HR0561 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0561 LRB104 16225 LAW 29609 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate Kim Villanueva of Springfield on the occasion of her election as national president of the National Organization of Women (NOW); and

WHEREAS, NOW, founded in 1966, is a grassroots organization dedicated to women's rights with 37 state chapters and local chapters in every state; its six core issues are reproductive rights and justice, ending violence against women, economic justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, racial justice, and constitutional equality; and

WHEREAS, Kim Villanueva has been a member since joining the NOW Springfield Chapter in 1987; as her first action, she organized a Take Back the Night rally at the Old State Capitol to raise funds for local domestic violence and sexual assault agencies; at the age of 25, she became one of the youngest state presidents in the organization's herstory, serving as state president of Illinois NOW from 1989 to 1991, where she recruited members, spoke at rallies and legislative hearings, and helped build bipartisan coalitions on sexual harassment and family medical leave, leading to Illinois NOW's recognition by Illinois Times readers as the "Most Effective Advocacy Group" in 1990; and

WHEREAS, Kim Villanueva has further served Illinois NOW through chairing the Illinois NOW Political Action Committee (PAC) from 1989 to 1994 and 1999 to 2001, during which she registered voters and organized phone banks to elect Carol Moseley Braun as the first African American woman in the United States Senate in 1992; she was also the downstate organizer for the 2013 March on Springfield for Marriage Equality and the 2018 campaign to ratify the ERA in Illinois, and she served on the Illinois NOW committee that drafted a proposed Freedom of Choice Act that became the precursor to the Illinois Reproductive Health Act adopted in 2019; and

WHEREAS, Kim Villanueva has served NOW on the national level through numerous roles, including as a board member of the NOW PAC and the NOW Equality PAC from 1995 to 1998 and 2013 to 2016, as a member of the NOW Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018, and as chair of the NOW Elections Committee from 2017 to 2022, where she partnered with a team of state presidents to revolutionize NOW's election procedures, implement hybrid voting, and boost member involvement during the COVID-19 pandemic; she proceeded to serve on the NOW Board of Directors for a second time from 2022 to 2024; she also co-founded NOW's Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Caucus, and she has served on several other national NOW boards and committees; and

WHEREAS, Outside of NOW, Kim Villanueva has nearly 40 years of experience in legislative advocacy, member relations, fund development, and board governance through her previous role as communications director for the Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA), advocating for the nation's third largest community college system; during her tenure, she helped raise the visibility of community colleges as important educational institutions and twice served as acting executive director of ICCTA; and

WHEREAS, Kim Villanueva has contributed to the community through leading a number of organizations, including as founding co-chair of the Central Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force, president of the YWCA of Springfield, chair of the University of Illinois Springfield's Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation Committee, treasurer of the Illinois Women's Political Caucus and the Springfield Women's Political Caucus, president of the Springfield Area Arts Council, and president of the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation; and

WHEREAS, Kim Villanueva, as national president of NOW, will serve at the NOW Washington, D.C. Chapter for a four-year term until 2029; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Kim Villanueva on being elected national president of the National Organization of Women (NOW), and we wish her success in her new role; and be it further

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