Dear Coalition Partners,
As the year wraps up, I want to say this plainly: this has been a hard year.
For me, and I know for many of you too. The work has felt heavier, the needs more urgent, and the consequences of getting it wrong have felt especially real.
What has stood out to me, though, is how consistently you showed up anyway.
Across Illinois, health and human service providers did what you always do. You responded when systems didn’t. You supported people who could not wait. You made decisions quickly, collaboratively, and with care. It isn’t fair that this level of resilience keeps being required of you. And it’s exactly why, in the year ahead, we’re pushing for the most ambitious investment in human services we’ve ever pursued. Illinois cannot keep asking human service workers and providers to do more with less. The work you do is foundational to the health and stability of communities across this state, and our budget needs to reflect that reality.
We have also proven something important this year: when we don’t wait for someone else to act, real change happens. Together, we built momentum behind the Living Wages, Thriving Communities campaign, making clear that essential care work deserves wages people can live on. During Veto Session, coalition partners made it one of the most impactful sessions to date. Partners at Thresholds, Access Living, Trilogy, and many other helped pass HB1085, now law, strengthening behavioral health access by addressing low reimbursement and network gaps in private insurance. Partners at ICIRR mobilized quickly and effectively to pass HB1312, the S.A.L.T. Platform, now law, which will protect immigrant communities across Illinois. These wins were not accidental. They happened because of coordination, trust, and shared urgency.
I’m deeply grateful for this coalition, not just for what we’ve accomplished, but for how you’ve shown up for one another and for your communities in a year that asked far too much. Your persistence and leadership have mattered more than you probably realize, and they continue to shape what’s possible across Illinois. Illinois Partners will keep fighting alongside you, pushing for the resources, policies, and systems your work and our communities deserve.
With gratitude,
Lauren Wright
Executive Director
Illinois Partners for Human Service
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