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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Feeding Illinois, the State association of 8 food | ||||||
3 | banks serving all 102 counties, has found that more than 1.8 | ||||||
4 | million of our 12.9 million citizens are "food insecure", | ||||||
5 | meaning that 14.2% of our families, neighbors, and colleagues | ||||||
6 | lack adequate access to the sustenance needed for a healthy and | ||||||
7 | productive life; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow won a 2014 | ||||||
9 | Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles about food insecurity | ||||||
10 | which he described as "a lasting scar" of the 2008 economic | ||||||
11 | collapse; and
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12 | WHEREAS, The number of Illinois citizens participating in | ||||||
13 | the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) | ||||||
14 | (formerly the Food Stamp Program) has increased 40.7% between | ||||||
15 | January of 2009 and January of 2014; and
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16 | WHEREAS, The federal government responded to changing | ||||||
17 | public interest by modifying SNAP to enable program recipients | ||||||
18 | to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and | ||||||
19 | farm stands; and
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20 | WHEREAS, SNAP is one of 16 federal feeding programs | ||||||
21 | spending approximately $4 billion a year in Illinois; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, On May 5, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson's | ||||||
2 | aide, Sargent Shriver, proposed that the "War on Poverty" | ||||||
3 | incorporate a grassroots component based on this observation: | ||||||
4 | "Wherever local communities have started programs to help the | ||||||
5 | poor help themselves, the response has exceeded all | ||||||
6 | expectations"; and
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7 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Commission on the Eradication of | ||||||
8 | Poverty, created by statute in 2008, produced a strategic plan | ||||||
9 | that affirms Sargent Shriver's proposal by asserting: "...the | ||||||
10 | best solutions for poverty (oftentimes) come from local | ||||||
11 | innovation"; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Illinois schools provide subsidized meals for one | ||||||
13 | of every 5 Illinois children because they come from families | ||||||
14 | that exceed federal poverty guidelines; and
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15 | WHEREAS, Local food, nutrition, and agriculture plans at | ||||||
16 | the municipal and rural township level could provide structure | ||||||
17 | to support projects designed to help end hunger and poverty in | ||||||
18 | urban, suburban, exurban, and rural communities throughout | ||||||
19 | Illinois; and | ||||||
20 | WHEREAS, At least 6 Governors' councils and commissions | ||||||
21 | possess unique expertise and functions that, if aligned through |
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1 | a collaborative process, could result in the improved delivery | ||||||
2 | of public and private resources for the benefit of | ||||||
3 | community-based initiatives to help end hunger and reduce | ||||||
4 | poverty in Illinois; and
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5 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Commission to End Hunger, created by | ||||||
6 | statute in 2010, is exploring how to encourage partnerships | ||||||
7 | between the State's 2,000-plus food pantries and its 375-plus | ||||||
8 | farmers' markets; and
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9 | WHEREAS, The Greater Chicago Food Depository is partnering | ||||||
10 | with Heartland Alliance on an urban agriculture pilot project, | ||||||
11 | Chicago FarmWorks, to create transitional jobs for | ||||||
12 | hard-to-employ people on a 2.6-acre vegetable farm in the West | ||||||
13 | Side Chicago community of East Garfield Park; and
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14 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Council, | ||||||
15 | created by statute in 2009, is working to facilitate action | ||||||
16 | supporting the growth of local food and farm economies from the | ||||||
17 | metropolitan Chicago area to Cairo; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and | ||||||
19 | Community Service, created by statute, is discovering that | ||||||
20 | community-based local food projects could be a pathway to build | ||||||
21 | a statewide "volunteer infrastructure"; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Task Force on Social Innovation, | ||||||
2 | Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise, created by Executive Order | ||||||
3 | 11-05, has a set of charges that include the attraction of | ||||||
4 | funds "to accelerate progress on social issues, work | ||||||
5 | cross-sector, and advance social and economic development | ||||||
6 | goals"; and
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7 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Business Development Council, | ||||||
8 | created by statute in 2013, will enact an annual State business | ||||||
9 | plan based on input from such sources as "State and local | ||||||
10 | business development and marketing efforts focusing on areas of | ||||||
11 | high unemployment or poverty"; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Collaboration between these 6 State entities | ||||||
13 | could accelerate development of community-based food, | ||||||
14 | nutrition, and agricultural initiatives that contribute to | ||||||
15 | broader efforts to end hunger and reduce poverty in Illinois; | ||||||
16 | therefore, be it
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17 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
18 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
19 | we urge the Governor to design and execute a strategy to align | ||||||
20 | the unique expertise and functions of the Illinois Commission | ||||||
21 | to End Hunger, the Illinois Commission on the Eradication of | ||||||
22 | Poverty, the Illinois Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Council, the | ||||||
23 | Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, the |
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1 | Illinois Task Force of Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, | ||||||
2 | and Enterprise, and the Illinois Business Development Council | ||||||
3 | in an ongoing program to embolden and empower communities to | ||||||
4 | advance low-cost and high-return strategies to help end hunger | ||||||
5 | and poverty; and be it further
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6 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
7 | delivered to the Governor.
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