//
you're reading...
Governor Pat Quinn, Illinois Department of Human Services, Illinois Poverty

Gov. Pat Quinn Appoints 22 Members to Commission to End Hunger

(Springfield, IL) March 2, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today announced 22 appointments to a commission aimed at eliminating hunger in Illinois.

“Too many of our children, parents and seniors don’t have food to put on the table every day,” said Quinn. “We must do everything we can to put an end to hunger Illinois, and this commission will help us to reach that important goal.”

According to the USDA, 11.1% of Illinois households face food insecurity. Additionally, Feeding Illinois has seen a 50% increase in requests for emergency food assistance over the past two years. In Illinois, 1,532,238 people, including 500,000 children, live in poverty or 12.2% of the population.

In July 2010, Quinn signed legislation, Senate Bill 3158, sponsored by State Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) and State Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez (D-Cicero), creating the commission. The panel will be housed under the Department of Human Services.

“I was proud to sponsor the legislation creating the Commission to End Hunger, and it is my hope that the work of the commission will provide solutions to the Governor and legislature to make certain no Illinoisan goes to bed hungry,” Harmon said.

Individuals appointed to the commission include government officials, lawmakers and individuals from a variety of nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups:

  • Cristal Thomas, Deputy Governor
  • Kappy Scates, Lieutenant Governor’s Office
  • State Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez (D-Cicero)
  • State Rep. Patricia Bellock (R-Hinsdale)
  • State Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park)
  • State Senator John Millner (R-Carol Stream)
  • Kate Maehr, Greater Chicago Food Depository
  • Mary Ellen Abbott, Illinois Hunger Coalition
  • Marla Goodwin, Jeremiah’s Food Pantry
  • Barb Karacic, Holy Family Food Pantry
  • Tracy Smith, Feeding Illinois
  • Amy Rynell, Social IMPACT Research Center, Heartland Alliance
  • Kathy Ryg, Voices for Illinois Children
  • Dan Lesser, Shriver Center
  • Esperanza V. Gonzalez, Illinois Migrant Council
  • Mark Ishaug, AIDS Foundation of Chicago
  • Ahlam Jbara, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago
  • Gary Tomlin, Economic Development, Knox County
  • Nicole Robinson, Kraft Foods
  • Juanita Irizarry, Chicago Community Trust
  • Terry Solomon, African-American Family Commission
  • Joe Antolin, Latino Family Commission

Illinois’ eight food banks serve approximately 1 million individuals per year, according to Feeding Illinois.

The commission will explore how Illinois’ facilities may better coordinate and gain access to federal funding to meet those needs. It will also indentify barriers to access and develop sustainable policies and programs to overcome those barriers. The group will also promote and facilitate public-private partnerships to augment services.

Finally, the panel will develop an action plan every two years, review the progress of this plan, and ensure cross-collaboration among government entities and community partners. They will also work to identify funding sources that can be used to fight hunger and improve nutrition.

About David Ormsby

David, a public relations consultant and blogger at The Huffington Post, is an ex-Press Secretary of the Illinois Democratic Party.

Discussion

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Submit your email address and be among the first to receive our posts by e-mail as soon as they are published. It's free.

David Ormsby, Editor

RSS Gov. Pat Quinn

  • McHenry County Blog | Pat Quinn Tells Truth about Pension ... Cal Skinner
  • Pat Quinn Criticizes Scott Walker On Jobs The Huffington Post News Editors
  • Will Governor Pat Quinn Sign Illinois Budget on Thursday? « Child ... Marge Berglind
  • Quinn: Lawmakers Must 'Show Some Fortitude' On Pension ... Todd Feurer
  • Governor Pat Quinn Puts His Foot Down On Gambling Expansion ... Mark
  • Senate narrowly backs Quinn on facility closures - Capitol Fax.com Rich Miller
  • Gov. Pat Quinn Releases 2011 Federal, Illinois Taxes David Ormsby
  • Democurmudgeon: Gov. Pat Quinn exposes Scott Walker as a fake ... Democurmudgeon
  • Chicago News Bench: No, Really, Pat Quinn Still Sucks More Than ... TM-1000
  • Advocates Seek Illinois Child Welfare Vision from Governor Pat Quinn Marge Berglind

RSS IL General Assembly

  • General Assembly puts health exchange bill on back burner - Crain's Chicago Business May 10, 2012
  • IL educators react to proposed state budget cuts - WREX-TV May 11, 2012
  • Violence Against Women Act Survives Partisan Fight, Quinn Told Not To Close ... - Patch.com May 9, 2012
  • American Progressive Bag Alliance Urges Illinois General Assembly To Pass ... - MarketWatch (press release) May 1, 2012
  • You Paid For It: IL General Assembly Scholarship Program - FOX2now.com May 7, 2012
  • Our Opinion: Anti-bully bill should get OK - The State Journal-Register May 10, 2012
  • Illinois State University considers 4.4 percent tuition increase - Herald & Review May 10, 2012
  • American Progressive Bag Alliance Urges Illinois General Assembly To Pass ... - PR Newswire (press release) May 1, 2012
  • Asian-Americans to have state caucus - WBEZ May 8, 2012
  • Suburban mayors also urge state to pass pension reform - Chicago Sun-Times May 10, 2012

RSS The Capitol Fax Blog

  • Question of the day May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Political cover or political payback? May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Illinois Needs Private Sector Jobs Now! Why Labor Leaders Support Senate Bill 1849 May 10, 2012 Advertising Department
  • Senate narrowly backs Quinn on facility closures - Chamber backs Quinn pension reforms May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • House approves bill to effectively end free employee health insurance premiums May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • *** UPDATED x2 - VIDEO *** Smith hearing resumes today (LIVE Coverage and Video) May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • *** UPDATED x2 *** Not a big deal at all, but it’s probably time to delegate a bit more May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Morning Shorts May 10, 2012 Owen Irwin
  • *** LIVE SESSION COVERAGE *** May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - COWL review, supplement to today’s edition and a Statehouse roundup May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 135 other followers

Powered by WordPress.com