Full Text of SR1045 097th General Assembly
SR1045 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of the Rev. Dr. Lewis Flowers, who passed | 4 | | away on December 9, 2012; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The Rev. Dr. Flowers grew up in Chicago, in the | 6 | | Cabrini-Green public housing complex; he served his country as | 7 | | a member of the United States Army in Vietnam before returning | 8 | | to Chicago, where he worked with young people as an employee of | 9 | | Chicago Public Schools; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The Rev. Dr. Flowers began studying for the | 11 | | ministry in the 1970s and was ordained in 1977; he was the | 12 | | founding pastor of the Austin Community Ministries, as well as | 13 | | a former president of the Westside Ministers Coalition and | 14 | | chairman of the Coalition's board; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The Rev. Dr. Flowers was known for his battles on | 16 | | social justice on the West Side of Chicago, particularly in the | 17 | | Austin community; as a spokesman for the Community Reinvestment | 18 | | Organizing Project, he requested that Mayor Rahm Emanuel | 19 | | include Austin, which reportedly led in the number of | 20 | | foreclosures, in the mayor's $15 million Micro-Market Recovery | 21 | | Program; he fought to keep open the Austin Business and | 22 | | Entrepreneurship Academy High School, one of 3 smaller schools |
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| 1 | | now operating in the former Austin High School building; he was | 2 | | heavily involved in getting the school started as a contract | 3 | | school; his efforts also led to Chicago's designation in 1994 | 4 | | as a federal empowerment zone, a designation that brought with | 5 | | it a total of $100 million over 2 years to promote economic | 6 | | development and jobs in several areas of the city; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The Rev. Dr. Flowers is survived by his wife, | 8 | | Cynthia; his sons, Durand, Duwone, and Elijah; his daughters, | 9 | | Lanita Joyner and Blaire Flowers; his brothers, Victor, | 10 | | Cornelius, and Dennis; his sisters, Lorinda Givens, Jocelyn | 11 | | Flowers, and Aretha Johnson; his 9 grandchildren; and his | 12 | | great-grandchild; therefore, be it
| 13 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 14 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 15 | | his family and friends, the passing of the Rev. Dr. Lewis | 16 | | Flowers; and be it further
| 17 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 18 | | presented to the family of the Rev. Dr. Lewis Flowers as an | 19 | | expression of our sympathy.
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