 | Message from the Executive Director Dear Friend, This month Resilience is honoring Mental Health Awareness Month. Your mental health matters and now more than ever it is important to practice self-care and connect with support if you need it. Resilience is proud to have an incredible staff and community of supportive and compassionate people who work toward ending the stigma surrounding mental health and creating safer spaces for survivors. If there’s any way that Resilience services can help you or your loved ones through your healing journey, we hope you will reach out. We are here for you and will continue to do our part to raise awareness and advocate for mental health for everyone during this spring and beyond. As the weather warms up and summer quickly approaches, safe social gatherings arrive again. I hope we'll see you for some of our upcoming events as we welcome this happy season. Register today for two very important Resilience events next month. On Saturday, June 4, the Resilience Associate Board is hosting its first-ever Empowerment 5K. On Tuesday, June 7, you are invited to the third annual Celebrating Resilience Luncheon, featuring keynote speaker Marianne Markowitz, President & CEO of First Women's Bank. Learn more about these special events and register below. We hope to see you there! Until then, take good care. With gratitude, | |  | Erin Walton
Executive Director
Resilience | | | | | |  | In place of our monthly interview, we are taking time to remember and honor Dani Boachie, a Resilience staff member who worked with us before their passing in May 2021. “This loss had such an incredible impact not just on our staff but on our entire community as Dani had worked at the Network as their Centralized Training Institute Coordinator for years prior to being hired at Resilience. Furthermore, Dani was hugely present in Chicago’s LGBTQIA community, various activist spaces, and was a major voice in the fight for the safety and support of sex workers.” — Maggie Arthur, Resilience Director of Education and Training Many community members of Resilience and Chicago at large knew and were connected with Dani through their extensive involvement in activism around LGBTQ+ issues, reproductive justice, gender-based violence, sex work decriminalization, prison abolition, and anti-imperialist movements. As a friend of Dani said in a Block Club Chicago article, “Without them, it’s like they burned down our library”. Dani was a bright light and a fearless leader. We feel very lucky to have had Dani as part of the Resilience team. On this anniversary of one year without Dani, we take time to celebrate their life. We are deeply grateful for their passion, impact, and the time we had with them. We will continue to strive to honor their legacy. The Resilience team sends love to anyone who also continues to feel this loss. | | | | Thank you for your support during Sexual Assault Awareness Month April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), a time that our community comes together to bring awareness to the epidemic of sexual violence. Resilience and so many other incredible organizations use SAAM to educate, connect, and stand in solidarity with our communities. During SAAM 2022, we hosted many events, connected with our community, met new supporters, and brought awareness to the services we offer year-round. We send our deepest gratitude to everyone who supported Resilience and participated in SAAM! If you donated, started a fundraiser of your own, or shared our messages, you've greatly impacted our fight to end sexual violence. Because of your generosity and passion, Resilience continues empowering survivors through all our key programs. Thank you for all the ways you supported us during SAAM 2022! We appreciate you! Thank you to Resilience staff Maggie Arthur and Dr. LaShanda Nalls for leading Resilience's SAAM 2022 planning. Thank you to our committees who organized various SAAM events including the T-Shirt Designing Open Studios (Annalise Castro), Breaking the Silence Café (Miranda Ehmke and Annalise Castro), and Standing Silent Witness (Taryn Smith and Sharonda Polk). Thank you to Renee Odom for designing our SAAM shirt with Raygun and to the Resilience Development Department. We could not have brought these events to life without you. | | | |  | | |  | Participants gather at Federal Plaza for Standing Silent Witness, Resilience's signature SAAM event | | | | | | You're invited to the Empowerment 5K Saturday, June 4, 8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. Burnham Park, 1199 E Oakwood Blvd, Chicago, IL 60653 You're invited to the first-ever Empowerment 5K hosted by the Associate Board! We will walk, run, and roll together on Saturday, June 4 as we welcome summer at the lakefront! Bring your friends, family, and dogs to this event. The course is accessible and does not include any stairs. Participants will receive a t-shirt and other merch at the finish line. Register today to help support Resilience's services that come at no cost to survivors and their