Category: Illinois Local Government

Immigrant and refugee support in Rock Island - After Action Report

3/17/2025

Pro Immigrant and Refugee resolution presented - After Action Report

Civil Rights Forum

Members of the Immigration Coalition of the Quad Cities, which is an arm of the PACG Civil Rights Forum, were present at the Rock Island City Council meeting where our pro-immigrant and refugee resolution was read. Margie Mejia-Caraballo was able to say a few words about the work of the coalition and when the resolution was passed, coalition members stood up and clapped! All in all, this was a very positive experience.

Allison Ambrose

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Vote Today in the Illinois Primary - Action Alert

6/28/2022

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Vote Today in the Illinois Primary! - Action Alert
Tuesday, June 28th from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm

A Message to Our Members

Have you voted by early by mail or in person in Illinois? If not, go to your polling place today!

We are all aware of the numerous challenges facing our democracy. Your vote matters more than ever and it is the path forward for change.

Here are a few resources if you need more information today:

For voting instructions and assistance: https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/VotingInstructions.aspx

Find your vote by mail drop box here: https://www.elections.il.gov/VotingAndRegistrationSystems/VoteByMailBallotDropBoxLocations.aspx?T=637915089565405758

Polls are open to vote in person from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Glenda Guster

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Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

4/23/2019

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Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

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Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

4/22/2019

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Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

Immigration/Refugee Policy

Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that Quad Cities Interfaith created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.

If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you get a chance to ask a question. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below. We want to know what you hear and think!

These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.

1. As President, will you work to re-unite families separated at the border and change this policy so that future children and families are not separated while their legal status is in limbo?

2. What is your position on the Central American migrant caravan asylum-seekers at the border?

3. As President, will you work to ensure that tear gas is not employed against any persons at the border, like that which took place in November of this last year?

4. In Iowa, legislators have passed a state bill to prohibit local municipalities from establishing local sanctuary laws. Are you willing to speak out against these efforts at outlawing city and county rights to establish local sanctuary status?

5. We are against ICE workplace and community raids that unnecessarily terrorize, and often separate, families. A prominent example took place in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa in the past year. What is your stance on the role of ICE in our local communities?

6. We are against laws that put undue burdens on local police forces to do the work of area ICE agents. We don’t think these measures make our communities more safe; in fact, they make people less likely to report crime for fear of retaliation or deportation. What is your stance on the role of local police in matters pertaining to immigration enforcement?

7. Do you support driver’s licenses for immigrants and other local efforts such as Community ID programs?

8. Do you support efforts toward providing a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the United States?

9. There has been a call to overhaul our immigration policies. What provisions do you think should be a part of revising and changing our nation’s immigration laws?

10. As President, will you take leadership in permanently eliminating “The Muslim ban?” Will you support policies that increase the numbers of refugees the U.S. accepts?

11. What role do you think the U.S. has in accepting refugees from countries where we currently or have previously actively supported or engaged in military conflict in those countries?

12. Given that the policies and actions of our government have helped to create the conditions which people in the Migrant Caravan are fleeing, what are our responsibilities to these asylum seekers? How should they be treated at the border?

13. We stand strongly against the profit incentive behind incarceration of immigrants and citizens promoted by the prison industrial complex. Will you reject campaign contributions from banks and corporations that have a profit incentive in the building of private prisons and immigrant detention centers?

Mass Incarceration and Restorative Justice

1. Our groups in the Quad Cities are dealing with racial disparities in rates of out-of-school suspensions. As President, what will you do to address these and other racial inequities in our nation’s public school systems?

2. There our racial inequities across the board in our public schools here locally, and throughout the nation. What will you do to close the opportunity and achievement gap in public education between low-income and students of color, relative to their more affluent white peers?

3. What is your take on the recent bi-partisan criminal justice changes at the federal level? What do you think is the next step towards improving our current criminal justice system?

4. As president, what will you do to provide opportunities for criminal ex-offender re-entry programs and to create employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated persons to reduce recidivism?

5. Do you support “banning the box” policies that require ex-offenders to disclose their felony history in job applications?

6. The U.S. remains the most over-incarcerated nation on the planet. What steps will you take as President to decrease the numbers and reduce racial disparities in populations of offenders behind bars?

7. We stand strongly against the profit incentive behind incarceration of immigrants and citizens promoted by the prison industrial complex. Will you reject campaign contributions from banks and corporations that have a profit incentive in the building of private prisons and immigrant detention centers?

