, rape, and murder; the investigation of the use of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds; and, investigations of fraud in FIFA and the Olympics and by Alan Eagleson.

Munson is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago Law School, He served for 11 years as member of the Board of Trustees of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the largest non-profit alcohol and addiction treatment organization in the U.S. He is an adjunct instructor at the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism. He has appeared frequently on National Public Radio, on WTTW, the Chicago affiliate of PBS, and numerous other broadcast outlets. He resides in Chicago.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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The Challenge of Christmas: Unwrapping Our Spiritual Gifts

Tickets go on sale Friday, November 8, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for the Jack Shea speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, December 6, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, December 3, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after December 3rd, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2024 through May 2025, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

The Challenge of Christmas: Unwrapping our spiritual gifts

Beyond the socks or sweaters found wrapped under the tree are the real gifts of Christmas: spiritual stories and practices which exemplify the many gifts of our spirits and the depth of their involvement. Gifts which are there for the taking, whether we realize it or not. But how do we understand, how do we embrace, how do we listen to these spirits during the busy holidays, or when daily struggles with personal, work,or social situations become overwhelming? How do we open this spirit-filled box?

Jack Shea is a consultant with decades of experience in providing theological and formation services to parishes and faith-based organizations. He has published over twenty books of theology and spirituality (including Liturgical Press’s popular Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels series), three novels, and three books of poetry.

He has served as the Executive Director of Program Design and Implementation for the Ministry Leadership Center; the Advocate Healthcare Senior Scholar in Residence at the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics; research professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago; and Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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Tickets go on sale Friday, October 4, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for the Mary Ann Ahern & Carol Marin speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, November 8, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, November 5, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after November 5th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2024 through May 2025, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

What Happens Next? Two of Chicago's most prominent journalists take us through the facts of the election and what it means for our democracy.

Chicago journalism icons Mary Ann Ahern and Carol Marin will join the First Friday Club to look at what we know about the outcome of the November election, and what it means not only for Illinois, but for our country. The pair have joined the First Friday Club in prior post-election roundups--a treat not to be missed. Along with the Presidency, the House and Senate have been labeled as tossups, with big ramifications for both parties and for America.

More on Mary Ann Ahern & Carol Marin

Mary Ann Ahern and Carol Marin, long time collegues and friends, have reported on both local and national politics, sharing years of experience to many viewers in the Chicago area.

Mary Ann Ahern, a reporter for Chicago's NBC 5 News has covered political campaigns from the White House to Springfield to Chicago. She witnessed the transitions from Mayor Richard Daley to Mayor Rahm Emanuel to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and traveled through the primary states for the 2008, 2012, 2016 presidential campaigns, just as she did in 1988 while a reporter in Atlanta. She has also covered presidential election nights from Texas, Boston, New York and Chicago and has covered presidential inaugurations from Washington, D.C.

Carol Marin is currently a political analyst and director of the DePaul University Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence and Faculty Fellow. The core of her past journalistic work focused on politics, public corruption and organized crime which included reporting for Chicago's WTTW and 60 minutes along with serving as prime time anchor for both WMAQ-TV and WBBM-TV.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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Tickets go on sale Friday, August 30, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for the Fr. Jack Wall speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, October 4th, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, October 1, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after October 1st, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2024 through May 2025, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Hope at the border: what the Church looks like when she is at her best.

Join us to hear about those ministering to migrant families at the U.S. - Mexico border. Father Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension will share some of his experiences at the border and reflect on the heroic work the Catholic Church is doing with those making the journey to the United States.  

More on Fr. Wall

Motivated by the Gospel call to serve the poor, Father Jack Wall invites the nation’s Catholics to walk in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the poorest areas of our country. 

With Catholic Extension being a papal society, Father Wall was appointed by the Pope himself and by the Holy See as president in 2007 .

Prior to leading Catholic Extension Society, Father Wall served 24 years as pastor of Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago. Under his stewardship, the struggling urban church grew from four to 4,000 households, making it one of the most vibrant faith communities in Chicago today.

A lifelong Chicagoan, Father Wall was ordained on May 2, 1968, after receiving his master of divinity and STL from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He has served on the faculty of Niles College Seminary at Loyola University and was vocations director for the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1979 to 1985.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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Tickets go on sale Friday, April 5, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Dr. Ngozi Ezike speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, May 3rd, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, April 30, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after April 30th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2024 through May 2025, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Give it to me straight, Doc!

She got us through the pandemic. Now, with her trademark passion and professionalism, Dr. Ngozi Ezike takes aim at the biggest health care challenges facing Chicago.

A confident, reassuring presence during Gov. Pritzker’s daily covid briefings, Dr. Ngozi Ezike in 2022 left the Illinois Department of Public Health to lead Sinai Chicago. And, while steering this major, 105-year-old Chicago healthcare institution, she’s keeping her eye on the broader picture.

