Bill Text: IL SR0810 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Congratulates Deborah Covington on her retirement from the Jewish United Fund (JUF). Thanks her for decades of contributions to so many vulnerable populations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-04-12 - Resolution Adopted [SR0810 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SR0810-Introduced.html

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SENATE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to
congratulate Deborah Covington on the occasion of her
retirement from the Jewish United Fund (JUF); and
WHEREAS, For 35 years at JUF, Deborah Covington, who
earned a master's degree in social work, has dedicated her
career to working with refugee, immigrant, and other
vulnerable populations throughout the State of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Deborah Covington joined JUF in May 1989 as a
program planner for refugee services, where she oversaw JUF's
contract with the Illinois Department of Human Services to
administer the statewide multi-agency refugee program as well
as JUF's Russian refugee resettlement program, which relied on
both governmental and private resources; and
WHEREAS, In her final JUF role as senior vice president,
Deborah Covington stewarded JUF's Overall Planning and
Allocations Committee (OPAC) and its commissions; under her
leadership, JUF has annually allocated more than $141 million
to health and human services, education, and engagement
organizations working with and for underserved communities in
the Chicago metropolitan area and around the world; and

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WHEREAS, The impact of Deborah Covington's leadership is
evident throughout Chicago and beyond, as evidenced by her
work developing structures for local Ukrainian and Afghan
refugee relief funding, overseeing allocations from JUF's
Israel Emergency Fund following Hamas' October 7, 2023
invasion, leading JUF's local Mental Health and COVID
Emergency Relief planning and grant making, and supporting
partner organizations around issues of strategy development,
financial health, capacity building, and physical security in
order to ensure a thriving service infrastructure is in place
to meet evolving community needs; and
WHEREAS, Outside of but connected to her JUF work, Deborah
Covington has held positions on a variety of committees and
task forces, including the Refugee Services Executive Council
and Consortium, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the
Illinois Department of Human Services' Contracting Best
Practice Group, the Multilingual Mental Health Task Force,
committees concerned with grantmaking initiatives for
immigrants, refugees, and homelessness, and several United Way
of Chicago committees; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate
Deborah Covington on her retirement from the Jewish United
Fund (JUF), and we thank her for decades of contributions to so

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many vulnerable populations; and be it further