The L.A. Kitchen competitors

Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the restaurants industry. Skilled in Medical Devices, Sales, Management, Healthcare, and Business Development. Strong business development professional with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused in Communication, General from Eastern Illinois University.

Elise Chong joined Hope for New York in 2003. Under Elise's leadership, Hope for New York has expanded significantly distributing over $9 million in grants to organizations in New York City and growing our affiliate partner network to 40+ organizations. She has focused the organization’s resources on providing overall capacity building support, which includes not only volunteer and financial capital, but technical assistance grants further strengthening organizations to do their work even better as they provide vital resources to their communities. Growing up in a first-generation immigrant family, Elise became aware of the needs of the poor and marginalized at a very young age. Her passion for mercy and justice began at that time as she quickly understood the barriers and limitations of recent immigrants. During college, she had the unique opportunity of spending the summer teaching NYS Regents Math to immigrant youth in Washington Heights. It was that experience that further solidified her understanding of how race, class and economic disparities tangibly affect the social fabric of entire communities, families and individuals. Elise has lived in New York City for over 25 years and has been dedicated to allocating resources to underserved and marginalized communities. Prior to HFNY, Elise worked with other non-profits in New York City, including Covenant House and World Vision in the areas of giving, volunteer mobilization and disaster relief, working with vulnerable and homeless youth and serving individuals and families who had lost loved ones during September 11th. Elise received a BA from Cornell University, a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and was awarded a fellowship and received a MPA from New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.