
share this page
About
Dawn Frances Reese is the Director of Strategy for the Cleveland Avenue Foundation for Education, The CAFE. The CAFE supports and mentors underserved Chicago students & professionals by investing in organizations focused on college access and career success. Dawn Frances brings vast career experience spanning start-ups in advocacy, venture capital, and higher education focused on organizational advancement and strategic investments. Before moving to Chicago in 2012, Dawn Frances led and then sold her family’s real-estate investment firm in Mobile, Alabama.Most recently, she was the Associate Director for Advancement for Urban Labs at the University of Chicago, with a focus on improving lives in the five key areas of Education, Crime, Poverty, Health and Energy & Environment. Before joining Urban Labs, Dawn was Senior Associate of Business Development working with the Clean Energy Trust, an accelerator focused on early stage clean energy businesses in the Midwest.
Dawn Frances sits on the board of City Year Chicago, The Development Leadership Consortium, Congo Square Theatre and Urban Initiatives. She is a 2019 Chicago Urban League IMPACT fellow and a 2016 Development Leadership Consortium fellow. She previously served on Chicago Foundation for Women’s grant making committee, the Young Women’s Giving Council, and the foundation’s Civic Agenda Committee. She is a former member of the Chicago Women in Philanthropy and has lived and volunteered in Cape Town, SA. Dawn also received Chicago Crain’s prestigious 40 under 40 honor in 2018 and Chicago Scholars 35 under 35 in 2019.
Company Spotlight in Tech

Vertex Software
videos (1)
Dan Murray

Encompass AV
videos (1)

SoloInsight
videos (1)

3Discovered
videos (1)
Peer Munck

First Communications
videos (1)
Margi Shaw

DefendEdge
videos (1)
Lewis Borsellino

Mattersight
videos (1)
Kelly Conway

HS2 Solutions
videos (1)
Phil Hollyer

Blue1647
videos (1)
Emile Cambry

The Ballast Group
videos (2)
Kellee Johnson

doc&i
videos (4)
Brad Becker

Channel IQ
videos (1)
Andy Walker

SimpleRelevance, Inc.
videos (2)
Erik Severinghaus

Chicago Health Executives Forum
videos (1)
Georgia Casciato

Newark element14
videos (1)
Tamara Jurgenson

The Climate Corporation
videos (1)
Corbett Kull

Rubicon Technology
videos (1)
Bill Weissman

Infiniteach
videos (1)
Katie Hench

GuardianVets
videos (1)
John Dillon

Steadfast.net
videos (1)
James Webb

Sage Clarity Solutions
videos (1)
John Oskin

Sentact
videos (1)
Chris Dube

InstruMMents Inc.
videos (1)
Mladen Barbaric

Allant Group
videos (2)
Gaurav Issar

Scientel Solutions
videos (1)
Nelson Santos

Savoir
videos (1)
Shatabdi Basu

555 International
videos (2)
James Geier

Strata Decision Technology
videos (1)
Dan Michelson

TappedIn
videos (1)
Joseph Sheahan

Alive Telecom
videos (2)
Daniel Barton

HERE
videos (1)
AAron Dannenbring

Forte Group
videos (2)
Steve Kreynin

Novatio Solutions
videos (1)
Gokul Solai

Techweek
videos (2)
Amanda Signorelli

Antenna International
videos (1)
Dave Falter

Adage Technologies
videos (2)
Roy Chomko

Regroup Therapy
videos (1)
David Cohn

Tovala
videos (1)
David Rabie

Page Vault
videos (1)
Jeffrey Eschbach

Accretive Health Inc.
videos (1)
Dr. Emad Rizk

Peanut App
videos (1)
Michelle Kennedy

Sandstorm Design
videos (1)
Sandy Marsico

4C Insights
videos (2)
Alok Choudhary

Shift7 Digital
videos (1)
Andrew Walker

XSELL Technologies
videos (1)
Matt Coughlin

Eat Purely
videos (2)
Jeremiah Green

Steadfast Networks
videos (2)
Karl Zimmerman

Vanco International
videos (1)
Brad Corbin