“Understanding health care is more than what happens with doctors and nurses,” she says. “We have to see the related other pieces: having insurance, having a safe space to exercise, having a grocery store nearby so you can buy healthy food. We’re in the minority among developed nations in how we don’t see health care as a right. Instead there are haves and have nots.”

Located on Chicago’s West Side, Sinai Hospital offers a case in point: 70% of its patients are on Medicaid. West Siders’ life expectancy is 16 years shorter than that of folks who live just a few miles away in the Loop. Ezike insists that this status quo is simply not acceptable. “More people need to be thinking about this,” she says. “Our words and our actions really have to match.”

As a healthcare leader who has dedicated her career to serving disadvantaged communities and fighting health care disparities, Ezike will point to the bigger picture of how we can work together to ensure decent healthcare for all Chicagoans.

More on Dr. Ezike

A graduate of Harvard, Dr. Ezike worked for 15 years for Cook County Health, addressing the needs of the residents of Cook County. She also served as medical director of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and of Austin Health Center on the West Side.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 1, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Mary Meg McCarthy speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, April 5, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, April 2, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after April 2nd, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

The Border Has Moved To Chicago. Now What?

Attorney Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center, will discuss the new realities of immigration for Chicago and for our nation. The busing of tens of thousands of migrants to our city has strained our resources, caused some to reconsider their positions, and also called out the best in our communities.  

McCarthy will touch on how the federal and local governments are responding to the crisis and how "immigration fatigue" is taking its toll. She will also address how people of faith have been and can continue responding to this crisis. "We need to recognize these new arrivals as fellow human beings," she says, "and welcome them with compassion and mercy." 

More on Ms. Mary Meg McCarthy

Mary Meg is the executive director of Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), one of the nation’s foremost immigrant and human rights advocacy organizations. Under Mary Meg’s leadership, NIJC has become a leading organization dedicated to advancing justice for immigrants. Working with a pro bono network of 1,500 attorneys, NIJC provides counsel and representation to approximately 10,000 low income immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers each year. NIJC’s legal services inform its advocacy, litigation and educational initiatives to promote human rights locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

An expert in immigration law, Mary Meg has testified before Congress and is often quoted in major news outlets such as MSNBC, The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune. As an active member of the American Bar Association, Mary Meg chairs its Commission on Immigration. She is also a member of The Chicago Network, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Chicago Bar Association, among others.

Prior to joining NIJC, Mary Meg practiced civil litigation and was an NIJC pro bono attorney. Earlier in her career, Mary Meg’s worked in communities throughout Chile as a Holy Cross Associate to help safeguard the rights of individuals under a dictatorship. She received her bachelor of business administration in finance from the University of Notre Dame and her doctor of law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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Tickets go on sale Friday, February 2, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Rev. Otis Moss III speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, March 1, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, February 27, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after February 27th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Dancing in Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times

Through the power of stories that speak to the heart, Otis Moss III tackles the theme of democracy—and what we can do in this moment, when we fear that ours is coming apart at the seams. “Appropriate storytelling leads to appropriate action,” he says. “If you don’t have the right story, you repeat the last chapter over and over again--you never get to a new one.”

This father of two calls us to consider our responsibility for the future: “Every generation has a call it must accept, to lay a brick in the cathedral that we’re attempting to build for our children’s children.” A believer in the sacredness of history, Moss will tell stories of people who, despite having fewer resources than many of us, made an incredible difference in our world.

Moss has been named one of the “twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world.” He has been cited by Chicago Magazine as one of the city’s thirty most influential people.

More on Rev. Moss III

Dr. Otis Moss III is a preacher, activist, and author. Over the last two decades, Dr. Moss has practiced and preached a Black theology that unapologetically calls attention to the problems of mass incarceration, environmental justice, and economic inequality. A third-generation warrior for civil and human rights, Dr. Moss is committed to preaching a prophetic message of love and justice, which he believes are inseparable companions that form the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These very touchstones are taken up in his latest book project, Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times, released in November 2022. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Moss is an honors graduate of Morehouse College, and earned a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Doctor of Ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary. Dr. Moss has a passion for preaching and exercises his homiletical muscle as a professor of homiletics at McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. In this role, Dr. Moss is positioned to help up-and-coming preachers build and strengthen their own preaching ministries. The work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the pastoral ministry of his father, Dr. Otis Moss, Jr. of Cleveland, Ohio, are fundamental in his spiritual formation.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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Tickets go on sale Friday, January 5, 2024

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Sherman ‘Dilla’ Thomas speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, February 2, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, January 30, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after January 30th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

"Everything Dope about America Comes from Chicago": Chicago’s urban historian shares his passion for teaching people about the city he loves.

