SR0810 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0810 LRB103 39778 LAW 70329 r

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

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 many vulnerable populations; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Deborah Covington as a symbol of our esteem and respect.