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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) is
3a community-based, non-profit organization serving the
4Brighton Park community, a predominantly Latinx, low-income
5working class neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side; and
 
6    WHEREAS, BPNC's mission is to create a safer community,
7improve the learning environment at public schools, preserve
8affordable housing, provide a voice for youth, protect
9immigrants' rights, promote gender equity, and end all forms
10of violence; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Founded in 1997, BPNC unites individuals and
12neighborhood institutions to organize campaigns to obtain
13essential resources for a predominantly immigrant community,
14improve public policy, and address the root causes of poverty
15and inequality; and
 
16    WHEREAS, BPNC works to address a range of community issues
17through school and community-based services, including
18school-based programs, trauma-informed counseling addressing
19child abuse and domestic violence, violence prevention, case
20management services, health and wellness, foreclosure
21prevention and financial literacy, and public benefits
22enrollment; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Since its inception in 1997, BPNC has worked to
2achieve three goals: (1) to develop and train community
3residents as grassroots leaders to lead campaigns for
4neighborhood improvement and development, (2) to develop the
5social service infrastructure to address the needs of the
6community, and (3) to build community by bringing together
7leaders and institutions from throughout the neighborhood; its
8model engages low-income and immigrant Latinx community
9members who are most affected by the lack of access to
10healthcare, public education funding inequities, immigration
11reform, and economic injustice; and
 
12    WHEREAS, BPNC works to unite local institutions, community
13leaders, funders, community partners, and vested stakeholders
14to improve the service infrastructure of the Brighton Park
15community; it has worked diligently to increase community
16partnerships and improve collaborations with local
17institutions and philanthropic organizations to maximize
18funder dollars without duplicating programs; and
 
19    WHEREAS, In 2012, BPNC worked with United Way Metropolitan
20Chicago (UWMC) to develop the Brighton Park Neighborhood
21Network (BPNN), which focuses its efforts on developing an
22infrastructure of social services within Brighton Park to
23support cradle-to-career opportunities for children, youth,

 

 

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1and young adults; BPNN has worked collaboratively to develop a
2common agenda to develop a more robust and efficient social
3service infrastructure and to engage institutions and
4community leaders in policy change campaigns in the four key
5areas of violence prevention and public safety, education,
6health, and income/economic development; through the BPNN
7collaborative, BPNC has coordinated resources among community
8service providers and other institutions to develop a pipeline
9of services to support student's academic and social emotional
10growth from 1st grade to 12th grade; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Over the course of its inception, BPNC has served
12thousands of families across Brighton Park and the southwest
13side of Chicago in a variety of capacities; most recently,
14since April 2020, BPNC has provided over $2.5 million in
15direct cash assistance, food assistance, rental and mortgage
16assistance, and utility assistance for over 1,000 families in
17the community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; over the
18past ten years, BPNC has registered over 8,500 people to
19become part of the donor registry in Illinois; BPNC has also
20seen hundreds of individuals become U.S. citizens through its
21citizenship program; BPNC continues to maintain a strong
22commitment to its full-service community schools program,
23working closely with local Chicago Public School partners to
24provide students and their families academic,
25social-emotional, and mental health support; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
2ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge support for
3community-based, non-profit organizations such as the Brighton
4Park Neighborhood Council as they strive to improve their
5neighborhoods; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7presented to the BPNC as a symbol of our respect and esteem.