Join us as Sherman “Dilla” Thomas, proud South Sider, founder of Mahogany Tours, son of a Chicago police officer, and TikTok dad, explains how the power of storytelling can change the narrative about Chicago. “My gift is that I understand history--that helps me to order my steps in the now,” he says. “We all have to do our part to make Chicago better.”

Featured across Chicago media and nationally on both the Today and Kelly Clarkson shows, Thomas soared to fame with his 60-second TikTok videos on Chicago history, which have gathered more than 20 million views. His company, Mahogany Tours, visits neighborhoods such as Bronzeville, Englewood, and North Lawndale. “I wanted to have an asset-based tour,” says Thomas, as opposed to a lineup of notorious mob sites or the like--“not pointing out the site of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, but instead showing people where Pope John Paul II spoke, where Nat King Cole lived.”

Thomas, an employee of Commonwealth Edison, has been named the 2022 Chicago Tourism Ambassador of the Year by Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism agency. He has also received the prestigious Chicago Public Library Foundation's 21st Century Award, as well as the Studs Terkel Uplifting Voices Award.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us

Tickets go on sale Friday, December 1, 2023

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Kwame Raoul speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, January 5, 2024 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, January 2, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after January 2nd, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

“...Rouse up defenders to plead the cause of the oppressed so that justice may be done in love.” --Prayer of St. Yves, patron saint of lawyers

Join us to hear how the Illinois Attorney General traces his commitment to social justice back to his Haitian immigrant parents and his childhood on Chicago’s South Side

Kwame Raoul was born in Chicago to Haitian-born immigrants. A lifelong resident of the Hyde Park/Kenwood area, he completed his undergraduate education at DePaul University and went on to earn a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Kwame started his legal career nearly 25 years ago as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and continued to practice as a labor and employment attorney for the City Colleges of Chicago.

In 2004, Kwame was appointed to fill the vacancy left in the 13th Legislative District by former state Senator Barack Obama’s election to the U.S. Senate. At the state Capitol, he quickly gained the confidence of leaders to handle difficult negotiations and landmark legislation, including the abolition of the death penalty, background checks on private transfers of guns and the strongest voting rights protection in the country.

An attorney concerned with both crime victims and the rights of the accused, Kwame has consistently introduced and supported criminal justice reform legislation that makes Illinois not just tough on crime, but smart on crime. He sponsored diversion and second-chance programs, made it easier for juveniles to have their records expunged and pushed through landmark law enforcement reform, including body camera and police training standards. Most recently, he passed a criminal justice reform package aimed at reducing gun violence by cracking down on repeat offenders while making sentences for nonviolent offenders more reasonable. He has also passed bills aimed at fighting the heroin/opioid crisis. Kwame has been recognized for his work to protect victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

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Tickets go on sale Friday, November 3rd, 2023

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Howard Reich speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, December 1, 2023 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, November 28th @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after November 28th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

The Light of Elie Wiesel During the Darkest of Times

Howard Reich explores vignettes of wisdom and seeds of hope shared by Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel.  Timeless insight which continues to resonate with current struggles around the world.

Howard Reich, journalist for the Chicago Tribune and son of Holocaust survivors, was handed a simple assignment to interview Elie Wiesel, best known for his famous Holocaust memoir Night and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Daily phone calls and multiple in-person meetings with Wiesel would eventually turn  Reich’s “simple” assignment into four years of intimate conversations which ended shortly before Elie died. The time spent together grew into a friendship through shared stories and a common bond between Howard’s father and Elie; both men were liberated from the Buchenwald death camp on April 11, 1945. 

A generation apart yet both scarred by the Holocaust, Howard Reich pulls shards of hope from Elie’s stories, fragments to be shared with children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and anyone struggling to find light in times of darkness.

Join us on December 1st as Mr. Reich illuminates this remarkable journey full of friendship, love and hope.

More on Howard Reich

Howard Reich was born in Chicago and at age 10 moved with his family to Skokie, a northern suburb that was a nexus of Holocaust survivors, like his parents. At age 16, Howard happened on the film “An American in Paris” and instantly became obsessed with music. By 18 he was a piano performance major at Northwestern, and at 22 he began freelancing articles on music for the Chicago Daily News. The next year he started contributing arts coverage to the Chicago Tribune, where he was hired full time in 1983 and spent his entire newspaper career. Howard’s stories took him to London, Paris, Warsaw, Vienna, Moscow, Munich, Prague, Havana, Panama and other locales, as well as deep into one of the most culturally vibrant cities in the world: Chicago. After 30 years of serving as the Tribune’s jazz critic, Howard also was appointed the newspaper’s classical and opera critic. He retired from the newspaper in 2021. He lives in a suburb of Chicago with Pam Becker, his wife, a retired Tribune editor.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us

Tickets go on sale Friday, October 6th, 2023

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Barbara Gaines & Rick Kogan speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, November 3, 2023 at 12 noon.