loved ones. Learn more about becoming an Empowerment 5K sponsor here. Information about child pricing and family and group packages is available on the registration page below. We hope to see you there on June 4! | | | |  | | | | | Join us for the third annual Celebrating Resilience Luncheon on June 7 | |  | Tuesday, June 7, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. The University Club of Chicago (76 E Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60603) You’re invited to join us next month for the Celebrating Resilience Luncheon. On June 7, we’ll celebrate this premier annual event. Join us as we gather with supporters, corporate and community partners, friends, and allies. This year we are thrilled to be joined by keynote speaker Marianne Markowitz, President and CEO of First Women's Bank. First Women’s Bank is the only commercial bank in the country founded, owned, and led by women with a strategic focus on the women’s economy. This in-person event will take place at the University Club of Chicago (76 E Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60603). We hope you will join us for this special and exclusive event. Registration closes June 1, so get your tickets today! Interested in sponsoring the Celebrating Resilience Luncheon? Learn more here. Purchase tickets and sponsorship by clicking the button below. | | | | | | Introducing the Celebrating Resilience Podcast | |  | Resilience is excited to announce our newest project: the Celebrating Resilience Podcast! You can listen to the first episode, featuring special guests Melissa Center and Jenniffer Weigel, now. In this first episode, our hosts Erin Walton, Executive Director of Resilience, and special guest Jenniffer Weigel have a conversation about the healing power of art with actress and filmmaker Melissa Center. We discuss her short film "His Name is Niv, a Story about Consent," which Melissa wrote and directed, as well as Melissa's journey of healing. You can also view this Melissa's short film here. Stay tuned for more episodes of the Celebrating Resilience Podcast throughout the year! | | | | | | We're looking for our next class of Volunteer Medical Advocates Resilience is searching for our next training class of volunteer medical advocates. The deadline to apply for our Summer 2022 volunteer training is June 29. An orientation session (by invitation only) will be held in July, and the training will take place in July and August. To learn more about our volunteer program, click here. Interested in becoming a volunteer medical advocate later instead? The deadline to apply for our Fall 2022 training is September 28. Reach out to us at volunteer@ourresilience.org with questions! | | | | | |  | Group for Childhood Sexual Violence Survivors – Virtual Mondays, May 23 - July 25, 2022, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. This group is for female-identifying people, trans women, and nonbinary people who have experienced childhood sexual violence. This group will focus on helping survivors regulate emotions while maintaining relationships with self and others. Must be 18 years or older. Interested participants should contact Katrina Ramirez at cintern1@ourresilience.org or call (872) 204-7791. | | Preventing and Responding to Sexual Violence in Higher Education Trainings – Virtual Friday, May 27, 2022, 10:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. via Zoom This virtual training is intended for higher education professionals providing student survivor support or responding to student disclosures of sexual or domestic violence. We will provide an in-depth look at identifying and understanding sexual and intimate partner violence, stalking, and domestic violence. Participants will explore the impact of trauma and trauma responses, as well as legal and medical options for survivors. | | | | | | Confidential Advisor 40-Hour Training – Virtual June 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, and 16, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. via Zoom To assist local higher education institutions in ensuring compliance with the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, Resilience offers a 40-hour training specifically designed for Confidential Advisors. Resilience has an extensive history of working with higher education institutions, providing student support, policy consultation, technical assistance, training, and prevention education to 13 Chicago-area higher education institutions. Seats are limited. CEUs available. Reach out to Maggie Arthur at marthur@ourresilience.org or 872-356-8215 with questions. | |  | | | | | Work with Us! Resilience is Hiring Resilience is looking for new talent to join our ranks in support of survivors of sexual violence. The following positions are currently open: To learn more about careers at Resilience, click here. Know someone who might be a good fit? Send them this email! | | | | | | | | Resilience
180 N. Michigan Ave. Suite 600 | Chicago, Illinois 60601
312-443-9603 | info@ourresilience.org | | | | | | | | | | | |
