CHICAGO –Senate Majority Leader and Chair of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) joined colleagues at the Westside Justice Center on Tuesday to announce a plan to build a legislative agenda that addresses systemic racism in Illinois.

“We have an opportunity to leverage this moment to make sure other Black women, Black mothers and Black wives just like me can truly have peace, justice and hope for our future, knowing that our children and our grandchildren will not share the same kind of life experiences that everyone in my generation and generations before me have had to endure,” Lightford said.

Lightford and the ILBC plan to hold hearings on four pillars of policy to compose a legislative agenda to be brought forth during the fall veto session. The four pillars of policy are as follows:

1. Criminal justice reform, violence reduction and police accountability
2. Education and workforce development
3. Economic access, equity and opportunity
4. Health care and human services

The first hearing was held on Tuesday as the joint Senate Criminal Law and Public Safety Committee focused their discussion on police accountability.

Hearings will commence around the topics of education and workforce development later this month, with hearings on the other two pillars to follow.