Online reservations close Tuesday, October 31st @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after October 31st, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

A Conversation Between Two Good Friends

Barbara Gaines, Chicago theater pioneer and Rick Kogan, author and radio personality will discuss post-covid challenges facing the arts in Chicago and why institutions like Chicago Shakespeare Theater must remain relevant for all ages.

Barbara Gaines, founder and recently retired Artistic Director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, has been instrumental in bringing outstanding stage productions to Chicago for 37 years. Beginning in 1986, with an inaugural performance on a pub’s roof top in Lincoln Park, Barbara's creativity, intelligence and hard work provided the catalyst needed to showcase Chicago Shakespeare’s talented organization which in turn, brought high praise and recognition from the Chicago arts community and the global stage as well.

Rick Kogan, Born and raised in Chicago, a Tribune columnist, author, WGN radio show host, and past contributor to Chicago Daily News and the Sun-Times, Mr. Kogan is often referred to as one of the great voices of Chicago radio and the last in a great tradition of classic newspaper men. He’s one of the true chroniclers of our city.

Together, Barbara Gaines and Rick Kogan will join ranks on stage at the Union League Club to discuss highlights and challenges facing the Chicago arts community along with a grab bag of other topics. And as old friends go, the two of them will most likely share a few “inside” Chicago stories never to be found in the tribune or heard on the radio.

Mark your calendar and please join us for an interesting conversation between two good friends!

More on Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Barbara Gaines ...

Transitioning from the Red Lion Pub's roof top to residency at the Ruth Page Dance Center, where budget constraints initially allowed only one show a year, Chicago Shakespeare Theater would eventually enter into a period of rapid growth with Gaines joining forces with Executive Director Criss Henderson in 1990. The Theater would need to expand, with a move to its flagship campus on Navy Pier in 1999 and where the company’s offerings grew from exclusively Shakespearean productions to include musicals, world premieres, and hosted artists from all around the world.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has also served more than two million students and teachers through its nationally recognized arts-in-education programs and has engaged with Chicagoans citywide through creative community programs like the free Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour.

With 60 productions under her belt which includes 33 Shakespearean titles and six world premieres, Barbara Gaines is shifting gears away from decades of leadership, and is looking to spend more time on personal projects and reading a book from cover to cover. But theater is in her blood and regardless of retirement, Barbara will continue to be that beacon of light for the arts community and the city of Chicago.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us

Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Fr. Michael Pfleger speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, October 6, 2023.

Online reservations close Tuesday, October 3 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after October 3, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!

It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Violence in Chicago: Do we want a solution or a bandaid?

Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina parish has long been an impassioned voice against injustice in its many forms in our city and our nation.  He will address what Chicago must do to stem the tide of gun violence that so stubbornly afflicts our city.  

Father Pfleger has consistently spoken out against gun violence during his decades at St. Sabina. He has organized not only an annual Peace Rally and Stop the Violence March at the parish, but also weekly Friday night peace marches in the community every summer. He sponsors gun buy-backs. He recently proposed that all city churches, mosques, and synagogues forfeit their tax exempt status unless they provide a full slate of activities for young people, especially on weekends.  

“Children are our best investment; they could be our peacemakers; and they are getting killed, burying our future,” he said. “Now everybody has to step up because we no longer have a choice.”Having lost a foster son to gang crossfire in 1998, he also speaks eloquently on behalf of those who have lost loved ones to senseless shootings. 

Join us on October 6th as Father Pfleger shares a glimpse into his daily activism which challenges his community and the city of Chicago to find a solution to stop gun violence while reminding everyone to live out Jesus' command to love one another.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Look Who’s Coming to Lunch on Friday, November 3rd …

Please Join Us …

Click below to register and purchase your ticket today for the Mike Mulligan speaker luncehon at the Union League Club on Friday, May 5, 2023.

Online reservations close Tuesday, May 2 @ 10pm. For any questions or reservations after May 2nd, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

Sports in our changing culture: Why we still lavish faith, hope, and love on America’s second religion

Certain questions in sports have more serious ramifications than the ever-popular “How ‘bout dem Bears?”  Consider the meteoric rise of sports gambling, or the now acknowledged risk of severe brain injuries in football.  Not to mention the middle class being priced out of most tickets—and now out of watching games on TV as well.

Join Mike Mulligan, co-host of the Mully and Haugh show on WSCR 670-AM, as he takes a swing at top issues in sports today, including how sports interact with our faith and our values. 

More on Mr. Mulligan …

Mr. Mulligan is a native Chicagoan who grew up on the South Side and graduated from Loyola University. Before switching to radio, Mike spent 27 years with the Chicago Sun times as an award winning journalist. Mike is a huge White Sox fan and he and his wife, Christina, have three children.

