HR0293 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0293 LRB103 32377 LAW 61791 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to recognize Rosa Arreola for her 13 years of work as voter registration coordinator for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR); and

WHEREAS, Voting and civic engagement are essential components of our democracy; and

WHEREAS, Rosa Arreola's work was an crucial part of ICIRR's Democracy Project, an integrated non-partisan voter registration and mobilization campaign that has become a national model for immigrant empowerment through civic engagement over the past 20 years; and

WHEREAS, Every two years, during each biennial general election cycle, the Democracy Project hires and trains 20 fellows that run voter registration and turnout efforts in immigrant communities, partnering with organizations based in these communities to educate, inform, and mobilize naturalized citizens; and

WHEREAS, During and in between each election cycle, Rosa Arreola led teams of volunteers to nearly every single naturalization ceremony over the course of 13 years to register all new citizens who wanted to do so; and

WHEREAS, Rosa Arreola was the face and voice that greeted over 150,000 new citizens as they walked out of their swearing-in ceremony and enabled them, as one of their first acts as new citizens, to register to vote; and

WHEREAS, Rosa Arreola's teams of interns and volunteers have accounted for nearly half of the 356,000 new citizens registered by the ICIRR's Democracy Project since 2009, ensuring that each new citizen would have a voice in the governance of their communities, state, and new home country; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize Rosa Arreola for her 13 years of work as voter registration coordinator for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), and we thank her for her dedication and leadership in making voter registration accessible to newly naturalized citizens; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Rosa Arreola as an expression of our esteem and respect.