Risé Jones, executive director of the nonprofit Hamilton Wings arts program and active in the Elgin community, is being remembered for her dedication to Elgin’s arts scene and her entrepreneurial spirit.
Jones died unexpectedly Dec. 7. Her age was not available and no information on her cause of death released. A memorial service is being planned for Jan. 4 at Elgin Community College.
“Risé was a charismatic community leader with boundless enthusiasm and passion for the community and the multitude of organizations she supported,” said Carol Gieske, president and CEO of the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Her gregarious nature and infectious laughter made her an impactful mentor, leader, volunteer, influencer and colleague, touching the lives of everyone she encountered.”
The chamber honored Jones earlier this year with a Volunteer of the Year award for her contributions to the community, Gieske said. She was a chamber board member for three years and was to start another year Jan. 1.
“We are immensely grateful for Risé’s dynamic leadership and contributions,” Gieske said. “She excelled in program development and collaboration, creating our Bridges program to support Black- and brown-owned small businesses. Through her leadership and community-building skills, she created a vision of a vibrant Elgin, celebrating and engaging businesses and entrepreneurs that reflect our city’s cultural, ethnic and racial diversity.”
Jones founded Hamilton Wings with her mother, the late Ann Jones, then a District U-46 elementary school principal, in 1996. It was named in the memory of her father, psychologist Charles Hamilton Jones.
Hamilton Wings is a “collaborative self-esteem enrichment program for children to promote self-awareness, self-expression and responsibility to self and others through exposure to the arts,” Jones wrote on her LinkedIn page.
According to the organization’s website, “it offers educational workshops and cultural enrichment programs. Its mission is for all children to participate and appreciate the arts and contribute their voices to the cultural landscape.”
A post left on Hamilton Wings’ Facebook page lauded Jones for her accomplishments. Her “generosity, love, and joy for the community and children of it could not be matched,” the post said. “To say she will be missed would be an understatement, but we hope her spirit and the joy she brought can continue to be shared through all the lives she has impacted.”
She was also a partner/evaluator for Evaluation Solutions Inc., a position she started in 2001. The business “develops services that facilitate capacity building and effective, integrated organizational solutions,” her LinkedIn profile said.
Jones served on the Elgin Community College Board of Trustees from 2012-13 and was a senior research specialist at the University of Illinois Chicago from 1998 to 2010.
She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her doctorate in public policy analysis from the University of Illinios and her master’s degree in public management and policy from Carnegie Mellon University.
In Elgin, she was active with several organizations, including the YWCA Elgin, where she served on the board of directors and was honored with a Leader Luncheon Award.
“The loss of Risé will be felt deeply, not only within our organization but across the Elgin community she served so passionately,” the YWCA posted on social media. “She was a beacon of hope and a role model for leadership, leaving behind a legacy that will inspire us to continue the work she held so dear.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