Help Support First Friday Club of Chicago …

Become a Member Today! If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us …

Click below to register and purchase your ticket today for Scott Turow on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Online reservations close Tuesday, April 11 @ 10pm. For any questions or reservations after April 11th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

A lawyer first, an author second: A reflection on the development of the law in his lifetime and its impact on society and his books.

For more than 30 years, Scott Turow has been fortunate to be a bestselling author.. Beginning with Presumed Innocent published in 1987 to his to his current legal thriller, Suspect, he has written 14 novels, all New York Times bestsellers, which have been translated into dozens of languages abroad and read by millions worldwide.

But hand in hand with his writing, Turow has remained a practicing lawyer. He retired as a partner at the Dentons firm in August 2020, but continues to work on a limited number of pro bono matters. He has always defined himself as a lawyer, as well as a writer, and an appreciation of the law animates all of his novels.

Become a Member Today! If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us …

Click below to register and purchase your ticket today for Sr. Barbara Reid on Friday, March 3rd, 2023.

Online reservations close Tuesday, February 28 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after February 28, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

Sometimes it causes me to tremble: Let Lent lead us through our fears for the future of the church

The Catholic Church in the US faces some daunting realities: falling attendance, suspicion of the institution, and young people who are opting out of religion altogether.

How does Sister Barbara Reid, who heads up a school that trains seminarians and lay religious leaders, prepare these students to serve the church of today and of the future? How will they address the rampant spiritual hunger of young people, for example, who are so committed to social justice, community, and service, but who seldom see the church as meeting their deepest needs? 

Join us to hear how Sister Reid and CTU are navigating these rough waters, and why she believes the church will thrive in the future--provided it looks different from the church of today. Reid finds great hope in one of the Gospel stories of Holy Week, which invites all of us, especially our leaders, to a different model of church. What might Jesus, who always stands at the center of our faith, be asking of us and our church this Lent?

Sister Barbara Reid was elected president of Catholic Theological Union in 2020, and has served on the CTU faculty since 1988. A renowned New Testament scholar who has served as president of the Catholic Biblical Association, she has received numerous awards for her contributions to the field. Reid has led many of CTU’s travel and retreat programs in the Holy Land, as well as lecturing in South and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, and a former Spanish teacher.

Catholic Theological Union in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world; it trains women and men for lay and ordained ministry within the Catholic Church. Its more than 4,000 vowed religious women and men and lay graduates are serving in 60 countries worldwide. 

Become a Member Today!

If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Please Join Us …

Click below to register and purchase your ticket today for Pastor Corey B. Brooks on Friday, February 3rd, 2023.

Online reservations close Tuesday, January 31st @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after January 3rd, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

Rooftop Pastor works to break the cycle of violence, poverty and racism in Woodlawn

Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church and founder of Project Hood is leading the Woodlawn neighborhood as they create a safer place and give their children the tools to reach for a brighter future. 

Spending nearly a year on a Woodlawn rooftop, raising awareness of critical deficits in his own backyard, pastor Brooks raised $20 million dollars; enough money to break ground for the Leadership & Economic Opportunity Center at 66th and King Drive.

In addition, Pastor Brooks and his wife Delilah have fully invested in the community of Woodlawn by spearheading a community initiative called Project H.O.O.D. to revitalize the neighborhood. Through it, they are raising up a new generation of peacemakers, problem solvers, and entrepreneurs.

Current Project H.O.O.D. programming includes a Core and Carpentry Level I course, which places participants in entry-level construction jobs post-program, an entrepreneurship course, and separate business workshops for aspiring and new business owners, a co-working office space for business owners, job placement programs, and community-wide events including The World’s Largest Baby Shower. 

Pastor Brooks attended Ball State University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Grace Theological Seminary. He has been pastoring since 1990 and established New Beginnings Church of Chicago in November 2000 in the heart of Chicago's South Side.  

Become a Member Today!

If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Don’t Miss Out …

Click below to register and purchase your ticket today for Sally Blount on Friday, January 6, 2023.

Online reservations close Tuesday, January 3rd @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after January 3rd, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

A Wild Ride: How the Holy Spirit Propelled me from Business School to the Boardroom to Battling Poverty

Heralded by her peers as a “natural change agent,” Sally Blount has made her mark not only in the corporate world but in the field of academia—she served as dean at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management for eight years. Her ability to pivot, helping organizations do more and better, has also served as a catalyst for her own faith journey, leading her to take on a new role as Executive Director and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2020.

Ms. Blount is the first layperson to lead Catholic Charities, which began more than a century ago amidst a global flu pandemic. Today she is leading this institution out of another pandemic, challenged by soaring budgets, poverty, and social justice issues that seem to change daily.

