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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Illinois State Senator William Delgado has
3represented the citizens of the State of Illinois and the
4families of the 2nd Senate District since 2006; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado joined the Illinois
6Senate in December of 2006 as the unanimous choice to fill the
7vacancy created by then-Senator Miguel del Valle when he became
8the Clerk for the City Of Chicago; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado began his career of
10elected service to his community when he was elected to the
11Illinois House of Representatives in 1998, representing the
12families of the 3rd Legislative District; before being elected
13to the House of Representatives, he worked as a Hispanic
14liaison for former Attorney General Roland Burris and as the
15Latino liaison during the 1994 campaign of gubernatorial
16candidate Dawn Clark Netsch; and
 
17    WHEREAS, In the Senate, Senator William Delgado drew on his
18background in community service, including his tenure as a
19Youth and Family Counselor and his work at the Department of
20Children and Family Services when he served as Chairman of the
21Senate Public Health Committee; he subsequently brought that
22knowledge to his leadership as the Chairman of the Senate

 

 

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1Education Committee and as a member of the Senate Human
2Services Committee; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado's chairmanship of the
4Senate Education Committee established him as one of the
5Senate's strongest advocates for education; understanding the
6importance that a quality education can have in a child's life,
7he supported initiatives to eliminate race-based standards in
8schools, restrict disciplinary practices that unnecessarily
9burden students, and ensure that students are being tested in
10ways that are accepted by Illinois public universities; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado has a rich history of
12supporting initiatives to improve the quality of our schools,
13including legislation to address the Chicago teacher shortage
14by expanding the provisions of the Grow Your Own Teacher
15program, which offers grants to cover tuition for students
16seeking their bachelor's degrees to become teachers in
17hard-to-staff schools; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado passed groundbreaking
19legislation that requires all public schools to include
20studying the events surrounding the forceful removal and
21illegal deportation of almost two million Mexican-American
22United States citizens during the Great Depression, beginning
23in 1929 and ending in the mid-1940s called "Mexican

 

 

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1Repatriation", noting that the incident is often omitted from
2textbooks; and
 
3    WHEREAS, When funding for The Children's Place, a pre-k
4educational facility for children and families suffering from
5severe illness and poverty located in Humboldt Park, came under
6threat, Senator William Delgado rallied his colleagues to a
7press conference to announce their support for the facility and
8stand in opposition to the funding cuts; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado has been instrumental in
10passing a number of measures to protect the rights and freedoms
11of LGBTQ individuals, including his support for marriage
12equality and the initiative to allow individuals to provide
13their own instructions for the appearance, name, and gender
14pronouns of their remains regardless of whether they've had a
15court-ordered name change; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado spearheaded The Puerto
17Rico Project, which sought to help Puerto Rican drug addicts
18that were being sent to Chicago without any plan in place for
19their rehabilitation; he connected with local rehab facilities
20and community members to take them in and worked with the
21government of Puerto Rico to prevent the problem from becoming
22worse; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Working with the Illinois Department of Public
2Health, Senator William Delgado fought to make the Mobile
3Asthma Pilot program a reality in Illinois; the focus of this
4program is to provide children with preventive care that will
5allow them to avoid asthma before an attack becomes serious;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, To protect expectant mothers and their unborn
8children, Senator William Delgado chaired a series of hearings
9concerning prenatal and neonatal congenital toxoplasmosis, a
10preventable and treatable disease if tested for and caught
11early in pregnancy; he has continued to fight to get these
12tests covered by health insurers; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Despite his many responsibilities, Senator
14Delgado remains active in his community through events such as
15his annual Back-To-School and Family Health Fair, his work with
16the community group Blocks Together, and his participation in
17both the annual Walk Now for Autism event at Soldier Field and
18the Chicago Healthy Living Challenge; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado has recently been honored
20for his work in the community by the Illinois Environmental
21Council and the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois; he was
22also named a Legislative Champion for Individuals with
23Developmental Disabilities; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado holds certificates in
2social work and community organizing from the John Marshall Law
3School; he is also a graduate of Northeastern University, where
4he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice with
5a minor in sociology; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Senator William Delgado will return to Chicago,
7where he lives with his wife, Iris; he will be missed by all in
8this chamber; therefore, be it
 
9    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
10ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we thank Senator
11William Delgado for his dedicated service to the people of
12Illinois and honor him with this resolution; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
14presented to William Delgado with our best wishes for his
15future endeavors.