As executive director of Chicago Foundation for Women, Kelly White oversees one of the largest women’s funds in the world. The Foundation’s core issues are comprehensive access to health services and information, freedom from violence and economic security. Since 1986 the Foundation has awarded nearly $16 million in grants.

Kelly White is a native of western Kansas and a graduate of the University of Kansas. She began her career as an occupational therapist working with children with developmental disabilities but quickly realized her real interest lay in fi guring out how to make agencies “work” and, for the past 25 years, that is exactly what Kelly has been doing.

As executive director of the Developmental Preschool and Daycare in Laramie, Wyo., her energies were focused on programs that assisted families and children in crisis. In 1988, she moved to Denver, Colo. to become executive director of SafeHouse for Battered Women. She was successful in moving the shelter into a renovated mansion, and she increased agency budget and service statistics by 300 percent over four years.

From July 1993 until December 2003, Kelly was the executive director of SafePlace in Austin, Tex. She began her position as the executive director of the Center for Battered Women and helped guide the organization through the merger process as they joined the Austin Rape Crisis Center to become an agency that provided services to all who experience personal violence. During her tenure, the organization more than quadrupled in size, with the staff increasing from 44 to 160 and the annual operating budget growing from $1.4 million to $8.4 million. She also led the agency through two major building and capital campaigns that included the funding, planning and building of a 40-unit transitional housing apartment community, a 24,000 client resource center, a 105-bed family shelter, an on-site shelter school and a child development center. All land and construction was completely paid off prior to Kelly’s stepping down as executive director. In addition, Kelly led the development of a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) as a subsidiary corporation to SafePlace, and the funding and construction of a 184-unit tax credit affordable housing apartment complex.

Under Kelly’s leadership, SafePlace became known as a national leader in providing services to those who have been victims of violence. Groups and individuals from as far away as Japan, Pakistan and Belgium have visited the new shelter site. The Transitional Housing apartment community, which helps homeless families make the transition to self-suffi ciency, has been recognized as a national model program. Additionally, the agency has developed several curriculums and trainings designed to help teach people how to prevent abuse and violence, including the school-based Expect Respect program and Disability Services Stop the Violence Break the Silence curriculum, both of which have also been recognized as national model programs.

Kelly stepped down from her position as SafePlace executive director in order to run for offi ce, a race she lost by a heartbreaking 147 votes. She then served as interim executive director at Annie’s List, a state political action committee dedicated to electing progressive women to statewide and down-ballot races.

A 1996 graduate of Leadership Texas, Kelly was the inaugural recipient of the United Way/Capital Area Agency Executive of the Year Award. She has received the Austin Community Foundation Executive Director of the Year award, the SafePlace Guardian Award, Leadership Austin’s Essential Alumni Award and Boston’s ROSE Foundation award. She has been a guest on Good Morning America, The Montel Williams Show and many other local and regional programs.

In addition, Kelly is a formerly battered woman who strives to bring a human face to a problem that has been hidden behind closed doors and shrouded in shame and secrecy for too many years. She has lived most aspects of domestic violence programs—having stayed in a shelter, dealt with the criminal justice system’s response to battered women and juggled the many competing priorities a single mom faces. She brings this experience into her work, trying to never forget the fear and hardship, as well as the resilience of the human spirit, that have brought her to where she is today. In her honor, the SafePlace Family Shelter building was named the Kelly White Shelter in 2003.

As executive director of Chicago Foundation for Women, Kelly White oversees one of the largest women’s funds in the world. The Foundation’s core issues are comprehensive access to health services and information, freedom from violence and economic security. Since 1986 the Foundation has awarded nearly $16 million in grants.

Kelly White is a native of western Kansas and a graduate of the University of Kansas. She began her career as an occupational therapist working with children with developmental disabilities but quickly realized her real interest lay in fi guring out how to make agencies “work” and, for the past 25 years, that is exactly what Kelly has been doing.

As executive director of the Developmental Preschool and Daycare in Laramie, Wyo., her energies were focused on programs that assisted families and children in crisis. In 1988, she moved to Denver, Colo. to become executive director of SafeHouse for Battered Women. She was successful in moving the shelter into a renovated mansion, and she increased agency budget and service statistics by 300 percent over four years.

From July 1993 until December 2003, Kelly was the executive director of SafePlace in Austin, Tex. She began her position as the executive director of the Center for Battered Women and helped guide the organization through the merger process as they joined the Austin Rape Crisis Center to become an agency that provided services to all who experience personal violence. During her tenure, the organization more than quadrupled in size, with the staff increasing from 44 to 160 and the annual operating budget growing from $1.4 million to $8.4 million. She also led the agency through two major building and capital campaigns that included the funding, planning and building of a 40-unit transitional housing apartment community, a 24,000 client resource center, a 105-bed family shelter, an on-site shelter school and a child development center. All land and construction was completely paid off prior to Kelly’s stepping down as executive director. In addition, Kelly led the development of a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) as a subsidiary corporation to SafePlace, and the funding and construction of a 184-unit tax credit affordable housing apartment complex.

Under Kelly’s leadership, SafePlace became known as a national leader in providing services to those who have been victims of violence. Groups and individuals from as far away as Japan, Pakistan and Belgium have visited the new shelter site. The Transitional Housing apartment community, which helps homeless families make the transition to self-suffi ciency, has been recognized as a national model program. Additionally, the agency has developed several curriculums and trainings designed to help teach people how to prevent abuse and violence, including the school-based Expect Respect program and Disability Services Stop the Violence Break the Silence curriculum, both of which have also been recognized as national model programs.

Kelly stepped down from her position as SafePlace executive director in order to run for offi ce, a race she lost by a heartbreaking 147 votes. She then served as interim executive director at Annie’s List, a state political action committee dedicated to electing progressive women to statewide and down-ballot races.

A 1996 graduate of Leadership Texas, Kelly was the inaugural recipient of the United Way/Capital Area Agency Executive of the Year Award. She has received the Austin Community Foundation Executive Director of the Year award, the SafePlace Guardian Award, Leadership Austin’s Essential Alumni Award and Boston’s ROSE Foundation award. She has been a guest on Good Morning America, The Montel Williams Show and many other local and regional programs.

In addition, Kelly is a formerly battered woman who strives to bring a human face to a problem that has been hidden behind closed doors and shrouded in shame and secrecy for too many years. She has lived most aspects of domestic violence programs—having stayed in a shelter, dealt with the criminal justice system’s response to battered women and juggled the many competing priorities a single mom faces. She brings this experience into her work, trying to never forget the fear and hardship, as well as the resilience of the human spirit, that have brought her to where she is today. In her honor, the SafePlace Family Shelter building was named the Kelly White Shelter in 2003.