We hope you can join us on January 6th as Sally Blount discusses the challenges that lie ahead for Catholic Charities in 2023 and how the complexities of her own faith journey and career accomplishments have intertwined to bring her to this next chapter in her life.

More Background on Ms. Blount ...

In addition to Catholic Charities, Sally Blount holds the Michael L. Nemmers chair in Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she is a proud alumna and served as dean from 2010-2018.

Blount is an expert on organizational transformation and leadership. A record-setting fundraiser, organizational change agent, and highly sought-after speaker — she has been regularly featured in top news outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, The Economist, Businessweek, Fortune, and MSNBC. She has been a featured speaker at WEF Davos and the Vatican.

Blount sits on numerous boards including the advisory board for the Aspen Institute Business and Society program and the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Finance Council. She also served as dean at NYU Stern College of Business for six years and on faculty at NYU and the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago for nearly two decades. She holds MS and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University and a B.S.E. from Princeton University. Blount began her career at the Boston Consulting Group.

Become a Member Today!

If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Rediscovering Awe and Mystery: What Science and Faith Can Tell Us This Advent

Long before he became a priest, Chicago’s Father John Kartje was a scientist, getting a Ph.D. in  astrophysics from the University of Chicago. What’s the one constant between these two vocations? “Both the scientist and the person of faith are always engaging with mystery,” he says. 

Kartje describes Advent as that pregnant pause in each year when we once more engage the mystery, bringing along our new hopes and anxieties, seeing the story through fresh eyes whether we’re 30 or 70.  

Currently the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, Fr. John Kartje takes issue with the supposed disconnect between faith and science. The way science looks at the world should absolutely inform the way people of faith do so, he says. That’s why the Vatican convenes groups of scientists, of any faith or of none, to report on conditions such as climate change. Good scientists, he says, can help people of faith to stay honest.

All Tickets include the speaker presentation along with a full luncheon meal. Below are ticket prices for this event:

• Non-Members: $60

• Members: $50

• Table for 10 people: $600

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for Fr. John Kartje on Friday, December 2, 2022. A great presentation not to be missed!

Online reservations close Monday, November 28th @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after November 28th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

Become a Member Today!

If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

It's a Whole New Ballgame: Guiding Our Next Generation Through Anxious Times

As depression rates increase dramatically, especially among teens and young adults, learn why it's important for everyone to understand what's happening.

What young people face today looks nothing like what most of us experienced during adolescence, says Dr. John Duffy. The combined pressure of ever-present drama on social media, isolation due to covid, unreasonable expectations of perfection, and worries about climate change and war create a difficult challenge. We can't simply hand this concern off to parents and grandparents, says Dr. Duffy. The problem involves the whole community, and the solutions lie with all of us as well.

A nationally recognized parenting and relationship expert, Dr. John Duffy has worked in his clinical practice with individuals, couples, teens, and families for nearly 25 years. He is the author of the # 1 best-sellers Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety: A Complete Guide to Your Child's Stressed, Depressed, Expanded, Amazing Adolescence (2019) and The Available Parent (2014). Dr. Duffy has been a parenting and relationship expert on hundreds of national television programs, including CNN, Today, various NewsNation shows and Steve Harvey. He is part of the CNN Wellness team, and appears often on WGN and WLS radio as well as on other television, radio, and print outlets, including the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, NPR and the Wall Street Journal.

All Tickets include the speaker presentation along with a full luncheon meal. Below are ticket prices for this event:

• Non-Members: $60

• Members: $50

• Table for 10 people: $600

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for Dr. Duffy on Friday, November 4th, 2022! A great presentation not to be missed!

Online reservations close Monday, October 31st @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after October 31, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361

Become a Member Today!

If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

"The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness"

Please join the First Friday Club on Friday, October 7th in welcoming Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. This speaker luncheon will kick off our 37th season at 12 noon, back at the Union League Club. It will be a wonderful gathering of old and new friends after a long pandemic!

Guest speaker Fr. Gregory Boyle share what he has learned in three decades working with marginalized populations at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, Calif.—that love is the answer, community is the context, and tenderness is the connective tissue. Tenderness reflects the foundational notion that there are no us and them, only us. Homeboy seeks to be what the world is invited to become. Kinship cannot happen without tenderness.

Reservations open on Friday, September 9, 2022 and close on Monday, October 3rd @ 5pm

All Tickets include the speaker presentation along with a full luncheon meal. Below are ticket prices for this event:

• Non-Members: $60

• Members: $50

• Table for 10 people: $600

If you’re not a member but wish to purchase a discounted ticket, please click below to purchase a membership today! Starting at $75, a membership will allow at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.

Click below to register and purchase your ticket(s) for Fr. Greg Boyle on Friday, October 7th, 2022! A great presentation not to be missed!

