After years of trying to license gun dealers in Illinois, the House finally passed SB 1657.

We asked the candidates about issues that are most important to our communities and align with CRS’ 2018 Platform for Renewal.

The fight to license gun dealers in Illinois is not over, even though SB 1657, the Gun Dealer Licensing Act, was not called for a vote.

Gun violence touches all of us. Last year in Illinois more than 4,300 people were shot and 720 died, many of them children. We can do something now...

After 736 days, a bipartisan budget package passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly. Thank YOU for your tireless advocacy efforts!

Illinois is in its last week of the fiscal year and legislators are currently meeting in Springfield for a special session. We are poised to enter our third year without a full budget, increasing the damage to our communities, schools, human service and healthcare sectors.

Calling all Faith in Action advocates!  We are midway through the 2017 spring legislative session and your voice is needed to bring justice to Springfield. 

The Chicago City Council is days away from voting on how to spend millions of surplus funds. Low participation in the city’s property tax rebate program has resulted in a surplus of $14 million. We are joining community organizations across the city and calling on aldermen to use this unique opportunity to fund essential violence prevention programs, which invest in our youth and curb the violence devastating our communities.

The Reclaim Campaign to reduce violence in our communities is celebrating two major victories! Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Sheriff Tom Dart publicly announced a plan to tear down three divisions of the Cook County Jail over the next two years. President Preckwinkle and the Cook County Board of Commissioners recently increased the funding for community-based violence prevention in the FY17 Cook County Budget from $3.2 to $6.2 million!

CRS member churches came together to affirm our priorities for the “Platform for Renewal 2016-17,” present our annual congregational and partner awards, celebrate campaign victories, celebrate board members whose terms have ended, elect new board members and dialogue about our strategic vision. Father Larry Dowling of St. Agatha Catholic Church and Jaquie Algee of Trinity UCC co-chaired the assembly.

The Illinois General Assembly and Governor Rauner reached a compromise on a stopgap funding bill for fiscal year '16 and the first six months of fiscal year '17 on June 30, 2016--the last day of the fiscal calendar. However, the immense damage done in the past 365 days, without a state budget, will not be repaired by this stopgap bill.

HB 4515, a bill to create health care job opportunities for people with criminal records, passed the Illinois House on Wednesday, June 29, 71-38! It will now be sent to the Governor.

The Illinois state legislature adjourned the 2016 spring session just minutes before midnight on May 31 and, once again, failed to pass a budget for FY16 or FY17.

Join us on June 30 and demand that Gov. Rauner and legislative leaders put aside non-budget agendas and pass a responsible, fully funded budget with adequate revenue.

Three bills have passed the Illinois General Assembly with significant bi-partisan support and will now be sent to the Governor for his signature.

Illinois has gone 11 months without a fully funded state budget for FY16 and, on May 31, the spring legislative session will likely adjourn without an FY17 budget.

Members of the Illinois General Assembly will have a chance to vote for a proactive long-term solution to the Illinois budget crisis when they go back to Springfield next week.

Current Illinois law prohibits park districts from even considering qualified candidates with certain criminal convictions—regardless of how long ago those offenses occurred, the circumstances surrounding them or any other mitigating information. As a result, deserving and qualified applicants in our communities are unable to access jobs in their own communities.

At the April 12 rally in the rotunda of the Illinois State Capitol, hundreds of faith leaders joined CRS and put their faith into action. We marched, chanted, and prayed outside the Governor’s office demanding a fair budget now! We met with legislators and asked them to: increase job opportunities for people with criminal records; improve police accountability; and enact a fair tax and fair budget that protect the most vulnerable.

Governor Rauner delivered the annual State of the State Address to the members of the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday, but he ignored the state’s most pressing issue: nearly seven months into FY16, the state of Illinois is still operating without a budget and this crisis is devastating families and communities across the state.

Join us as we demand action from our elected officials to stop police brutality, end violence, enact fair tax reform, and increase job opportunities!