A group of bi-partisan Illinois State Legislators and executive directors of various Asian American community and social service organizations participated in a meeting between the Illinois Legislative Asian American Caucus and the Pan-Asian Voter Empowerment Coalition March 22 at the Sikh Gurdwara in Palatine, hosted by the Sikh Religious Society of Palatine.
According to news reports, the meeting was facilitated by Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Chicago and coordinated by, Rajinder Singh Mago, public and media relations coordinator for the Sikh Religious Society.
The meeting aimed at strengthening working relationships with legislators, and to make them aware of PAVE’s commitment to civic engagement, and to obtain their assessment on what it will take for the stalemated Illinois budget to be passed.
“The Indo-American Center has been devastated by the cuts to the Immigrant Services Line Item in the budget,” a Punjab News Express report, quoted Selma D’Souza, executive director of IAC, a PAVE coalition member organization, as saying.
“As a result of the elimination of ISLI and the lack of a State budget, the Indo-American Center has scaled back interpretation and translation services that assist our most vulnerable and limited English proficient community members in accessing public benefits. We also cannot offer the citizenship classes that help our community members become U.S. citizens and participate in our democracy. The lack of a budget is hurting our community and we need a budget solution now,” it said.
The legislators attending the meeting included State Senator Daniel Biss, State Representatives Elaine Nekritz, Thomas Morrison, Fred Crespo, Michelle Mussman, and Carol Sente.
Leaders from the South Asian American Policy and Research Institute, Association of Retired Asians, Chinese, Korean, Laotian, Cambodian, Indian-American communities were invited for the meeting.
The meeting was another sign of the ongoing effort to increase civic engagement and political empowerment led by Advancing Justice, Chicago and SAAPRI. Over the past two months, the organizations have partnered with various South Asian American institutions to increase voter education and election participation in the suburban South Asian community.
The community leaders tackled difficult topics, most notably the current budget stalemate in Springfield. Both Republicans and Democrats dialogued about the possibility of a compromise between the two parties.
“Meetings like this caucus meeting and advocacy opportunities like Asian American Action Day are important ways that the South Asian community can ensure that our voices are heard and taken seriously,” said Rajinder Singh Mago from the Sikh Religious Society was quoted as saying. “We hosted several of these legislators after the Oak Creek Sikh Temple shootings in 2012 when the Hate Crimes Resolution (HR1193) passed through the Illinois state legislature. We need to continue to be engaged not only on election day but year-round,” Mago added.
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