Jacqueline Y. Collins She is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

, representing the 16th district from 2003 until 2023.

Early life and education

Collins was born in McComb,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

on December 10, 1949 and grew up in the Englewood neighborhood of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

.Senator Jacqueline Y. 'Jacqui' Collins (IL)
Project Vote Smart Collins earned her undergraduate degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. She then worked for the ''Citizen Community'' Newspaper and

CBS-TV CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

news. Collins returned to school when she pursued two concurrent degrees from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. In June 2001, she received her master's degree in

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

from

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

. Two years later, she earned her master's degree in theological studies from Harvard’s Divinity School.

Career

Collins worked on the massive voter registration drive that helped elect

Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st mayor of Chicago. In April 1983, Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city’s mayor at the age of ...

. In 1984, Collins served as a press liaison for the Reverend

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...

during the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

and as a press secretary to Congressman

Gus Savage Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage (October 30, 1925 – October 31, 2015) was an American entrepreneur, publisher and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. He served six terms from 1981 to 1993. Early ...

. From 1987 to 1999, Collins volunteered as Minister of Communications for St. Sabina Catholic Church. During this time, the church launched a large scale public awareness campaign against alcohol and tobacco companies, and advertising agencies that targeted

inner city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

neighborhoods. As a result of this campaign, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance banning alcohol and tobacco billboards in the city. In the summer of 2001, Collins worked as a Legislative Fellow for Senator

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

. On May 19, 2023, the Illinois Senate confirmed Collins to the Illinois Human Rights Commission.

Illinois Senate

Collins was elected to the

in 2002. She highlights her work to extend limitations for civil and criminal prosecution of sex crimes against children; legislation allowing more Illinois senior citizens to qualify for the Homestead Exemption based on the number of days they lived at their residence; and a resolution creating a 17-member commission to study and document racial and gender discrimination in hiring or contracting on state public construction projects. Collins authored and sponsored legislation, passed by the state government, that would prohibit Illinois state investment in companies doing business in the

Republic of the Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. The legislation was the first of its kind in the United States, and has been used as a model for six similar bills.Ruethling, Gretchen. . ''New York Times''. Quoted by ''GenocideWatch.org''. URL accessed October 12, 2006. Collins was a member of the Governor’s Racial Profiling Task Force and the Governor’s Statewide Community Safety Re-entry commission which deals with reducing recidivism amongst individuals recently paroled from Illinois correctional facilities. As of July 2022, Collins was a member of the following Illinois Senate committee: * Appropriations - Government Infrastructure (SAPP-SAGI) * Appropriations - Judiciary Committee (SAPP-SAJU) * (Chairwoman of) Criminal Law Committee (SCCL) * Financial Institutions Committee (SFIC) * Redistricting - Chicago South Committee (SRED-SRCS) * Transportation Committee (STRN) Collins consistently votes against gaming legislation. Collins served as a

delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (United S ...

to the

2012 Democratic National Convention The 2012 Democratic National Convention was a gathering, held from September 4–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice Pr ...

Personal life

Collins is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and received an endorsement for her 2022 campaign for Congress from her pastor, Fr

Michael Pfleger Michael Louis Pfleger (born May 22, 1949) is an American Catholic Church, Catholic priest and social activist located in Chicago. Since 1981, he has been pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church, a African Americans, Black parish in Chicago's Auburn ...

References

External links

Biography, bills and committees
at the 98th Illinois General Assembly **By session
98th97th96th95th94th93rd

State Senator Jacqueline Collins
constituency site
Jacqueline Collins for State Senator
*
Senator Jacqueline Y. Collins
at Illinois Senate Democrats {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Jacqueline Y. 1949 births 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Roman Catholics African-American Catholics American Roman Catholics Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections Catholic politicians from Illinois Harvard Divinity School alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Democratic Party Illinois state senators Living people Medill School of Journalism alumni People from McComb, Mississippi Women state legislators in Illinois 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly