Lightford celebrates groundbreaking on permanent supportive housing facility in Broadview

• Homelessness
• Supportive Housing
• Housing Forward

BROADVIEW – Sixteen permanent supportive housing units, which will serve individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and have a long-term disabling condition, will be created as Housing Forward broke ground on a construction project Monday, April 24, shared Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford.

“Housing is the basis of stability for an individual or family. A home should be the center of our social, emotional, and sometimes economic lives — a place to live in peace, security, and dignity,” said Lightford (D-Maywood). “Together, we are bringing housing resources to the area to help our neighbors who are experiencing housing crisis find the stability and security they deserve.”

The residential building will house up to 22 people and includes dedicated units for veterans and youth aging out of the Department of Children and Family Services’ care. Housing Forward has been providing permanent supportive housing since 2006 and today has over 250 site units across the agency’s 26-community service-area footprint. This new building will serve to add to those numbers.

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Lightford champions legislation that addresses EMT staffing shortage

• SB 761
• EMS Workforce

SPRINGFIELD – Recognizing staff shortages in the EMS workforce, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford advanced legislation in the Senate to attract and retain EMS workers.

“The pandemic further exacerbated how vital the EMS professionals are,” said Lightford (D-Maywood). “We need to expand the workforce by prioritizing recruitment and retention of highly-skilled workers.”

Senate Bill 761 works to tackle the emergency medical field workforce shortage head on by allowing more flexibility for EMS directors to use alternative staffing models and creating a task force to bring greater training, recruitment and retention to the field. 

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Lightford prioritizes diverse trauma, mental health needs of students in schools

• Education
• Mental Health
• SB 16
• Childhood Trauma

Measure adopts several recommendations of the Whole Child Task Force, passed as part of the Black Caucus’ four-pillar agenda

SPRINGFIELD – Building upon her steadfast leadership to take a more holistic, trauma-informed approach in schools, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford passed a measure to equip schools with the training and resources they need to meet the diverse trauma and mental health needs of students.

“While there are individual schools, centers and programs that do a strong job supporting the well-being of students, these efforts are locally driven. They are not systemic,” said Lightford (D-Maywood). “We need a real shift toward a systemic approach to supporting students’ cultural, physical, emotional and mental health needs.”

Schools across the state would be equipped with training and resources to meet the diverse trauma and mental health needs of students, under Lightford’s measure. The Illinois State Board of Education would create a Children’s Adversity Index, which would measure community childhood trauma exposure across the population of children 3-18 years old by May 31, 2025.

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Lightford: Every child deserves access to high-quality reading education

• Education
• Equitable Literacy
• Students
• SB 2243

Lightford passes measure to develop statewide literacy plan

SPRINGFIELD – Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford passed a measure through the Senate to implement an equitable literacy plan in schools to support the best interests of students.

“Low student literacy is an urgent crisis that has a solution,” said Lightford (D-Maywood). “Literacy is critical to social, economic, and health justice, which makes improving literacy outcomes a top public policy priority. Every child deserves access to high-quality reading education.”

Lightford’s measure would require the Illinois State Board of Education to create a comprehensive literacy plan. The plan – which would be due Jan. 31, 2024 – would outline ways to increase research-aligned, developmentally appropriate reading instruction in schools.

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