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RSSFamily & Support Services
Leadership
- Evelyn J. Diaz
- Commissioner
Evelyn Diaz was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to lead the city’s Department of Family and Support Services after serving an appointment by former Mayor Richard M. Daley as CEO of the Chicago Workforce Investment Council (CWIC). At CWIC, Ms. Diaz was charged with ensuring the growth and success of an organization whose mission is to create a skilled and educated workforce to keep Chicago’s economy thriving.
Before joining CWIC, Ms. Diaz served as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Mayor. In that role, she served as the Mayor’s Office liaison to the city’s human capital departments (aging, children & youth, domestic violence, human services, human relations, workforce development, people with disabilities, public health) and oversaw the Mayor’s various initiatives related to poverty, jobs, and economic security.
Prior to working in the government sector, Ms. Diaz was Associate Director of the Chicago Jobs Council, an employment policy and advocacy group, where she was responsible for overseeing financial, administrative, policy, and program operations as well as coordinating Opportunity Chicago, a $23 million citywide workforce development initiative involving the Chicago Housing Authority and numerous government and education agencies in a collaborative effort to assist thousands of public housing residents enter and succeed in employment.
Ms. Diaz has also worked at the community level, first as a direct practitioner providing individual and group domestic violence counseling and managing community-based programs for disadvantaged women, and later as an aldermanic assistant in Chicago's 46th Ward where she coordinated economic development initiatives and managed the alderman's homeless, childcare, and domestic violence projects.
Ms. Diaz received her graduate degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame. Ms. Diaz is a Chicago Council on Global Affairs Emerging Leader, and she serves on the governing boards of the National Skills Coalition, The Delta Institute, Resurrection University, and the Chicago Tech Academy.
