State Rep. Karen Yarbrough ( left ) and AIDS Foundation of Chicago's Eva Janzen Powell were just two of the speakers who talked about their hopes for the passage of the Illinois Quality of Life bill, which would enact a scratch-off lottery game that would benefit the HIV/AIDS community. State Rep. Connie Howard ( left ) talks about the lottery bill while State Rep. Cynthia Soto ( right ) listens. Photos by Andrew Davis_______________
State Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, announced Jan. 31 at the State of Illinois Building that she will be the chief sponsor of House Bill 315, a legislative initiative that will establish the Quality of Life scratch-off lottery game—which will help communities affected by HIV/AIDS.
All the revenue from the scratch-off game—slated to begin July 1 of this year and discontinued on Dec. 31, 2012—will be put into the Quality of Life Endowment Fund. The Illinois Department of Public Health will use the funds for HIV/AIDS prevention education; in addition, monies will be allocated to organizations throughout the state that serve communities that are disproportionately affected by the disease.
State Senator Jacqueline Collins, D-16th District, will be the chief sponsor of the measure in the Senate. Chief co-sponsors in the House include Reps. Constance Howard, D-Chicago; Cynthia Soto, D-Chicago; Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago; and Eddie Washington, D-Waukegan.
Yarbrough—standing before a small crowd that included community leaders, HIV/AIDS advocates and some of the aforementioned legislators—added that the bill creates an 11-member advisory board that will direct the funding.
'Illinois ranks sixth in the nation for the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases,' Yarbrough said. 'Usually, when you're sixth in the nation, it means that you're doing something better than the rest. [ However, ] we are not proud of this ranking, and we want more Illinoisans protected from contracting this disease. This statistic represents the whole state, and that means the whole state has a problem.
'We have hard-working agencies and advocates, and they use their scarce resources to treat those highest on the waiting list. The waiting list grows daily; however, current funding levels are insufficient to expand the programs. People on this list die and, sadly, new people take their places. ... We are committed to gathering diverse support among advocates, legislators and communities throughout Illinois. It will truly take all Illinoisans working together to open doors wider to education and prevention.
'The need to pass this legislation is great, because people who need HIV/AIDS prevention and education services are all people we know. ... The bottom line is that all communities are at risk.'
Howard lauded the measure and expressed confidence in the plan because it's similar to a successful initiative she is already involved with. 'I'm also part of Ticket for the Cure, which is [ concerned ] with breast cancer. We are raising quite a bit of money there, and this is a similar plan,' she said. Soto also praised the initiative and underscored its urgency, especially in light of the 'alarming numbers' in her district and throughout the state.
Collins thanked the other legislators, including Yarbrough for her 'vision, dedication and commitment.' However, Collins admitted that she did not immediately jump on board. 'My decision to carry the legislation was somewhat conflicted,' she said. 'As an anti-gaming legislator, most—if not all—of my votes on gaming have been 'no' votes.' However, she added that she supports the legislation because of the disproproportionate number of African-American women affected as well as the fact the lottery will end in 2012.
Benny Montgomery, Jr.—who works for State Sen. Danny Davis—talked a bit about the history of the bill. 'This initiative came out of the congressman's town hall meeting, where the Chicago Gay Black Men's Caucus held a workshop entitled 'Gay, Black and Dying,'' he said. 'We talked about groups that were impacted in Chicago and throughout Illinois. We decided that we needed to do something—not beg the legislature for more money, but to [ craft ] a bill that would help generate funds to combat HIV/AIDS.'
One of the more compelling moments during the press conference came courtesy of AIDS Foundation of Chicago's Eva Janzen Powell, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1987. 'I was diagnosed two weeks after my husband was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS, along with our seven-month child, who is now 20 and has survived,' she said. 'Only AZT was available then; opportunistic infections were still hard to figure out. It was really a struggle,' added an emotional Powell, who lost her husband and remarried an 'amazing' man nine years ago. She also talked about a trip she took to Africa and how a woman told Powell that she never thought she'd hear a white woman say that she was infected with HIV. Powell added that the two are now very close.
'One thing that I want to get across is that HIV is a preventable disease,' she added. 'Everybody has the right to get access to information to prevent being infected or to prevent passing it on to someone else. Most importantly, they have the right to access to care. It's also important that people who are at risk are respected and not judged; my 20 year-old feels like he's been judged a lot. As communities become educated and learn to take care of each other, [ the judging ] should stop.'
Community activist Michael O'Connor also spoke from the heart. 'As an openly gay Black man who's impacted by HIV—and who has lost hundreds of friends—this legislation will help us live, regardless of our sexual orientation, our gender, our age [ or ] our economic status,' he said.
Community leaders and agency officials talked about how organizations will benefit. Beau Gratzer of Howard Brown Health Center said that his agency 'is excited about the legislation because increased funding is so important for the work that we do. ... It's really exciting that this is an innovative program; it's not asking for money, but it's creating a revenue-generating source.'
Nancy Jackson, executive director of Prolog ( a part of the Minority Intervention Network ) ; Rev. Doris Green of AIDS Foundation of Chicago as well as Men and Women in Prison Ministry; and Lloyd Kelly of the Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation were among the others who expressed their support of the initiative. 'Quality of Life is a natural progression and I'm thrilled that Rep. Yarbrough is taking this up,' Kelly said. 'I think that so many people are going to be affected by this legislation.'
