Thomas Bates

Field Fellow 2021-2022

Thomas Bates is a macro social worker focused on poverty alleviation and ending homelessness. He is a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Office of Special Needs. Previously, he led the Champaign County Continuum of Service Providers to the Homeless.

Tell us about your fellowship experience. The fellowship was interesting. My professional background until the point of my fellowship was working in local government social services and health care, where budgets were small, strained, and usually both. Walking into Field’s office at Impact House for the first time was a bit gob smacking. The modernity of it, the setting—all a far cry from aged cubicles in squat administrative offices. Field’s focus areas surprised me. I loved meeting the grantees and potential grantees and learning about their programs and impacts.

Several times, I thought about how engaging it would be to go and work for one of them. Field funds many passionate, smart, and dedicated folks. The synchronicity demonstrated by the program officers also struck me as remarkable. They clearly know Chicago, their program areas, and the grantees they work with in deep ways.

What is one memory that stands out from your experience with Field? While many things stand out, probably the most impactful was a discussion with Mark, while reviewing the Special Considerations Fund. I did not really view charity and philanthropy as different things prior to that conversation. Mark discussed philanthropy as something with a longer view—strategic, planful; whereas, charity may respond to a short-term immediate need, but leave the underlying causes untouched.