Hon. Iris Y.

Martinez to Receive
William C. "Willie" Velasquez Trailblazer
Award
In 2003, the Honorable Iris Martinez became the first Latina elected to
serve in the Illinois State Senate. During her 17 years of service, she
was elected by her peers to serve in several leadership positions
including Assistant Majority Leader in 2007, Majority Caucus Whip in
2013, and Assistant Majority Leader again in 2018, being the first Latina
in every instance.

While in the state senate, she fought for affordable housing, expanded
health care access especially for seniors and the disabled. Senator
Martinez supported programs to improve the quality of education, to
train more bilingual teachers to serve in low-income areas and forgive
their student loans, to train bilingual interpreters to serve in Illinois
courts, and to require Medicaid facilities to implement language
services.

Senator Martinez served as Co-Chair of the Illinois Legislative Latino

Caucus, President of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators,
Democratic State Central Committeewoman, 33rd Ward Democratic
Committeeperson, and Chair of the Hispanic Caucus for the Democratic
National Committee.

In 2020, Senator Martinez was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook
County, the largest of 24 judicial circuits in Illinois and the 4th largest in
the United States. Clerk Martinez is a real Trailblazer!

If you would like to learn more about our award winner, click on her name below:

Hon. Iris Y. Martinez

Complimentary Conference Registration

February 18 - 20, 2021
 Agenda

About USHLI
USHLI is an award-winning Chicago-based national non-profit, non-partisan, tax-
exempt organization. Since 1982, USHLI has registered 2.3 million new voters;
published 425 reports on Latino demographics and the Almanac of Latino
Politics; sponsored 38 national conferences, each attended by leaders from 40
states; trained over 1.1 million present and future leaders; and awarded over $1.3
million in scholarships and internships.

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