HR0357 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0357 LRB104 13651 LAW 26295 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate Alan Mills on the occasion of his retirement as executive director of Uptown People's Law Center (UPLC); and

WHEREAS, Alan Mills has served UPLC for 45 years, beginning as a volunteer while attending Northwestern University School of Law in 1979; after graduating, he served as a volunteer attorney from 1981 to 1990 and then as a full-time staff attorney for two years, becoming legal director in 1992; he was appointed as executive director in 2014; and

WHEREAS, During Alan Mills' tenure as executive director, UPLC has grown from a staff of four to 20, possessing a budget of over $2 million this year, with its bank reserves having increased from being able to cover operating costs for a few weeks to having enough money to cover most of a year; and

WHEREAS, Under Alan Mills' leadership, UPLC has become a nationally recognized organization in the realm of prisoners' rights; the law center has fought tirelessly to end solitary confinement since 1981 and has developed the largest docket of civil rights cases filed on behalf of prisoners in the State of Illinois, and it currently has six pending class action cases protecting Illinois prisoners' civil rights; and

WHEREAS, Through Alan Mills' oversight, UPLC has also become a leader in fighting for tenants' rights, including defending individuals and supporting larger community resistance to gentrification and displacement, and it has played an important role in the larger grassroots organizing effort to help keep Uptown diverse and livable for thousands of people; and

WHEREAS, Alan Mills has served as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law since 2005, teaching a seminar on prisons and prisoners' rights; for more than a decade, pursuant to a contract with the courts, he has also helped train and support attorneys appointed to represent prisoners in civil rights cases by the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Alan Mills has expressed his intent to continue supporting UPLC as a part-time staff attorney; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Alan Mills on his retirement as executive director of Uptown People's Law Center (UPLC), and we wish him the best in his future endeavors; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Alan Mills as an expression of our esteem and respect.