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Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

4/22/2019

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Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

1. How will you protect the progress made thanks to the Affordable Care Act? (more people insured, children insured on parent’s programs until age 26, protection for pre-existing conditions, etc)

2. The Medicare program is vital to the health of millions of people. Will you protect Medicare for cuts planned by some members of Congress?

3. There are efforts underway to cut Medicaid funding and turn it into individual state grants. How will you fight to keep Medicaid strong and protect it from future cuts?

4. If you favor health care expansion, could you describe your vision? What would be the key points? (Single payer? Incremental stages of expansion?)

5. How will you provide healthcare to low-income people in states that did not expand Medicaid?

6. How will you push pharmaceutical companies to reduce Hight prescription drug prices?

a. Do you support letting Medicare negotiate with prescription drug companies? If so, why?

b. Would you support a bill to allow lower priced generic drugs to access the market more quickly?

c. What efforts will you take to require drug companies to explain large price increases?

d. Would you require drug companies to give a two-month notice when they plan to significantly increase prices?

e. Should Americans be allowed to buy lower priced drugs from other countries or should the U.S. government regulate drug prices?

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Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

4/22/2019

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Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that we have created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.

If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you have an opportunity to ask questions. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below.

These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.

1. Will you support the only current proposal that addresses the climate crisis, the Green New Deal?

2. Are you aware that the EPA had the lowest number of environmental fines in 2018 in decades? What will you do about the EPA’s substandard implementation of their own regulations?

3. Do you support protecting National Parks from drilling and exploration/extractive industries?

4. What is your plan to address this administration’s rollbacks on environmental protections on clean air and water, pollution and the use of clean energy?

5. What is your plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing our use of renewable energy?

6. What is your position on our country’s commitment to the Paris Climate Accord, and would you continue our planned withdrawal from that commitment?

7. Currently, corporate interests are prioritized over public health risks. What specifically will you do to change that?

8. What is your plan to invest in renewable energy and what is your timeline for doing so?

9. Are you in favor of carbon and other user taxes to address business’s negative environmental impacts?

10. Are you in favor of enforcing stricter federal regulations on companies who are out of compliance with environmental (EPA) regulations, regardless of their containment area?

11. Would you extend the current rebates on solar which are set to gradually fade starting in 2020?

Our Environmental Forum suggests the following questions for our Illinois and Iowa State legislators:

1. What are your specific plans to reduce our state’s carbon footprint, and what are your target dates and measurement tools?

2. Would you support implementing the current laws and standards of the EPA for each industry/company operating in the State?

3. Is there a state target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and, if so, what are the timelines?

4. Currently, corporate interests are prioritized over public health risks. What specifically will you do to change that?

5. What is your plan to invest in renewable energy, and what is your timeline?

6. Are you in favor of carbon and other user taxes to address business’s negative environmental impacts?

7. Are you in favor of enforcing stricter federal regulations for companies who are out of compliance with environmental (EPA) regulations, regardless of their containment area?

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Environmental Forum's 2019 Goals

12/17/2018

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News from the Environmental Forum's Last Meeting of 2018

The Environmental Forum met on Monday, December 3rd. We discussed upcoming goals for 2019, and are reviewing two primary efforts.

One involves a focus on the Iowa and Illinois legislatures. We will be meeting with state and federal representatives from both states and would like to have volunteers from specific districts to join us when we meet with congresspersons. We will listen and share our concerns about environmental issues.
Our second focus will be expanding our networking to local colleges, specifically their environmental groups, professors teaching courses in environmental science, and administrative staff who control the college's energy systems.

We encourage everyone to join us for our monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month, at 6:30 at Cobblestone Place.

Lori McCollum
[email protected]

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Immigrant and refugee support in Rock Island - After Action Report

Pro Immigrant and Refugee resolution presented - After Action Report

Vote Today in the Illinois Primary - Action Alert

Vote Today in the Illinois Primary! - Action Alert
Tuesday, June 28th from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm

Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

Immigration/Refugee Policy

Mass Incarceration and Restorative Justice

Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

Environmental Forum's 2019 Goals

News from the Environmental Forum's Last Meeting of 2018

Archives

Categories

Immigrant and refugee support in Rock Island - After Action Report

Pro Immigrant and Refugee resolution presented - After Action Report

Vote Today in the Illinois Primary - Action Alert

Vote Today in the Illinois Primary! - Action AlertTuesday, June 28th from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm

Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

Immigration/Refugee Policy

Mass Incarceration and Restorative Justice

Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

Environmental Forum's 2019 Goals

News from the Environmental Forum's Last Meeting of 2018

Archives

Categories

Vote Today in the Illinois Primary! - Action Alert
Tuesday, June 28th from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm