Willie Wilson, clergy members head to Springfield to advocate for Black and Brown communities
Chicago businessman and philanthropist Dr. Willie Wilson headed to Springfield Wednesday with a group of Black and Latino faith leaders, in an effort to advocate for underserved communities.
Wilson said Black and Brown communities are looking for an equitable return on the tax dollars they give to Springfield, as their communities face youth unemployment and health care and education crises.
Black and brown communities are not looking for a "handout" in terms of the budget, Wilson said, but rather an "equitable return on the tax dollars we send to Springfield. Wilson called for resources for education, economic empowerment, and crime prevention, as well as opportunities for those exiting incarceration.
"They need to be having some type of apprenticeship in the jail system so when they get out, they can find decent jobs, make a living," Wilson said.
Wilson also called for education reform and the need to value academic performance over social grade level promotion.
"We need to stop passing people from grade to grade that cannot read and write, so it needs to be mandated, looked into, that no kid should pass from one grade to the next that cannot read or write. You know, that's a pipeline to crime. When they get out, they can't find a job."
Wilson further called for trade apprenticeship programs for youngsters from first grade all the way through high school.
"College is not for everybody, but you really need the college and the trade apprenticeship to go with it — those types of things there," Wilson said. "And we need to hold the schoolteachers, the union accountable too, to make sure those things in place."
Wilson said he and the group joining him in Springfield are set to meet with Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Lemont), and members of the Illinois Legislative Black and Latino Caucuses.
Budget negotiations are under way in the Illinois General Assembly, with the spring legislative session set to conclude at the end of May.