HR1278 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1278 LRB098 22723 GRL 61660 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate the administration and staff of the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst on the occasion of the organization's 20th anniversary; and

WHEREAS, The Citizen Advocacy Center is an award-winning, non-profit, non-partisan free community legal organization; the Center was founded in 1993 by Therese Amato, who served as the Center's first executive director for 8 years and currently serves as Board President; and

WHEREAS, The Citizen Advocacy Center seeks to build democracy for the 21st century by strengthening the citizenry's capacities, resources, and institutions for self-governance; to do so, the Center seeks to increase democratic protocols at every level of government and develop the voice of the public through efforts that start at the local level and become State-wide initiatives to address anti-democratic barriers rooted in State law; and

WHEREAS, The Citizen Advocacy Center operates through the use of community lawyers who protect the public's assets and promote meaningful participation in the democratic process; as an institution made of community lawyers, the Center engages in a multi-faceted approach to building democracy through community organizing, coalition building, legal advocacy, civic education, and litigation to make government more accountable, accessible, and transparent; and

WHEREAS, The Citizen Advocacy Center makes itself open for the public to obtain free civic resource materials, ask questions of the Center's community lawyers on matters of public concern, engage in civic discussion, learn about local issues, attend training workshops, and develop skills for participating in civic affairs; and

WHEREAS, The Citizen Advocacy Center is committed to making government more accountable to the people by developing and empowering the voice of citizens; promoting individual and community efforts to resolve contemporary societal problems involving the health, safety, and general well-being of the communities of the western and far western suburbs of Chicago; furthering the public knowledge and understanding of democratic tools and how they can be employed for societal problem solving; stimulating citizen awareness of and involvement in the community; helping citizens to act on issues of public significance; litigating on behalf of select citizen causes to sustain access to justice; and monitoring local government to insure accountability and to deter officials from acting contrary to the general interest of the community; and

WHEREAS, The Citizen Advocacy Center engages local communities through numerous public initiatives, including the Civic Empowerment Zone, the Center's youth civic education program; the Center's community lawyers have worked with journalists on Open Meetings Act, Freedom of Information Act, and First Amendment issues; the Center has also launched a Midwest Open Government Project, a comprehensive study of the Freedom of Information and Open Meetings Acts in Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, among many other initiatives; and

WHEREAS, The administration and staff of the Citizen Advocacy Center serve as models of hard work, integrity, and dedication for the people of the State of Illinois; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the administration and staff of the Citizen Advocacy Center on the occasion of the organization's 20th anniversary and wish them continued success and happiness in the future; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Citizen Advocacy Center as a symbol of our esteem and respect.