African American and
Hispanic Healthcare Leaders Strategize to Strengthen Communitys Needs at
Advocacy Conference
Chicago, IL. - In an effort
to revitalize and empower those in need of physical and emotional health
healing in Illinois communities of color, more than 100 African American and
Hispanic leaders from all over the state, recently attended an unprecedented
Advocacy Conference.
The power-packed five-hour
Conference was held in August at the Charles A. Hayes Family Investment Center,
4859 S. Wabash. Leaders strategized in
workshops and completed an agenda as a collective body, to be presented to the
most influential Black and Latino Legislators in Illinois.
More funding is desperately
needed for community-based agencies to effectively address the physical and
emotional challenges of the poor, disadvantaged, un-employed and
under-employed, leaders contend. If
these health needs arent addressed, leaders say many in Illinois communities
of color will continue to face hopeless, helpless lives.
Ernie Jenkins, Executive
Director of the Westside Association for Community Action served as moderator
for the Conference. Issues surrounding
costs of services to meet the physical and emotional needs of the community
were addressed by Doris Lomax, Executive Vice President of the Human Resources
Development Institute and Lee Smith, Director of Case Management Services of
the Westside Association for Community Action.
The discussion regarding the essential implementation of community
advocacy was lead by Jaime Delgado, Services Director of Community Outreach
Intervention Projects at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The legislative advocacy agenda was
presented by Salim Al Nurridin, Executive Director of the Healthcare Consortium
of Illinois and Will Burns, Vice President of Programming and Field Offices for
the Chicago Urban League. Issues
regarding public policy were lead by Richard Jackson, Vice President of
Habilitative Systems, Inc., and Robyn Gabel, Executive Director of the Illinois
Maternal & Child Health Coalition.
We want to empower the
community to develop policy that may turn into law and affect the health in the
community, said Salim Al Nurridin, Executive Director of the Healthcare
Consortium of Illinois, a statewide coalition of health and social service
agencies.
According to Dinah Ramirez,
Outreach Coordinator for the Healthy South Chicago Program of Centro Community
Juan Diego, legislators need to be aware that higher appropriations are needed
for health service agencies, many of whom are on a shoe-string budget.
Ive known effective
agencies that have closed or who are close to closing because of finance
issues, Ramirez said. This Conference
is the beginning of new energy to advocate for the right type of budget to
deliver the services directly to the community in a grass-roots format.
For more information
regarding the official agenda devised by the healthcare leaders at the Advocacy
Conference, call the Healthcare Consortium of Illinois at 708-841-9515.