Chicago networking

The Canright Calendar is a weekly email of networking events in Chicago. View all of our events here. Sign up for the list here. If you have any other suggestions you’d like us to consider, send them to Alexandra at alexandra@canrightcommunications.com.

WEEK OF 06-04-2025

From revitalizing Chicago’s disinvested neighborhoods to honoring the legacy of Juneteenth and tackling the evolving workplace, these events offer powerful opportunities to engage with the most pressing issues of our time. Learn how cross-sector partnerships are transforming communities like Austin, explore the role of Black economic empowerment in closing the wealth gap, and gain fresh insight into the future of work in an AI-driven era. Each event brings together leaders, experts, and changemakers committed to building a more inclusive, equitable, and forward-thinking future. Revitalizing Historically Disinvested Communities City Club of Chicago June 9, 2025 Maggiano’s Banquets 111 W. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL  Chicago’s Austin neighborhood is a compelling example of how a coordinated public-private investment strategy can positively impact the lives and livelihoods of local residents. In this historically disinvested community on the West Side, nonprofit, community, public and private organizations have worked alongside residents to design and leverage investments that are creating new economic opportunities and systematically transforming the neighborhood—like the Aspire Center, which is set to open June 19.   United Way of Metro Chicago is working in 17 Chicago neighborhoods and suburban communities, including Austin, Auburn Gresham and Elgin, to help bring community vision to life and make catalytic investments with some of Chicago’s most stalwart corporate partners like BMO.   Join Darrel Hackett (U.S. CEO, BMO), Darnell Shields (Executive Director, Austin Coming Together) and Dr. Kimberlee Guenther (Chief Impact Officer, United Way of Metro Chicago) to learn more about how United Way’s Neighborhood Network Initiative has created a blueprint of intentional cross-sector collaboration that can revitalize disinvested communities across the Chicago region. Register A Juneteenth Freedom Celebration: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce June 17, 2025 Baker Tilly 205 N Michigan, Plaza Room, 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL Join us on June 17th for A Juneteenth Freedom Celebration: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future, an event designed to educate our members, partners, emerging leaders, and volunteers about the significance and history of Juneteenth and the role that this celebration plays in advancing Black economic empowerment and freedom. This impactful program will explore the historical context of Juneteenth, examine the effects of past and present tax policies on wealth distribution, highlight the importance of agriculture in the Black economy, and discuss how entrepreneurship can assist in providing opportunities to close the racial wealth gap. Register The Future of Work Summit 2025 Executives’ Club of Chicago June 18, 2025 425 S Financial Pl, Floor 3, Chicago, IL As organizations rapidly integrate AI and advanced technologies into their operations, the concept of “the future of work” is no longer a distant vision—it’s a present-day challenge, and opportunity. This summit explores how the workplace is being reshaped by innovation, workplace culture, and evolving employee and customer expectations. With AI promising greater efficiency and smarter decision-making, concerns are also emerging around unintended consequences: siloed teams, eroding culture, and diminished human connection at the workplace. Leaders must now navigate not just technological change, but also the important intersection of personal communication, human engagement, the physical environment and cohesion across increasingly evolving workplaces. Register   National Great Outdoors Month Founded in 1998, National Great Outdoors Month is a reminder to celebrate and explore the natural beauty that surrounds us—from scenic trails and winding rivers to serene forests and wildlife refuges. It also raises awareness about the importance of making the outdoors accessible to everyone. Whether you’re hiking, biking, paddling, or simply enjoying the fresh air, it’s the perfect time to reconnect with nature and advocate for the spaces that allow us all to do so. Great Outdoors Month Ideas: – Visit a State or National Park. – Volunteer as a summer camp counselor. – Take an outdoor photography class.  – Sign up for Northern Lights tour.  – Go deep-sea diving. Learn how to identify birds and go birding.  – Share your enthusiasm for nature with a group of students and take them on a nature hike.   – Become a Big Brother or Big Sister and go on a group nature bike trail.  – Share your ideas on social media using #GreatOutdoorsMonth. Learn more Arts Corner Canright account manager Alexandra Sulack is an opera singer and voice teacher. She curates arts recommendations for you. Titanique Mar 25 – Jul 13, 2025 Broadway in Chicago All aboard NYC’s must-sea musical comedy! When the music of Céline Dion makes sweet Canadian love with the eleven-time Oscar®-winning blockbuster film “Titanic,” you get Titanique, off-Broadway’s most award-winning splash hit, which turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia. Want to find out what really happened to Jack and Rose on that fateful night? Just leave it to Céline Dion to enchant the audience with her totally wild take, recharting the course of Titanic’s beloved moments and characters with her iconic song catalog. Sailing on fierce powerhouse voices in show-stopping performances of such hits as “My Heart Will Go On,” “All By Myself” and “To Love You More” – backed by the unparalleled energy of a full live band – Titanique is a one-of-a-kind theatrical voyage bursting with nostalgia, heart and campy chaos. Tickets & More Info If you have any other suggestions you’d like us to consider, send them to Alexandra at alexandra@canrightcommunications.com.