Chicago Magazine Names Leslie Bluhm '89 One of Six Chicagoans of the Year

Chicago Magazine has named Leslie Bluhm, '89, as one of six "Chicagoans of the Year" for 2011 for her work with Chicago Cares. From the Chicago Magazine website:

A University of Chicago Law School graduate, former attorney, and self-described workaholic do-gooder, Bluhm cofounded the nonprofit Chicago Cares after noticing that her colleagues weren’t volunteering. “I realized it wasn’t because they didn’t want to volunteer,” she recalls. “They really had no idea where to turn. They were afraid of overcommitting, or they didn’t want to do it alone.”

Bluhm had a simple but innovative solution: partner with nonprofit organizations to create service opportunities for busy working people. Since its inception, Chicago Cares has hosted over 330,000 volunteers. Collectively they have clocked more than a million hours of service, tutoring at-risk children, preparing meals at shelters, leading art workshops, and teaching computer skills to seniors, among other things.