How a coalition of Chicago educators, activists, and lawmakers is turning Reverend Jesse Jackson’s lifelong dream into an Illinois law—and why they need you to make it happen.
For decades, the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. preached a gospel of civic power with a deceptively simple image at its heart: a graduating senior walking across the stage with a diploma in one hand and a voter registration card in the other. The diploma stood for knowledge and wisdom. The card stood for power and responsibility. It was a vision, he believed, that public schools had both the reach and the obligation to make real.
Reverend Jackson died before that vision could be written into law. But the people who worked alongside him—and the generation that grew up inspired by him—have not let it go. Today, a bill bearing his name is moving through the Illinois General Assembly, and its supporters say it has never been closer to becoming law.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Young Voter Empowerment Law (SB-1786/HB-4339) would do two things: require every Illinois public high school to give eligible students a real opportunity to register to vote, and mandate that students complete at least one semester of civics education before they graduate. Straightforward on paper. Transformative in practice.
In January 2026, the bill received a boost that its supporters describe as a turning point: House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch endorsed it. For a measure that had been building grassroots momentum since State Senator Robert Peters of Illinois’ 13th District first introduced SB-1786 in 2025 as part of a broader election’s omnibus, the Speaker’s backing transformed the political calculus entirely.
“With the endorsement of House Speaker Welch, the bill’s passage is near and virtually assured,” says Jo Ann Roberts, PhD, who chairs the Coalition for SB-1786/HB-4339. But Roberts is quick to add a caveat. “However, citizen advocacy can make a critical difference. In today’s volatile political climate, it is essential that we ensure this generation of voters is well-informed, engaged, and equipped to shape the future of our city and nation.”
Roberts knows something about what it takes to move both institutions and individuals. A former Chief Deputy School Superintendent for Chicago Public Schools and the author of the original Rainbow PUSH Excel education primer, she was at the center of the award-winning Know Your Ballot Power voter registration initiative during the 2024 presidential election. That effort, she says, rekindled a fire that had been burning in her for years—the fire of Reverend Jackson’s original vision.
At a recent press conference at PUSH, Roberts shared a number that underscores just how much that fire has spread: since November 2024, community advocates have submitted more than 3,000 letters of support for the bill. “Now is the time,” she said, “to realize Reverend Jackson’s vision and empower our youth to be civically engaged through the public school system.”
State Representative Kimberly du Buclet of Illinois’s 5th District introduced the standalone House version, HB-4339, with Welch’s backing. She has been emphatic about what the bill is not. “This bill does not tell students who to vote for or what to vote for,” she says. “We are asking them to register and vote. This is about participation, this is about education, so they know their voice is represented and heard.”
Sen. Peters frames the legislation in the longer arc of civil rights history. “This bill honors the legacy of Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., which is rooted in justice, access, and accountability,” he says. “Democracy only endures when participation is expected, supported, and protected, and this bill ensures young people are given a real and meaningful seat at the table.”
Former Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. has added the family’s blessing to the effort. “My father believed that every graduating senior should have a diploma in one hand and a voter registration card in the other,” he said. It is the same image the Reverend conjured again and again over decades of advocacy—and now, finally, it may be the law of the land in Illinois.
The coalition that drafted the bill reflects the breadth of Chicago’s civic life: community organizers, educators, policy advocates, and faith leaders who have spent years working at the intersection of education and democracy. Alongside Roberts, its leadership includes Devorah Crable of Know Your Power-Vote, Letina “Tina” Brady Pettis of Get Out the Vote 4 Teens, Betty Magness, the Illinois Political Director of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rev. Jeanette Wilson of PUSH Excel, and Frederique Desrosiers, Policy and Advocacy Director of Chicago Votes, who guided the bill through the legislative process.
Now the bill is, as Roberts puts it, “in the citizen’s court.” Whatever the Speaker’s endorsement portends, the coalition believes that a groundswell of public support will make the difference between a law with momentum and a law with a mandate. Illinois residents can submit a letter of support while the current legislative session is in progress at www.KYPVOTE.US.
