SPRINGFIELD – Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) was appointed by Gov. JB Pritzker to the newly created Census Advisory Panel intended to guarantee that “hard-to-count” communities are accurately surveyed in the upcoming census.

“The commitment to executing the census in Illinois is vital, as it directly correlates with the amount of representation and federal resources our state will receive,” said Lightford. “It is our constitutional duty to ensure that every resident from Cook County to Alexander County is counted.”

Pritzker’s executive order follows a record $29 million investment for census implementation, the largest per-person allocation made by any state in the nation.

Executive Order 19-10 establishes a new Census Office within the Illinois Department of Human Services and a bipartisan, bicameral Census Advisory Panel to guide its work.

The Census Office will administer grant funding and conduct outreach and education to ensure an accurate and complete count. Led by two co-coordinators, the office will use the full force of all state agencies and departments to complete its work.

The Department of Human Services will file public reports online on a monthly basis to detail its budget, expenditures and distributions of funds to organizations throughout Illinois.

Members of the Census Advisory Panel include:

• Deborah Bennet, Program Manager at Polk Bros. Foundation
• Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez
• Former Rep. Mike Fortner
• Sen. Kimberly Lightford
• Rep. Theresa Mah
• Sen. Iris Martinez
• Sen. Andy Manar
• Sen. Dan McConchie
• Maria Pesqueira, President of Healthy Communities Foundation
• Rep. Ryan Spain
• Rep. Andre Thapedi
• Sen. Jil Tracy

Lightford was also appointed to the Cook County Complete Count Census Commission.