Channing Lenert is a Program Officer at Polk Bros. Foundation. His grantmaking is concentrated in the Foundation’s Strong Communities portfolio, including workforce and economic development, housing and homelessness, legal services, and gun violence prevention. He serves on a variety of citywide philanthropic committees, including the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance, Fund for Equitable Business Growth, Press Forward, Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities, LISC’s Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards, and AFP Chicago’s Philanthropy Awards Luncheon. He additionally serves on the Economic Opportunity and Upward Mobility Initiative Team of the Mayor’s Office for Community Safety. Channing chairs the Chicago Board of LIFT, a national nonprofit that provides coaching and cash assistance to low-income parents and caregivers. His previous experience includes roles at Navy Pier, Working in the Schools, and City Year. He was a 2019 IMPACT Fellow of the Chicago Urban League and University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Channing received his MS in Nonprofit Management from the Spertus Institute and a BA in Political Science from California State University Channel Islands, where he received the University’s 2020 Distinguished Alumnus award.