Welch Joins Local Service Providers for Community Resource Fair
WESTCHESTER, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch joined community members, non-profit service providers, and local businesses for a resource fair at Proviso East High School last weekend, connecting local families and seniors with services aimed at improving health, expanding opportunity, and making every day more affordable.
Standing alongside organizers from the Proviso-Leyden Council for Community Action (PLCCA), Welch and local leaders also used the resource fair as an opportunity to honor the life and continue the work of PLCCA founder Bishop Dr. Claude Porter.
“In Springfield, I tell my colleagues all the time that we’re playing an infinite game, because we know the decisions we make today will be inherited by the next generation. This resource fair is proof that Bishop Porter played the infinite game—because everyone here today is walking in his giant footsteps,” Welch said. “By helping to remove barriers, helping people lead fuller lives, and expanding opportunity for all, we’re building on the model of servant leadership Bishop Porter lived.”
Welch helped lead the Bridging the Gap Parade through Bellwood and Maywood, kicking off the resource fair. More than 30 local providers—including Welch’s constituent service office—were on hand to share information about accessing career training, affordable housing, behavioral healthcare, and a variety of other services geared toward opportunity, advancement, and community investment.
That dedication to empowerment through education and community development is what led Dr. Bishop Claude Porter to found PLCCA in 1968, and what defined his decades of work in the Proviso and Leyden community. That is the work is now carried on collectively by Welch, community leaders, and the members of PLCCA following Porter’s passing in December.
