HR0489 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0489 LRB099 12362 MST 35553 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, affectionately known as KOCO, was founded by community and religious leaders in 1965 and celebrates its 50th year of existence this year; and

WHEREAS, KOCO was incorporated 2 years later in 1967 and had as its first Executive Director the esteemed and internationally recognized Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Curtis L. Burrell became KOCO's second Executive Director from 1967 to 1971 and, through partnerships with the Community Renewal Society and other community institutions, provided landmark employment and child care initiatives; and

WHEREAS, An organizer with the world-renowned Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Robert L. Lucas, joined KOCO as its coordinator for leadership training in 1969; he became the Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1972 and then became its third Executive Director in 1975, serving in that capacity until 2000; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members organized to get the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School built in 1971 in order to replace the overcrowded Forrestville High School; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members organized to get the Kenwood Oakland Medical, Limited (KOMED) health clinic opened in 1975, which later merged with the Holman health clinic in 1997, to provide quality health care to low-income and working families in the north Kenwood-Oakland community; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members organized to erect the Woodlake Village Townhomes in 1988 to provide affordable housing for more than 70 families on a parcel of land that had become an unsanctioned waste dump in the middle of the community; and

WHEREAS, The first African-American Mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington, broke ground at the site of what would become the Woodlake Village Townhomes in 1987 - the morning of the day he died in office; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members organized to create another 300 units of affordable housing in the north Kenwood-Oakland community to provide safe, decent, and quality housing for families in need; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members played a significant role in the work that led to the Chicago School Reform Act of 1988, which called for the creation of local school councils, and with it, 5 consecutive years of improved standardized test scores; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members led the call for balanced community development in north Kenwood-Oakland that did not result in displacing residents, which led to the creation of a shopping center and the designation of north Kenwood-Oakland as a community conservation area; and

WHEREAS, KOCO has a long and distinguished history of providing youth development programming - a summer day camp since 1992 and an afterschool program since 1995 - to serve low-income and working families who are unable to afford most comparable programs; and

WHEREAS, Jhatayn "Jay" Travis served as KOCO's fourth Executive Director from 2000 to 2012 and ushered in a renaissance of its community organizing activities - challenging slum lords and school-closing advocates and refocusing its attention on grassroots leadership development; and

WHEREAS, KOCO was one of the first community-based organizations to certify parents and residents as local school council trainers and have since provided training for hundreds of local school council members throughout Chicago; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members organized to get a community benefits agreement signed to protect community residents from being displaced and added provisions to improve the community if Chicago won its bid for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members led the charge in working with the Illinois General Assembly and the Office of the Governor to secure increased resources for summer youth employment throughout Illinois to offer a solution to the scourge of violence plaguing our communities; and

WHEREAS, KOCO members have traveled abroad, received international recognition, and hosted distinguished foreign guests in its service to the ideals of social justice; and

WHEREAS, KOCO has been honored throughout the years by the hard work of its community members and leaders to provide a litany of unnamed benefits and protections to some of the most vulnerable populations of people in the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, and beyond; and

WHEREAS, KOCO is currently led by its fifth Executive Director, J. Brian Malone, and has maintained its use of community organizing as its primary methodology to create change for low-income and working families in the north Kenwood-Oakland community; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the courageous leadership that led to the creation of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we honor the distinguished record of service that the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization has provided to low-income and working families throughout Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization as an expression of our esteem and respect.