Don’t Forget About Parking

Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started

Rising to the Top

On the way from her sometimes tough childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her role as co-CEO of the first and largest Black-owned asset management firm in the country, Mellody Hobson has been clear about one thing. Her passions about financial literacy and leaving the world a better place have endured because of her Chicago roots and the many challenges she's overcome, not in spite of them. A childhood she has described as "youngest of six kids, single mom, evicted a lot, phone disconnected, cars repossessed, you name it" made her desperate to understand money. Today Hobson says that teaching financial literacy is as important as teaching reading and writing.

Along with her leadership at Ariel, where she has worked since graduating from Princeton in 1991, Hobson is also chair of the board of Starbucks and has served on many other corporate boards. She is the only Black woman currently serving as chair of a Fortune 500 board. In 2021 she co-founded Ariel Alternatives, a private investment initiative to help close the racial wealth gap and to support Fortune 500 supply chain diversity. She is also the chairman of After School Matters, a Chicago nonprofit annually providing 18,000 area teens with high-quality after school and summer programs. Hobson is married to Star Wars creator George Lucas.

Please join us when this remarkable woman, Mellody Hobson, addresses the First Friday Club on Friday, May 6th, 2022.

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent. The first week of May and on the day of the event, multiple reminder emails will be sent with the video link for the 12 noon presentation on Friday, May 6th.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar:

Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10

or become a member at one of the suggested levels.

Click below to make a donation today!

Serving the City She Loves in More Ways Than One

Annette Nance-Holt made headlines and shattered the glass ceiling in 2021 when she became the first African American woman to be appointed Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department. But to those who have known and worked with her, this is simply the latest--and most significant--moment in a career of passionate service to the City of Chicago that goes back more than three decades.

Throughout Annette Nance-Holt’s career, she has served as Firefighter, Lieutenant, Captain, Battalion Chief, Deputy District Chief, and First Deputy Fire Commissioner. Nance-Holt has also founded two nonprofit organizations, Purpose Over Pain and the Blair Holt Scholarship Foundation. She became a prominent gun-control activist after her 16-year-old son, honor student Blair Holt, was fatally shot in 2007 on his way home from school as he tried to shield a classmate from gunfire.

Please join us when this remarkable woman, Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt, addresses the First Friday Club on Friday April 1st, 2022.

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent. The last week of March and on the day of the event, multiple reminder emails will be sent with the video link for the 12 noon presentation on Friday, April 1st.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar:

Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10

or become a member at one of the suggested levels.

Click below to make a donation today!

Chicago's Working People: What did we learn in the pandemic & how will the faith community respond?

The pandemic brought to light the conditions faced by the same working people who made it possible for the rest of us to safely work from home. Join Rev C.J. Hawking, Executive Director of Arise Chicago, as she outlines the challenges faced by Chicago's workers today, and explains how faith communities are raising their voices to call for fair treatment of working Chicagoans.

Arise Chicago, founded in 1991 by Chicago's famed Msgr. Jack Egan along with several other religious leaders, gathers faith leaders to speak up for workers, and trains workers how to advocate for themselves with their employers. Her work with Arise has brought Rev. Hawking face to face with the often hidden practices of some local employers who do not pay proper wages or who refuse to correct unsafe working conditions. We'll learn what kinds of workplaces often fail their workers and what we can do about it--and how supporting workers is a faith practice that goes all the way back to Moses.

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent. The week of March 4th, multiple reminder emails will be sent with the video link for the 12 noon presentation on the 4th.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar:

Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10

or become a member at one of the suggested levels.

Click below to make a donation today!

The Year That Was, The Year To Come ... In Chicago Design & Development

Please join us for a First Friday Video Conversation with CAC President and CEO Lynn Osmond. Hear about 2021’s most inspired design, development and preservation efforts as Chicago gradually recovers and recalibrates in the wake of the pandemic. Then, consider what awaits us in 2022 and beyond.

In addition to highlighting celebrated projects completed or underway throughout the city, this talk will assess the progress made under Mayor Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West and other initiatives helping to drive greater equity. Finally, for the year to come, we will explore big ticket items like local climate resiliency, the creation of a Chicago casino, the redevelopment of James R. Thompson Center and the forces of change reshaping downtown Chicago.

Lynn Osmond assumed the position of President and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Foundation in 1996. She led the creation and introduction in 2018 of the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), a 20,000-square-foot home that moves Chicago architecture to the center of the city’s cultural conversation. Osmond is responsible for overseeing the CAC’s comprehensive slate of architecture tours, exhibitions, discussions, lectures, education programs and more. Under Osmond’s leadership, the CAC is consistently ranked among Chicago’s top ten cultural institutions.

