Full Text of SR0810 103rd General Assembly
SR0810 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | | | SR0810 | | LRB103 39778 LAW 70329 r |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION | 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to | 3 | | congratulate Deborah Covington on the occasion of her | 4 | | retirement from the Jewish United Fund (JUF); and | 5 | | WHEREAS, For 35 years at JUF, Deborah Covington, who | 6 | | earned a master's degree in social work, has dedicated her | 7 | | career to working with refugee, immigrant, and other | 8 | | vulnerable populations throughout the State of Illinois; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Deborah Covington joined JUF in May 1989 as a | 10 | | program planner for refugee services, where she oversaw JUF's | 11 | | contract with the Illinois Department of Human Services to | 12 | | administer the statewide multi-agency refugee program as well | 13 | | as JUF's Russian refugee resettlement program, which relied on | 14 | | both governmental and private resources; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, In her final JUF role as senior vice president, | 16 | | Deborah Covington stewarded JUF's Overall Planning and | 17 | | Allocations Committee (OPAC) and its commissions; under her | 18 | | leadership, JUF has annually allocated more than $141 million | 19 | | to health and human services, education, and engagement | 20 | | organizations working with and for underserved communities in | 21 | | the Chicago metropolitan area and around the world; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The impact of Deborah Covington's leadership is | 2 | | evident throughout Chicago and beyond, as evidenced by her | 3 | | work developing structures for local Ukrainian and Afghan | 4 | | refugee relief funding, overseeing allocations from JUF's | 5 | | Israel Emergency Fund following Hamas' October 7, 2023 | 6 | | invasion, leading JUF's local Mental Health and COVID | 7 | | Emergency Relief planning and grant making, and supporting | 8 | | partner organizations around issues of strategy development, | 9 | | financial health, capacity building, and physical security in | 10 | | order to ensure a thriving service infrastructure is in place | 11 | | to meet evolving community needs; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Outside of but connected to her JUF work, Deborah | 13 | | Covington has held positions on a variety of committees and | 14 | | task forces, including the Refugee Services Executive Council | 15 | | and Consortium, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the | 16 | | Illinois Department of Human Services' Contracting Best | 17 | | Practice Group, the Multilingual Mental Health Task Force, | 18 | | committees concerned with grantmaking initiatives for | 19 | | immigrants, refugees, and homelessness, and several United Way | 20 | | of Chicago committees; therefore, be it | 21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL | 22 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate | 23 | | Deborah Covington on her retirement from the Jewish United | 24 | | Fund (JUF), and we thank her for decades of contributions to so |
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| 1 | | many vulnerable populations; and be it further | 2 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 3 | | presented to Deborah Covington as a symbol of our esteem and | 4 | | respect. |
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