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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives wish to recognize Bishop Lance Davis for his
4work in organizing the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus
5delegation's West African trip to Ghana in January 2023; and
 
6    WHEREAS, From January 14, 2023 to January 23, 2023, the
7eight member delegation visited Accra, Ghana, a prominent
8African city that is rich in tradition, the homeland of many
9Illinois residents, the capital of Ghana, and the first
10African nation to gain independence from colonial rule; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Highlights of the trip included meeting with
12Elizabeth Sackey, the first woman to serve as Mayor of Accra,
13visiting the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, and meeting with John
14Kufuor, the former President of Ghana; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis served as a co-organizer for the
16Illinois Legislative Black Caucus delegation's trip to Ghana;
17and
 
18    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis was born on the West Side of
19Chicago; while still in high school, he co-managed his
20father's organization, which included seven Popeyes chicken
21restaurants and two McDonald's restaurants; he then opened two

 

 

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1Docks Seafood restaurants in the 1980s, where he insisted on
2hiring marginalized young people in an effort to help them
3learn a solid work ethic and workplace disciplines; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis completed his seminary studies at
5the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC); after
6serving as a pastor at the Christian Methodist Episcopal
7Church for 12 years, he founded the New Zion Covenant Church in
8Dolton in 2003, which was later brought into the Evangelical
9Covenant Church (ECC) in 2010; he was elected as the executive
10minister of Ordered Ministry of the ECC in 2018, thereby
11becoming the first African American to hold the position in
12its 135-year history; he was responsible for the supervision,
13care, discipline, and development of nearly 2,500 pastors, 207
14military, hospital, and prison chaplains, and 157 missionaries
15serving on five continents before concluding his term in
16mid-2022; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis has operated several successful
18businesses while serving the church; in 2002, he established
19the XGD Corporation, a construction company contracted by the
20Chicago Housing Authority to rehabilitate hundreds of
21low-income housing units; in 2010, he and his wife, Kara,
22established Zion Behavioral Health in order to provide safe
23and caring mental health services to the South Suburbs; in
242015, he established Kinsmen Development, securing one million

 

 

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1dollars in real estate financing to purchase and rehabilitate
2nearly 20 dilapidated homes in Dolton; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis has also established several
4not-for-profit agencies; he created Voices of Morality to
5speak against police brutality and the unfair lending
6practices of banks and other merchants; in 1996, he founded
7Building Our Own Community, Inc. (BOOC), which has been
8instrumental in feeding thousands of residents in the South
9Suburbs, and opened the area's first robotics training program
10for youth; in 2003, he and his family purchased the former
11Dolton Expo Center, an 88,000 square foot multi-use facility,
12where he has housed BOOC, the New Zion Christian Fellowship
13Church, the Joseph Storehouse Food Pantry, and the Up-Scale
14Rummage Sale resale shop and hosted many Christian hip-hop
15concerts and events; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis has routinely invested in and given
17back to Ghana; he established a water borehole drilling
18company in Ghana, providing clean potable water for thousands
19of Ghanaian villagers; in 2004, he founded Sankofa Venture,
20which has a touring subsidiary, Sankofa US, that facilitates
21and organizes travel to Ghana, West Africa for African
22Americans who are interested in return, or heritage tracing,
23journeys; to date, he and the Sankofa team have helped more
24than 1,000 African Americans travel to Ghana; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis has received a number of accolades
2for his work, including by former Secretary of State Jesse
3White, the Chicago Defender online newspaper with the Pastor's
4Salute Award, the Human Resource Development Institute, and
5the Village of Harvey, which renamed Cooper Avenue as Bishop
6Lance Davis Street; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi
8Fraternity, Inc., a member of the Druids Club of Chicago, and a
9board member of the African Diaspora Sixth Region Association
10of Illinois; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Bishop Davis is married to Kara E. Davis, M.D.,
12and they have four adult children, Grace, Andrew, Lance
13Nathaniel, and Natalie Kara; therefore, be it
 
14    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
15HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
16we recognize Bishop Lance Davis for co-organizing the Illinois
17Legislative Black Caucus delegation's West African trip to
18Ghana in January 2023; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
20presented to Bishop Davis as a symbol of our esteem and
21respect.