Freshman legislator Pacione-Zayas focuses on ‘solutioning’
By MARIA GARDNER
For Capitol News Illinois
State Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas’ friends tease her for changing the meaning of words. “Solution” becomes a verb when she says “I’m about solutioning.”
Pacione-Zayas, 43, D-Chicago, has been actively “solutioning” since she took office in December when then-state Sen. Iris Martinez stepped down to become Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Representing the 20th district on Chicago’s Northwest side, Pacione-Zayas has flexed her expertise in education and leaned on her community-minded equity lens to guide her approach to policymaking.
Raised as an only child, her community played a huge part in her life. She grew up in Logan Square and, from a young age, her parents took her to board meetings and community events, instilling in her the importance of social responsibility and collective action. Those experiences “really helped shape what I bring to the table in terms of a legislator,” she said.
Her mother, a first generation Italian American, and her Puerto Rican father, who migrated to the city with his family in the ’50s, met at the neighborhood Boys and Girls Club. Her father ran the open gym while her mother taught photography.
“I witnessed my parents negotiate gang truces and ensure that families have their basic needs met and create a space for young people to be safe, to be seen, to be validated,” she said.
When Pacione-Zayas was 7 years old, her mother became a wheelchair user. She witnessed first-hand how people’s attitudes toward her mother changed when they realized she had a disability. Her mother completed a master’s degree in disability and cultural studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and works in nonprofit administration. Her father is a University of Chicago-graduated social worker.
For Pacione-Zayas, witnessing her mother navigate the world gave her insight into discrimination.
“People make a lot of assumptions because she is in a wheelchair, diminishing her abilities,” said Pacione-Zayas, who, because of her mother’s experiences, advocates for universal design in architecture.
Bridget Murphy, director of the Parent Engagement Institute at the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, said Pacione-Zayas and her family have been involved in community work for decades. The state senator is also raising her children – two elementary-age students who attend public schools – in the neighborhood, Murphy said.
This informs Pacione-Zayas’ understanding of the challenges and obstacles families sometimes face navigating the school system, she said.
“What I love about her is she is so interested in how things work or don’t work on the ground,” Murphy said. She can look at any challenge and begin coming up with a solution “by translating it into policy in her brain.”
Pacione-Zayas sat on the board of the association, which develops leaders and spearheads several issue campaigns including affordable housing, according to the organization’s website.
She completed her doctorate in education policy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where her aim was to put the theory she was learning in the classroom to practice in the community.
A student of the Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire’s teachings, she said “systemic racism is the number one barrier Latinos, the African American community and other marginalized people face.”
Education, she said, is the path to “liberation and self-determination, self-reliance, and self-actualization.”
While Pacione-Zayas was finishing her degree, she worked in Little Village as the community schools director at Enlace, a nonprofit social service organization based on the South Side of Chicago. She helped to bring computer literacy, adult education, and youth enrichment programs into neighborhood schools.
She’s held several leadership roles, including the education director for the Latino Policy Forum and co-chair of the Puerto Rican Agenda, a nonprofit organization advocating for the Puerto Rican community.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, she led organizing efforts to secure local- and state-level resources to help those on the island but also for families relocating to Chicago, according to several news reports. She was appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to serve as secretary for the Illinois State Board of Education, leaving that position before she became a state senator.
Most recently Pacione-Zayas was the vice president of policy at Erikson Institute, a graduate school for childhood development, where she led the development of the school’s Early Childhood Leadership Academy and Community Data Lab, according to her biography.
“She is a wonderful Latina advocate in the education space,” said Erika Méndez, associate director of education at the Latino Policy Forum. “We see her as an ally not just in education and health, but in human services and racial equity. She has the knowledge to really make something happen.”
One of the group’s advocacy issues is calling for policy that focuses on ensuring Latinos have access to early childhood development programs. Mendez said language barriers, the complexity of navigating those services, and no intentional outreach to Latinos, means that many children miss this important educational stepping stone.
According to the 2019 census data from Census Reporter, the 20th district is 53 percent Latino. Statewide the Latino population is 18.7 percent compared to 15.3 percent in 2010, while overall the Illinois population decreased by 0.1 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“As our population grows, our representation should grow,” Méndez said.
