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HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives recognize that over the last 150 years,
4beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation, African
5Americans have made strides and advancements toward equality;
6the Civil Rights Movement enabled groundbreaking legislation
7such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965; today, we pay annual
8tribute to one of the pioneers and most prominent stars of the
9Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; however,
10there is still much work to be done particularly as it relates
11to the economic disparity in too many African American
12communities; and
 
13    WHEREAS, We recognize that communities throughout Illinois
14are struggling under the weight of many economic and social
15problems including unemployment, poverty, mortgage
16foreclosures, deficiencies in public health services, and
17crime; and
 
18    WHEREAS, These economic and societal challenges created or
19exacerbated conditions which include inequalities in access to
20justice in the civil court system, an overburdened and
21ineffective criminal justice system, overcrowding conditions
22in correctional facilities, increased homelessness, increases
23in teen pregnancy, inadequate educational opportunities, a

 

 

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1lack of affordable housing, insufficient delivery of social
2services to the less fortunate, and deficiencies in the
3delivery of public health services; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Although unemployment is a lingering problem for
5the economy as a whole, a recent study revealed that the recent
6unemployment rate for blacks in Illinois was 17.5%, compared to
78.2% for whites, and 9.8% for all workers; and
 
8    WHEREAS, 75.5% of homicide victims in the State of Illinois
9are black, and in the first 6 months of 2012, when there was a
1038% increase in the homicide rate, 77.6% of homicide victims in
11the City of Chicago were black; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The teen birth rate in the United States was
13recently 38.1 births for every 1,000 teens, but in a comparable
14time period in Illinois the teen birth rate was 77.9 births for
15every 1,000 teens for black teens, while the white teen birth
16rate was 20.6 per every 1,000 teens; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The inmate population in the Illinois
18Correctional system is approximately 58% black, and the high
19proportion of young black males with criminal convictions is a
20well-recognized phenomenon; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Black leaders in Illinois are not alone in

 

 

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1recognizing that these broad social problems often strike the
2hardest in the black community; and
 
3    WHEREAS, It is painful for the black leaders to ponder the
4stories of human struggle, despair, and hurt that all too often
5over shadow the stories of success and hope; and
 
6    WHEREAS, State government resources are expended in
7ever-increasing amounts to address these social and economic
8problems and those expenditures are a significant drain on the
9State's road to financial stability; and
 
10    WHEREAS, State government, taxpayers, members of the
11General Assembly, and the black community could benefit from
12the creation of an action plan that identifies: what
13modifications could be made to existing State of Illinois
14programs, including those statutory and regulatory changes to
15the current laws and regulations in Illinois that could
16dramatically improve the delivery of services and also reduce
17wasteful spending, how leadership programs and new educational
18opportunities will foster and equip new leadership in the black
19community, and ways in which State government may actively
20create a change environment that will have positive impacts on
21the many social problems that exist in Illinois, especially in
22the black community; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
2NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
3we urge the Governor to create a commission, composed of
4stakeholders in the communities where these problems continue
5to devastated families, representatives of appropriate State
6agencies, ministers, business leaders, and all community
7appropriate stake holders to explore, discuss, and coordinate
8efforts to prepare an action plan to offer enhanced State
9governmental services in a meaningful way, foster leadership in
10communities, and create programs that can foster success in
11addressing the myriad of social and economic problems in the
12affected communities; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That we urge that the Governor appoint members of
14the commission by August 1, 2013 so as to allow the commission
15to hold its first meeting soon after the appointments; and be
16it further
 
17    RESOLVED, That the commission be charged with: finding and
18creating innovative means to address and meet the numerous
19needs of the black community, designing plans to assist and
20enhance the efforts of State agencies and local governments
21that serve blacks in communities throughout the State,
22analyzing other successful State and local governmental
23programs in law enforcement, job retraining, education,
24economic opportunity, job creation, social services, and

 

 

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1public health, and developing an action plan that includes
2information about changes and improvements to existing
3programs that can be made without allocating additional tax
4dollars to the programs by reallocating existing resources; and
5be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That we urge the commission to hold public
7hearings and issue a written report of its findings and
8recommendations to the Governor and to the General Assembly on
9or before December 30, 2013; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
11delivered to Governor Pat Quinn.