On Election Day, November 4th, POWER-PAC “Stepping Out Of Poverty” (STOP) parent members celebrated the passage of the Illinois Minimum Wage advisory referendum approved by 68% of the voters!

And – two weeks later, they joined partners from Raise Illinois for a press conference with minimum wage advocate and State Senate Assistant Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford calling on the legislature to pass the minimum wage increase in Illinois and then traveled to Springfield to rally for support.

Highlighting the real impact of the minimum wage raise, POWER-PAC Parent Leader Cye Cye Simms was featured in The Chicago Sun-Times, “Faces of Minimum Wage” series. Unfortunately, Cye Cye’s experiences are all too common for many in our state.

The non-binding ballot referendum asked the voters whether they supported increasing the hourly minimum wage to $10 (from $8.25) by January 1, 2015. The effort was supported by many groups statewide in Raise Illinois including COFI and POWER-PAC #RaisetheWage.