Leadership Illinois

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    Not many teachers leave their profession to provide leadership to organizations and to found institutions, but Peggy A. Montes has done just that and is moving creatively into the future. 

     Best known as a community, educational and women's rights activist and as Founder and President of the Bronzeville Children's Museum, the first and only African American children's museum in the country, she is also a seasoned civic and cultural leader.

     She has served on numerous boards, commissions and committees of city, state, national and international institutions.  She is a past Chariman of the Board of Trustees of Chicago State University, Commissioner and Chairman of the Cook County Commission on Women's Issues, a member of the Illinois Arts Council and the Illinois Literacy Advisory Board.  She is also a member of the Leadership Advisory Committee of the Art Institute of Chicago, Black Creativity Committee and African Outreach Task Force of the Museum of Science and Industry. 

     Peggy served as a volunteer for twenty-seven years at the Dusable Museum of African American History where she became its first female Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Building Committee.  Under her leadership, the $3.5 million Harold Washington Wing was constructed.  She also served as Trustee and Secretary of the Board of Provident Hospital during the leadership of John Sengstacke and fellow Trustees who guided the construction of the new Provident Hospital which later become Provident Hospital of Cook County.

     She co-founded Leadership Illinois, a women's rights empowerment group and was selected as one of the top 100 women leaders in the U.S. by Leadership America.  Through this organization, she traveled to Beijing, China as a delegate to the 1995 UN Women's Conference and served as Illinois state co-chair of the UN Women's Conference one year later.

     For many years, she has been a member of the Metro Advancement Council of the Midtown Educational Foundation.  This organization helps to develop positive role models for girls.  Peggy is also a member of the Chicago/Calumet Underground Railroad Effort, Friends of DuSable, the DuSable League, Chicago Chapter of Links, Inc. Project Exploration and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. 

     Peggy made friends across the political spectrum.  President Clinton appointed her to the White House Women's Conference over which First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton presided.  Governors Jim Edgar, George H. Ryan and Rod Blagojevick have given her appointments and Secretary of State Jesse White reappointed her to serve on the Illinois Literacy Advisory Board.  Former County Board President John H. Stroger, Jr., selected her to head his first women's commission.  She also served as a member of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's cabinet as Commissioner and Executive Director of his first Chicago Commission on Women.

     She was selected as a member of Illinois Governor George H. Ryan's Trade Mission Delegation to South Africa in 2000.  First Lady Lura Lynn and Peggy led the cultural delegation to meet with the Minister of Culture to explore cultural exchanges between Illinois and South Africa.

     Peggy lives in Chicago with her husband and is the proud mother of a son, who is an attorney and a daughter, who is an educator.  She is the doting grandmother of three delightful grandchildren.

     A world traveler, she visited Venezuela, Haiti, Russa, Africa (Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwee), South Africa (Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburgh), Carribbean, Europe and China (Beijing, Huairou, Xian, Hanzhoo, Shanghai, Macau, Hong Kong).  Her hobbies include art collecting (African, African American and from counteries of the Africa Diaspora).  Additionally, she collects First Day Covers and Unicorns.

     She has received multiple awards every year since 1999.  Some are the State of Illinois Governor's Human Rights Award, The History Makers Award, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of African American Museums, 2006 State Farm Phenomenal Woman Award, the 2006 NCNW's Making History Award, 2006 State Olympian Woman Award of Distinguished Service and the Chicago/Calumet Undrground Railrod "True North" Award.  She also received the Mary Herrick Lifetime Achievement Award, the Chicago State University Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chicago Defender's Women of Excellence Award in 2007.  In 2008, she received the OSMOSIS Community Award.

     Peggy's state-of-the-art Bronzeville Children's Museum is located at 9301 South Stony Island Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

    
 
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Leadership Illinois will accept applications beginning November 1st of each year. Applications must include three letters of recommendation for consideration. The class will be selected by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Leadership Illinois Board of Directors at its March meeting. New class members will be notified by telephone shortly after that meeting. Upon Board approval, new class members must register for all three sessions.

Please contact Shannon Fox, Program Director, at info@leadershipillinois.org or download the Leadership Illinois PDF application by clicking here.