Advocacy
is the active work of speaking up, organizing, and mobilizing resources to protect rights, influence policies, and remove barriers that harm community members.
At Light Up Lawndale, advocacy means partnering with residents to identify needs, amplify lived experience, and push for fair access to housing, healthcare, education, economic development, and safety. We combine direct support, community education, and policy engagement to create lasting change—ensuring that decisions affecting Lawndale and neighboring communities are shaped by the people who live in them.
Let’s Talk About
“IT”
The “REAL CONCERNS & ISSUES”
Delivering the Results that Matter!
Coalitions that Light Up Lawndale Supports:
Fix Our Homes Illinois is currently working on the •
“The Senior Home Preservation Program Act”
HB 5169 and HB 5170
This act would provide “legacy”, low-income older homeowners* with up to $40,000 worth of basic home repairs by qualified home repair specialists at little to no cost to the homeowner.
The Act will also support training and stipends to expand the home repair workforce.
Serving older people through a streamlined application process administered by a state agency, this home repair infrastructure would ramp up in strategic parts of Illinois, with the ultimate goal of statewide scope.
The total appropriation would be $22 million over 3 years. Please feel free to check out their site below.
Fix Our Homes Illinois website
Housing advocacy for those who have been on the waitlist for too long. Take a look at this story to see how we can better track waitlists and ensure fairness for those in need of assistance. There's more information available in the link below.
Property Taxes Advocacy
Property Taxes Advocacy
Light Up Lawndale 🌟 Joins the Cook County Assessor’s Office and other advocacy groups across the Chicagoland area to bring relief to the City of Chicago’s Senior Citizen population through assisting in pushing much-needed legislation to bring about change.
This change means that more seniors on limited incomes will benefit from this important exemption, as many have lost their eligibility in recent years due to cost-of-living adjustments to benefit payments. The income threshold will ultimately increase to $79,000 in Tax Year 2029. The current income threshold is $65,000 and will increase to $75,000 in Tax Year 2026, which will be reflected on bills issued in 2027. This amount will increase to $77,000 in 2028 and, finally, $79,000 in 2029.
To learn more please see the information below. In a quote from a press conference with Cook County Assessor Kaegi’s office on Dec. 10th, 2025,
“A lot of seniors were overpaying their taxes or were not aware of the exemptions they should have had. Since working with the Assessor’s Office for the last few years, we’ve been able to get $1.5 million back for the community,” said Princess Shaw, Executive Director of Light Up Lawndale.