Pacione-Zayas said the community must hold Latinos in elected office accountable to ensure their work is advancing the voice and the needs of the people they represent.
The road to achieving legislation must include community involvement, which can make the process taxing but crucial because it’s “the people’s work,” said Pacione-Zayas, who holds several roundtables where community leaders give her feedback on legislative proposals.
A sense of urgency and excitement is embedded in her voice when she talks about her legislative goals.
“I’m going to do as much as I can to advance ideals around affordable housing, high quality early child care and education, access to comprehensive health services and of course addressing the root causes of violence,” she said.
Last spring, she led the passage of a bill that would establish a higher education consortium focused on creating a “streamline pathway for early childhood workforce.” She said the next step is to secure revenue sources so that the pay of early childhood educators is on par with K-12 teachers.
She said a utilization formula used to determine school funding needs to be corrected. She said schools that use space for mentoring services, clinics and parent universities are not getting the credit because they don’t have a traditional class setup.
Regarding affordable housing, she said an omnibus bill she supports would allocate $75 million each year toward incentivizing affordable housing construction.
No state legislator from Chicago can ignore the headlines that count the rising number of murders in the city.
“Violence is a huge issue in our city but we know that continuing to put money toward traditional law enforcement and punitive measures does not result in the outcomes that we want,” she said.
She said addressing people’s basic needs like housing, jobs with livable wages, addressing people’s chronic health needs and challenges around mental health issues ought to be the priority.
Pacione-Zayas said thus far her experience as a freshman legislator has been exhausting like taking care of a newborn baby, but also exhilarating as when staying up late to finish an assignment for school. In the June primary, she’ll run as an incumbent and have an opportunity to cement the community’s support for her style of “solutioning.”
This story was distributed by Capitol News Illinois on behalf of the University of Illinois-Springfield’s Public Affairs Reporting program. The story was written as part of the PAR coursework.
Local News
Baseball | Marist claws way back to .500
Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent This season has thus far not been what Marist had expected, but the RedHawks came into this week at .500. Marist was 2-8 after 10 games this season, with three of those first eight losses coming via shutout. But the RedHawks turned things around with a stretch of eight…
Red Stars fall to Spirit for third loss in past four matches
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent After enjoying one of their best starts in franchise history, the Chicago Red Stars have slid to the middle of the NWSL standings, with the latest setback being a 4-2 loss to Washington at SeatGeek Stadium. The Stars (3-3-1) entered this week having dropped three of their past four…
Red Stars take aim at NWSL attendance record with Wrigley game
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Chicago Red Stars are thinking big when it comes to their upcoming game at Wrigley Field. The team is taking aim at the NWSL record for single-game attendance when it hosts Bay FC at the historic home of the Chicago Cubs on June 8. The record is held…
IHSA announces boys volleyball postseason assignments
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Last year, the area sent a pair of boys volleyball teams to state as Lyons finished runner-up to champion Glenbard South and Brother Rice lost in the quarterfinals. This year, both could face each other in the sectional finals. The Lions picked up the second seed and the Crusaders…
Badminton players from Reavis and Lyons going to state
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Reavis singles player Dania Amjad finished third in the Bolingbrook Sectional on May 2 to qualify for the IHSA state tournament. The Lyons doubles team of Simone Brown and Mia Graziano finished fourth in the York Sectional to qualify for state. The state finals are May 10-11 at DeKalb…
Brother Rice, Sandburg sending boats to bash fishing state tourney
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Brother Rice is sending two boats to the IHSA state bass fishing tournament. The Crusaders had first- and third-place finishes at the Des Plaines River Big Basin Marina Sectional on May 2. Sandwiched in between the Brother Rice boats was a group from Sandburg in second place. The Crusaders’…
