Advocacy Spotlight: Isaiah Humphreys

Isaiah Humphreys lobbied in Springfield with Joining Forces last year and plans to lobby with us again for Lobby Day 2024. He has noticed the nation’s state of homelessness and feels that he should do what he can to address it. This year, Joining Forces is asking to substantially increase the state budget for 2025 to support various homelessness services across Illinois, which is a great opportunity for Isaiah to make an impact.  ​

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Isaiah was born in Libertyville and raised in Palatine but moved to Evanston in 2017 in search of work after high school. He said that Evanston appeared to have better opportunities for employment, among other things. Through Connections’ Our House program, which assists young adults with transitional housing, Isaiah found a job with the restaurant prep team at Curt’s Cafe. After completing the Curt’s Cafe program, Isaiah currently washes dishes at Meez Meals.  
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The state of homelessness across the country over the past few years has concerned Isaiah, which prompted him not only to lobby with Joining Forces in Springfield, but also join the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County. In fact, he said that he first met Sue Loellbach at one of the Alliance’s meetings, which ultimately led him to engage in more opportunities to advocate for affordable housing.  

One of those opportunities was last year’s Springfield trip and an effort to increase housing stock by holding cities in Illinois accountable for not having affordable housing plans. Related to the state budget advocacy that Connections does every year, Isaiah said it’s important because he’d like services like Connections’ to be available to him if he ever needed them. With housing costs going up and wages staying the same, the probability that average residents could wind up needing rental assistance or homelessness prevention services is getting higher. So, supporting these kinds of service providers is crucial.  

Isaiah’s favorite part about lobbying last year was seeing that the things we advocated for had passed, making an impact on affordable housing in the State, making our efforts fruitful. Even though he believes that Joining Forces took the right approach in Springfield in 2023, he hopes that we can reach even more legislators in 2024.   ​