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COOK COUNTY COMMISSION ON
SOCIAL INNOVATION
MaRia Kim
After 13 years in the insurance industry (with her last position leading the technology division for a $400m insurance firm), in 2005 Maria Kim joined Cara – a social purpose organization activating people and communities through the power of employment. In business for 25 years, Cara helps men and women affected by poverty (and often the interrelated challenges of recovery, domestic violence, episodic homelessness and incarceration) to get and keep good jobs, and more importantly rebuild hope, self-esteem and opportunity for themselves and their families in the process. They produce hundreds of jobs each year, at retention rates over 20 points higher than national norms, and with over 80% of employed participants moving onto permanent housing in which their families can thrive.
Their results don’t just end with employment. They also maintain market-competitive businesses that create gateway jobs for those they serve, and produce a profound social return on investment, where for every dollar invested in this work, $5.74 is re-invested in society over a five year time horizon. The work is important not only because of its clear goal of bringing individuals in need back to the dignity and the productivity of employment, but because of its clear mission to transform people’s lives. Families become stronger, relationships are healed, and communities become more vibrant because nothing gives you a positive outlook on life like a job.
Cara was named by Chicago Magazine as one of the city’s Top 20 Standout NonProfits to Support this Season for 2015 and was selected as the 2015 Social Innovator by the Chicago Innovation Awards.
Outside of Cara, Maria serves on the State of Illinois 21st Century Workforce Development Fund Advisory Committee and the Cook County Commission on Social Innovation. Her social purpose experience includes past board leadership at Horizons for Youth, and her current role as a Founding Board Member for the EPIC Academy, a charter high school in South Chicago. Maria also serves on the boards of Rebuilding Exchange and Chicago Women in Philanthropy. She was a fellow for Leadership Greater Chicago’s Class of 2008, served on the board for the Leadership Fellows Association in 2009 and 2010, was a 2012 American Marshall Memorial Fellow and a 2013 TEDxMidwest Emerging Leader.
Maria holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Cook County Commission on
Social Innovation
118 N. Clark, RM 567
c/0 District 7
Chicago, IL 60602
312-603-5443