Osmond serves on the board of The Magnificent Mile Association and is formerly President of International Women’s Forum Chicago and Vice Chair of the board of Choose Chicago. She is founding chair of the Association of Architecture Organizations, a commissioner of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, and a member of the Commercial Club, the Chicago Network, and the Economic Club of Chicago, among others. Osmond holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Queens University in Ontario, Canada. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and a graduate of the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management at

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent. The week of February 4th, multiple reminder emails will be sent with the video link for the 12 noon presentation on the 4th.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar:

Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10

or become a member at one of the suggested levels.

Click below to make a donation today!

On a Mission: How Chicago's Media Could Unite Our Divided City

Please join us for a LIVE WEBINAR conversation with Hermene Hartman

Chicago's media scene has plunged into a period of great change: The Tribune, now owned by a hedge fund, has lost dozens of experienced reporters. The Sun Times, recently acquired by Chicago Public Media, will become a nonprofit newspaper--completely uncharted territory. Meanwhile, young people now get their news largely through curated social media. Hermene Hartman, publisher of Chicago's N'DIGO, insists that a strong, independent press is essential to a functioning democracy. But she has also long held that our local media has played a part in dividing our city by race and geography. Stories of Black leadership, innovation, service, and excellence are missing, she says. Chicago deserves better.

Hermene Hartman founded N’DIGO, Chicago’s leading African American publication, in 1989. Her TV show, N'Digo Studio, which has been nominated for an Emmy Award for the best interview/discussion content, features interviews with Black civic, business, and cultural leaders and follows Meet the Press on Sunday mornings on NBC 5 Chicago.

During the Civil Rights movement, Hartman worked for Operation Breadbasket with Rev. Jesse Jackson. She coordinated the organization’s Black Expo, produced public service programming for WBBM-TV Chicago, and taught behavioral sciences at the college level. Following her tenure as the first woman vice-chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, she moved into publishing. Hartman has long recognized the need for honest representations rather than stereotypical images of African American culture in mainstream media. She has graduate degrees in sociology and philosophy of education as well as an MBA from the University of Illinois.

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent with the link to the live presentation.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar:

Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10

or become a member at one of the suggested levels.

Click below to make a donation today!

In the stillness of winter, stirring assuredly comes.

Please join us for a LIVE WEBINAR conversation with Barbara Mahany

We think of December as the month that unfurls with festive acceleration, sometimes exhaustingly so. Too, it is the month of deepening darkness. Neither rapid-fire pacing nor day-by-day darkening seems apt for a meditative month. But consider the countercultural: Carve out stillness. Allow the deepening darkness to enfold you. Seek the flickering flame deep within. Listen for the stirrings of the divine, the One who awaits, the One who knocks at the inn of our heart. Will we make room? We must....In the stillness of winter, stirring assuredly comes.

Barbara Mahany is an author and journalist, who writes about stumbling on the sacred amid the cacophony of the modern-day domestic melee and nature’s quiescence. She was an award-winning writer at the Chicago Tribune for nearly 30 years, and before that a pediatric oncology nurse at Chicago’s Children's Memorial Hospital. 

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent with the link to the live presentation.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar:

Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10

or become a member at one of the suggested levels.

Click below to make a donation today!

A City Divided:
What Will It Take For Chicago's Communities
to Come Together?

Please join us for a LIVE WEBINAR conversation with Heidi Stevens & Shaka Rawls

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent with the link to the live presentation.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar:

Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10

or become a member at one of the suggested levels.

Click below to make a donation today!

Join us for a live webinar conversation on Friday, November 5th with Shaka Rawls, principal at Leo Catholic High School, and Chicago journalist Heidi Stevens. The pair will discuss how their first meeting five years ago started them on a shared path to better understand and proactively address topics of violence and the deterioration of communities in Chicago.

Shaka Rawls will also explore how a small, all boys Catholic high school in Chicago's Auburn-Gresham neighborhood addresses the daily challenges confronting both the staff and the young men who make up the close-knit community called Leo High School.

Come prepared to be engaged in topics which affect us all, and learn how you can empower those in need and help make a difference.

A View From the Center of the Storm

Please join us for a LIVE WEBINAR conversation with Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of Illinois Department of Public Health

After registration, a confirmation email will be sent with the link to the live presentation.

This is a FREE EVENT, HOWEVER during these uncertain times, your support is critical to the success of First Friday Club of Chicago.

To help cover the cost of live programming and administrative expenses, please consider a suggested donation for this Webinar: Non-Member: $20 | Member: $10 or become a member at one of the suggested levels. Click below to make a donation today!

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health where she will share her own personal story as a daily media fixture during the darkest days of the Covid-19 lockdown. We were lucky then and now, to have such a competent physician keeping us focused on personal and social health during a very difficult time.

The live webinar format, via the Q & A function, will allow you to ask Dr. Ezike questions during the presentation and thank her for the hard work, leadership, and hope, which she communicated to all of us, almost on a daily basis during those quarantined days of 2020.