Lions Club District 1A Helen Keller race draws big field
Spread the loveBy Kelly White The damp weather from overnight rain did not deter more than 100 people on Sunday morning from getting some exercise. The 14th annual District 1A Helen Keller 5k Fun Run/Walk proudly took place along at Harold L. Richard’s High School, 10601 Central Ave., Oak Lawn. “This is a really great…
EPCHS students collect shoes for Christmas Without Cancer Sneaker Drive
Spread the loveFrom staff reports Students in Evergreen Park Community High School’s junior physical education leadership class teamed up with the non-profit organization Christmas Without Cancer to help local families battling the devastation of cancer. The class – taught by EPCHS physical education teacher Ree McDonald – helped gather donations for Christmas Without Cancer’s second…
Swallow Cliff Chapter, NSDAR, honors JROTC cadets
Spread the loveFrom staff reports Swallow Cliff Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, participated in recent JROTC awards ceremonies held at Shepard High School in Palos Heights and Richards High School in Oak Lawn. The DAR JROTC award, consisting of a medal and certificate, was presented to Navy Cadet Emily Schrode at Richards…
Man charged with child abduction in Stickney Township
Spread the loveFrom staff reports A Chicago man was charged last week with child abduction and luring of a minor after Cook County Sheriff’s Police detectives found he attempted to lure a minor into his vehicle, said Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart. According to police, about 4:43 p.m. on Monday, April 22, officers responded…
Neighbors
Tax exemptions will be automatic, Kaegi says
Spread the loveFrom staff reports In response to the ongoing pandemic, the Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office will continue the automatic renewal of the Senior Freeze, Veterans with Disabilities and Persons with Disabilities Exemptions. The Homeowner and Senior Exemptions will continue to auto-renew every year. If a homeowner received any of these five exemptions…
Oak Lawn officials rip governor, legislators over crime
Spread the loveBy Joe Boyle Two Oak Lawn officials are calling for Gov. J.B. Pritzker and local legislators to re-evaluate a police reform law that they say has resulted in a rise in crime. Trustee Alex Olejniczak (2nd) served as mayor pro-tem during the Oak Lawn Village Board meeting Tuesday night in place of Mayor Terry Vorderer,…
Troop 1441 Scout earns Eagle rank
Spread the loveFrom staff reports A journey that began years ago for Adrian Ayala recently culminated in Boy Scouting’s highest honor. Ayala, a member of Boy Scout Troop 1441 (sponsored by the St. Mary Star of the Sea Holy Name Society) was honored at an Eagle ceremony at Duggan Hall on Jan. 13. The Eagle rank…
Hog Wild to open Monday in Oak Lawn
Spread the loveBy Kelly White Dining choices will get a boost in Oak Lawn with the arrival of Hog Wild. The restaurant is scheduled to open Monday, January 17, at 4040 W. 111th St. That’s a week later than originally scheduled. “We are very fortunate here in Oak Lawn to have attracted Hog Wild,” Oak…
Home security cameras could be big help to Orland cops
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Residents of Orland Park could have a hand in solving crime in the village. The board of trustees unanimously approved to move forward with a voluntary security camera registration program at its Jan. 4 meeting. It’s expected to start on Feb. 1. This program gives citizens and businesses a chance…
Ailing eagle on the mend
Spread the loveSeveral blocks northwest of Garfield Ridge—just west of 47th and Harlem–motorists late last month noticed an eagle flying low and acting erratically. The Villa Park-based Chicago Bird Collision Monitors was contacted, and its volunteers found and captured the majestic bird. It was transported to a facility owned and operated by Glen Ellyn-based Willowbrook…
Can’t we just fast-forward to spring?
Spread the loveBy Joan Hadac Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge (708) 496-0265 • joan.hadac@gmail.com Hi everyone. Is it spring yet? Is the pandemic over yet? Not that I’m impatient or anything. I want to move forward past all the negative COVID-19 has brought to my life and everyone else’s life. I want to see…
Scavenger Sale different this year, Pappas says
Spread the loveFrom staff reports Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ 2022 Scavenger Sale will look different, as the Treasurer’s Office takes steps to help small developers, homeowners and investors rebuild neighborhoods and create generational wealth. Under Illinois law, the Treasurer’s Office is required to conduct a Scavenger Sale every two years, offering at auction the…