Affiliate Spotlight: Disability:IN Chicagoland
Welcome to our new Affiliate Spotlight series! Each month, we’ll highlight one of our affiliates, celebrating their unique contributions to disability inclusion in their local business communities. Disability:IN affiliates are non-profit, employer-led membership-based business associations that create business-to-business connections, networking, and shared learning.
What is the “story” of your affiliate? Share the history of the affiliate.
The Chicagoland Business Leadership Network (CBLN) operated in Chicago for many years supporting local service providers to advance employment efforts for individuals with disabilities. In the early 2000s, it lost funding and was inactive for several years. In 2015, the program was relaunched as a legacy project of the Chicago Community Trust’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act with a new focus on building a business-to-business network supporting corporate disability inclusion in Chicago. It began operating with a Steering Committee, composed of business representatives, service providers and key strategic partners. And then in 2016, a Board of business representatives from the program’s eight charter Chicagoland corporate partners was created and supported by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Executive Director, Ann Kisting. In addition, an advisory committee that includes leaders from Chicago’s disability community was formed to ensure the program remained informed about relevant disability policy and advocacy issues. In 2018, the program was rebranded as Disability:IN Chicagoland and won Disability:IN’s Affiliate of the Year Award that July.
The program now has its own Executive Director and Director of Partnerships who work remotely and are led by a Board of the program’s business partners. Currently, Disability:IN Chicagoland has over 40 business partners who are connecting with one another throughout the year at a mix of in-person and virtual programs focused on various elements of disability inclusion.
What are some of the key initiatives or projects your affiliate is currently focused on? (this is where we could list the events and initiatives you already shared).
Disability:IN Chicagoland has an annual program calendar that includes a mix of both in-person and online programs each month. In 2025, the affiliate will offer a robust calendar of disability inclusion programs on topics identified by the affiliate’s Program/Events Committee. This year saw the return of the affiliate’s signature event, its Disability Inclusion Opportunity Summit. The full day in-person conference was hosted in October in recognition of Disability Employment Awareness Month. The event attracted 300 participants from Chicagoland corporate partners to learn from 30+ speakers through more than ten large and small group sessions on disability inclusion topics including: AI, accessibility, mental health, neurodiversity, disability self-identification, and supporting disability Employee/Business Resource Groups. Twelve community organizations staffed exhibitor tables to share information about their organizations with Chicagoland corporate partners.
Since 2021, D:I Chicagoland university and corporate partners have collaborated on a work group to facilitate education and awareness building around disability inclusion and create opportunities to expand the pipeline of students with disabilities connecting to Chicagoland corporate partners. The work group has hosted several webinars and networking events to build relationships between the corporate diversity recruiters and the career services professionals. All Chicagoland partner businesses are invited to join this working group at any time.
Additionally, since 2020, Disability:IN Chicagoland has partnered with several other affiliates to plan collaborative online programs offered to all affiliate corporate partners.
Can you share some background on the head of your affiliate? What is your connection to disability inclusion, and how has it influenced your leadership?
Disability:IN Chicagoland is led by Executive Director, Laura Wilhelm and its Board made up of leaders from its corporate partner businesses. Wilhelm is an attorney and social worker, with more than 20 years of experience supporting businesses’ disability inclusion efforts. Early in her career she represented children with disabilities and their families in claims to access healthcare and disability benefits to support these children’s growth and development. In the early 2000s she helped to develop a national marketing and advertising campaign – Think Beyond the Label – which communicated the business case for disability employment. This direct engagement with the business community in conversations around disability employment created a desire to further support those businesses to expand their network of inclusion resources. Since joining Disability:IN Chicagoland in 2016, Wilhelm has worked closely with the affiliate’s Board to lead the program and expand its presence among the Chicago business community. In 2021, Ann Kisting rejoined the affiliate as its Director of Partnerships with a focus on continuing to build the local business network. Since Ann’s re-engagement with Disability:IN Chicagoland, its business network has grown, adding at least 10 additional business partners each year.
