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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Austin community is the second-largest
3community by population and the second-largest community
4geographically in Chicago; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The Austin community is 83 percent African
6American, with the other 17 percent spread between the
7Hispanic, White, and other ethnic groups; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The Austin community has produced a number of
9high-profile individuals, including public officials, actors,
10professional athletes, and successful business leaders but is
11mostly recognized as a community plagued with poverty and the
12Nation's highest death rates due to chronic diseases, senseless
13violence, and drugs; and
 
14    WHEREAS, According to the Chicago Health Atlas, the Austin
15community has the highest death rates associated with chronic
16illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; the
17average life expectancy of residents on the West Side of
18Chicago is only 68.2 years of life; individuals just seven
19miles East on I-290 live to be approximately 88 years old; the
20community has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the
21city at 10.5 percent compared to Chicago's overall rate of 7.9
22percent; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Nearly half of all homicides reported in 2017 in
2Chicago occurred in the Austin community; last year, 530
3murders were reported in Chicago; approximately 48.7 percent of
4those were from the Austin community; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The Austin community is also at the center of the
6opioid epidemic; the 2017 Chicago Annual Opioid Surveillance
7Report by the Chicago Department of Public Health lists the
8Austin neighborhood as the most impacted community in the
9Chicago area for opioid-related overdose deaths and the most
10impacted area for EMS responses; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Chronic diseases, homicide, and the opioid crisis
12are serious public health issues that require immediate
13attention; therefore, be it
 
14    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
15HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
16we commend every endeavor to address the critical issues
17plaguing the Austin community, especially the Loretto Hospital
18for their public health approach to violence, which sees
19violence as preventable and not just inevitable.