Full Text of HJR0150 99th General Assembly
HJ0150eng 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 150
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Disconnected youth are young people ages 16 to 24 | 3 | | who are neither working nor in school; according to a recent | 4 | | study by the Great Cities Institute at University of Illinois | 5 | | at Chicago, in 2014, there were 154,094 disconnected youth in | 6 | | Illinois; of those 37,975 were between 16 and 19 years of age, | 7 | | and 116,119 between the ages of 20 and 24; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Of the 154,094 disconnected youth in Illinois in | 9 | | 2014, 37,975 were white, 32,024 Hispanic, and 67,772 were | 10 | | African American; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The vast majority of disconnected youth come from | 12 | | low income areas in both Chicago and downstate; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Many of these disconnected youth and young adults | 14 | | would benefit from education and employment opportunities if | 15 | | these opportunities were structured using the best program | 16 | | practices of smaller, more flexible, and more structured | 17 | | comprehensive programming to address their education, work, | 18 | | and social development needs; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Illinois currently has a shortage of skilled | 20 | | workers; provided with the right opportunities, these | 21 | | disconnected youth could be trained to fill those vacancies for |
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| 1 | | the benefit of the employers, the Illinois economy, and their | 2 | | own futures; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, According to the Illinois Department of | 4 | | Corrections Fiscal Report for 2014, only 19.7% of inmates in | 5 | | Illinois prisons completed high school; only 19.2% completed a | 6 | | GED program; leaving a shocking 62% of inmates in Illinois | 7 | | without an education higher than 11th grade; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Disconnected youth without high school diplomas | 9 | | earn $516,000 less over their lifetimes than those with high | 10 | | school diplomas and some college education; and | 11 | |
WHEREAS, The benefit to Illinois taxpayers is $312,000 in | 12 | | tax revenue over the lifetime of a disconnected youth who earns | 13 | | a high school diploma; there would also be savings to the State | 14 | | in social service expenditures such as welfare, mental health | 15 | | and dependency services, and reduced risk of imprisonment or | 16 | | other criminal justice related costs; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, There is significant research and program | 18 | | experience to draw upon to assist in the development of | 19 | | successful programs to support disconnected youth so as to | 20 | | improve their education and find employment; therefore be it
| 21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE |
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| 1 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 2 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is created the Statewide | 3 | | Task Force on Disconnected Youth in order to examine and | 4 | | develop programs to address the growing numbers of disconnected | 5 | | youth in Illinois; and be it further
| 6 | | RESOLED, That the purpose of the Task Force is to examine | 7 | | policies, programs, and other issues related to developing a | 8 | | variety of successful approaches using best program practices | 9 | | for disconnected youth, with the goal of improving their | 10 | | education, work-related skills, and social development, so | 11 | | that they can successfully enter the workforce and become | 12 | | productive adults; and be it further | 13 | | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall be composed of the | 14 | | following members: | 15 | | 1)eight legislators, two appointed by the president of the | 16 | | Senate, two appointed by the Speaker of the House, two | 17 | | appointed by the House Minority Leader, and two appointed | 18 | | by the Senate Minority Leader; | 19 | | 2)one representative from the Governor's office appointed | 20 | | by the Governor; | 21 | | 3)one representative of the State Board of Education | 22 | | appointed by the State Superintendent of Education; | 23 | | 4)one representative of the Department of Human Services |
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| 1 | | appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Human | 2 | | Services; | 3 | | 5)one representative of the Department of Children and | 4 | | Family Services appointed by its Director; | 5 | | 6)one representative of the Illinois Department of | 6 | | Juvenile Justice appointed by its Director; | 7 | | 7)one representative of the Department of Commerce and | 8 | | Economic Opportunity appointed by its Director; | 9 | | 8)one representative of the Illinois Community College | 10 | | Board appointed by its President; and | 11 | | 9)25 representatives of organizations with successful | 12 | | experience working with disconnected youth, four | 13 | | appointed by the President of the Senate, four appointed by | 14 | | the Speaker of the House, four appointed by the House | 15 | | Minority Leader, four appointed by the Senate Minority | 16 | | Leader, and nine appointed by the Governor, with one of | 17 | | these public representatives service as the Chairperson of | 18 | | the Task Force; and be it further | 19 | | RESOLVED, That the duties of the Task Force shall include | 20 | | conducting a series of public hearings and listening sessions | 21 | | throughout the State to discuss the issue of disconnected youth | 22 | | and their impact on various regions of the State; completing a | 23 | | reviewing of data regarding disconnected youth comparing | 24 | | Illinois with other states in the region and nationally; | 25 | | including a review of various financing and funding mechanisms |
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| 1 | | used by other states, counties, cities, foundations, and other | 2 | | financial funding sources; and producing a final report with | 3 | | recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on | 4 | | ways and means to address the challenge of disconnected youth | 5 | | who have left school without a high school diploma; and be it | 6 | | further | 7 | | RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Human Services is | 8 | | requested to provide administrative support when needed; and be | 9 | | it further
| 10 | | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall issue an interim report | 11 | | of its findings to the Governor and the General Assembly no | 12 | | later than November 30, 2016; and be it further
| 13 | | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall issue a final report by | 14 | | December 31, 2016; and be it further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That upon the filing of the final report the Task | 16 | | Force is dissolved.
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