Sun-Times file Black politicians and others connected to politics in Chicago are joining forces for a six-month training program for the next generation of Black leaders. The program, called the Black Bench, will launch on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and is co-chaired by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and Jacky Grimshaw, a political advisor for the late Mayor Harold Washington and the current vice president of government affairs for the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Members of the program’s advisory board include Michael Strautmanis, chief engagement officer of the Obama Foundation; Andy Zopp, managing partner for Cleveland Avenue; Kurt Summers, former Chicago city treasurer; Greg Kelly, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Jonathan T. Swain, an election commissioner with the city’s Board of Election Commissioners.