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Cradles to Crayons Names Shoshana Buchholz-Miller
Chicago Executive Director
Respected Civil and Human Rights Leader to Expand Nonprofit’s Reach and Serve More Kids in Need of Clothing and Basic Necessities
CHICAGO (Oct. 29, 2018) – Cradles to Crayons announced today that Shoshana Buchholz-Miller will join the national nonprofit providing vulnerable children from birth to age 12 living in low-income situations with the essential items they need as the executive director of their Chicago operations, starting December 3. Since opening in 2016, Cradles to Crayons Chicago has grown exponentially to serve nearly 100,000 children who are experiencing homelessness or poverty in the region. With Buchholz-Miller’s leadership and innovative ideas, the nonprofit is positioned to engage even more people in its mission to serve more Chicago children in need than ever before.
Buchholz-Miller comes to Cradles to Crayons from the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, serving as the vice president of education and exhibitions providing strategic leadership, planning, and evaluation for education initiatives and exhibitions. At the Museum, she led the development and opening of the ground-breaking Take A Stand Center, which uses first-in-the-world technology to tell Holocaust Survivor stories and to inspire visitors to engage civically. The Center has received international acclaim, including the American Alliance of Museum’s (AAM) MUSE Award, AAM’s Jim Blackaby Award for overall achievement, and a Cine Award, among others.
“Shoshana has spent the past three years at the Museum building a permanent exhibit that focuses on inspiring visitors to take action on issues important to them and giving them tools to engage civically,” explained Jack Greenberg, board chair of Cradles to Crayons Chicago. “Shoshana’s record of building an internationally-recognized education center will help C2C explore our new opportunities, engage new communities in our mission, and ultimately serve more kids in need of support.”
Prior to then, Shoshana led consulting at Arabella Advisors where she helped grow the company from a start-up to one of the leading philanthropic advisory firms in the country, where she designed and evaluated grant-making portfolios for philanthropists committed to protecting and promoting human rights and other important social issues. Ms. Buchholz-Miller’s experience also includes consulting program officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in the areas of human rights and international justice, international peace and security, and global migration and human mobility, as well as associate director of the Anti–Defamation League’s Chicago/Midwest region, leading programs to combat antisemitism and prejudice, as well as monitoring extremist groups.
“Shoshana has spent her career working for greater advancement for human rights for all people, globally and close to home,” shared Bernard Cherkasov, chief operating officer of Cradles to Crayons. “In her work at the ADL, the MacArthur Foundation, Arabella Advisors and the Illinois Holocaust Museum, she has focused on advancing civil and human rights, which includes being free from poverty, the right to health, food, shelter, and an education.”
Ms. Buchholz-Miller is a Truman National Security Fellow, a member of the Wilmette School District 39 Community Review Committee, and volunteers with the Syrian Community Network as a mentor to a refugee family. She holds a B.A. with honors from Duke University in Political Science and Russian Language and a M.S. in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Shoshana now lives in Wilmette, Ill. with her husband and three children.
Cradles to Crayons is one of the few national organizations that targets clothing insecurity, the lack of reliable access to properly fitting, seasonally appropriate and clean clothing, as a way of improving children’s well-being and school attendance. In Chicago, one in three children lives in poverty. From babies to children, families in poverty struggle to provide adequate clothing and essential items. Cradles to Crayons collects donations of new and like-new children’s clothing, boots, winter coats, books and toys and buys new pajamas and basic hygiene items to provide children with the everyday items they need to thrive.
Cradles to Crayons partnered with Koya Leadership Partners, the national executive search firm that specializes in leading mission-driven searches, to conduct this search. Koya had been involved with the initial expansion of Cradles to Crayons to Chicago, recruiting Bernard Cherkasov as the founding Executive Director in Chicago. Cherkasov has since been promoted to the chief operating officer role of Cradles to Crayons nationally.