Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to open Chicago African Summit on Saturday

We are all fired up and ready for the 6th Chicago Summit on African Immigrants and Refugees on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 8:30am!! Are you? Click HERE to register!

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will open the historic summit of the United African Organization with welcome remarks.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has been a dedicated community leader for over two decades, providing independent and progressive leadership founded on experience, know-how and a commitment to practical results.

President Preckwinkle has a strong vision of transforming Cook County government by operating with accountability, honesty, and efficiency. She has the integrity and forward-thinking ideas that are needed to transform county government into a world-class institution of which the people of Cook County can be proud.

As a high school teacher in Chicago,  Preckwinkle ran a non-profit organization aimed at neighborhood improvement. She stood up to the city's political machine, and despite failed first attempts, she prevailed. Toni ran an improbable campaign against the political establishment and was elected 4th Ward Alderman in 1991.

In her 19 years as Alderman,  Preckwinkle has improved the quality of life of her constituents by providing independent, transparent and accountable leadership. She ended the old patronage model in her ward that awarded jobs based on political clout. She has successfully fought for greater funding for education and affordable housing in her ward. She sponsored the Living Wage and Affordable Housing Ordinances, and was a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit to institute a more racially equitable map of Chicago's ward boundaries. Toni sponsored an ordinance that limits the establishment of payday loan stores and was a lead sponsor of the anti-smoking ordinance. She has not been afraid to stand-up to the status-quo, voting against the parking meter privatization and standing with a small minority in opposition to the 2008 tax increases.

Preckwinkle independent and progressive leadership earned her the IVI-IPO Best Alderman Award in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2005 and 2008, and the 1997 and 2009 Leon Despres Awards. Preckwinkle was elected Cook County Board President on November 2, 2010.

Cook County government is responsible for overseeing public safety, health, property and economic development for more than five million residents in the greater Chicagoland area.