Renewing Illinois

The Future of Illinois Project aims to address a serious problem that affects government at all levels: the difficulty of focusing on the future. We are convening demographers, historians, political scientists, social activists, futurists, and business leaders to peer out over the horizon and assess fundamental challenges facing Illinois from now until 2050.

We invite Illinoisans to submit essays that outline the state’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and offer a specific action agenda for the state. We seek input from constitutional officers, members of the General Assembly, mayors, academics, business and labor leaders, philanthropists, and citizens, including high school and college students. We will compile these responses in a State of Illinois Report that will provide an important benchmark for discussions about the future.

Essays should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words and should be submitted as an MS Word or plain text document to paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu by March 1, 2022. We will carefully review all essays as we compile the State of Illinois Report.

The following questions can help guide your thinking:

Strengths

• What are Illinois' inherent strengths?
• What are the state's unique resources and advantages?
• What qualities about Illinois do other states most respect and admire?

Weaknesses

• What factors within the state's control can be improved?
• What qualities or characteristics of Illinois do other states regard as its weaknesses?

Opportunities

• What opportunities are available to Illinois?
• What positive trends can the state take advantage of?
• What weaknesses can be minimized or even transformed into strengths?

Threats

• What external trends or challenges will be difficult for the state to surmount?
• What developments in other states or regions will adversely affect Illinois?

Your Agenda

• Please outline your agenda for Illinois. Feel free to be as specific or broad as you wish.

If you have questions, email paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu or call 618/453-4009.

The Institute will host a Future of Illinois Conference in the fall of 2022 that is guided by our State of Illinois Report. Sign up for our emails to be notified of conference details as they are set.

Our Renewing Illinois Summit brings together Illinois college students to discuss and debate creative solutions to revitalize the Prairie State.

The 2024 summit was held on SIU’s campus from October 24-25. The Summit drew over 70 students from 10 different institutions and included presentations by SIU System President Dan Mahony, Illinois State Representative Carol Ammons, historian Sam Wheeler and author Jim Nowlan while former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar delievered the keynote address. The 70-plus students in attendance heard from Mahony on the challenges that institutions of higher learning face and they later heard from Ammons on what she is proposing as a way to right-size the Illinois budget as it pertains to higher education. After that the students were led through a rousing rendition of the Illinois state song by Wheeler.

If you have any questions, please contact the Institute at paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu.

Past Summits

2022

Our 2022 Renewing Illinois Summit was held at the SIU Campus on September 29 and 30, 2022.

Download the 2022 Renewing Illinois Booklet.

To request a hard copy of the 2022 Renewing Illinois Booklet, please email us paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu.

2020 Virtual Summit

We had planned to consider the One Illinois theme at our 2020 summit, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We invited Illinois General Assembly leadership to submit their perspectives on our guiding question: Is One Illinois a noble aspiration or impossible dream? We published those perspectives, along with historical and travel essays, in a Renewing Illinois Booklet. 

We also created an Illinois 101 Recommended Reading List — a collection of essential reading to gain a deeper understanding of our state.

Download the 2020 Renewing Illinois Booklet.

2019 Summit

Our inaugural summit was held on March 28 and 29, 2019, with the theme Renewing Illinois: Ambitious Dreams and Practical Steps to Revive the Prairie State.

Thirty-five students from nine Illinois colleges and universities brought penetrating insights to create suggestions for reforms and renewal. Participants concluded that they see enormous potential here but are concerned Illinois has fallen into bad habits and has failed to position itself for the long-term. Read the 2019 Renewing Illinois Summit findings.

Download the 2019 Renewing Illinois Booklet.

Illinois Authors builds on our initiative Illinois 101, in which more than 20 prominent Illinoisans recommended histories, biographies, novels, or essays to provide a more nuanced understanding of our state.

Learn More

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute’s Renewing Illinois program encourages Illinois college and university students to discuss and debate creative solutions to revitalize the Prairie State. While preparing background materials for the students who will participate in our annual summit, we recognized the need to provide additional sources to allow them to delve more deeply into the history, politics, and literature of Illinois.

To that end, we have compiled a recommended reading list. We asked more than 25 prominent Illinoisans to respond to the question: If you were teaching an “Illinois 101” course to highly motivated undergraduates, what five books you would assign them to read? They can be histories, biographies, novels, or essays. In sum, they would provide a wide-ranging and nuanced understanding of Illinois.

The Institute received a remarkable range of recommendations. We pass this list on to all who are looking for a good read and a better understanding of Illinois. 

Download the Illinois 101 Recommended Reading Book

RICHARD DURBIN, U.S. SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS
Frontier Illinois by James Davis, 1998.
Lovejoy: Martyr to Freedom by Paul Simon, 1964.
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald Miller, 1996.
Bloody Williamson by Paul Angle, 1969.
Henry Horner and his Burden of Tragedy by Thomas B. Littlewood, 2007.
Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama, 1995.

Additional Reading
The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Beating the Curse by Tom Verducci, 2017.

JIM EDGAR, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR
Horner of Illinois by Thomas Littlewood, 1969.
Bipartisan Coalition in Illinois by Thomas B. Littlewood, 1960.
Clout: Mayor Daley and His City by Len O’Connor, 1975.
Bloody Williamson by Paul Angle, 1969.
Illinois History: A Reader by Mark Hubbard, 2018.

RAY LAHOOD, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION, FORMER ILLINOIS CONGRESSMAN
Fixing Illinois: Politics and Policy in the Prairie State by James D. Nowlan and J. Thomas Johnson, 2014.
Robert Michel: Leading the Republican House Minority edited by Frank H. Mackaman and Sean Q. Kelly, 2019.
The Education of a Senator by Everett McKinley Dirksen, 1998.
Paul Simon: The Political Journey of an Illinois Original by Robert E. Hartley, 2009.
Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics by Ray LaHood with Frank H. Mackaman, 2015.

SHEILA SIMON, LAW PROFESSOR - SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, FORMER ILLINOIS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years by Carl Sandburg, 1939. 
Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama, 1995. 
Song of My Life by Harry Mark Petrakis, 2014.
Bloody Williamson by Paul Angle, 1969.
Gwendolyn Brooks. Anything.

GLENN POSHARD, FOUNDER - POSHARD FOUNDATION, FORMER ILLINOIS CONGRESSMAN, FORMER PRESIDENT - SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years by Carl Sandburg, 1939.
Cornhuskers by Carl Sandburg, 1918.
Southern Illinois: A Photographer’s Love for the Countryside and its Beauty by Ned Trovillion, 1995.
Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement by Steven Ashby and C.J. Hawking, 2009.
American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation by Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor, 2000.
Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, 1915.
The Little Theatre on the Square: Four Decades of a Small-Town Equity Theatre by Beth Conway Shervey, 2000.

PAULA WOLFF, POLICY ADVISOR - ILLINOIS JUSTICE PROJECT
Jane Addams, Spirit in Action by Louise Knight, 2010.
From Bullet to Ballot: The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and Racial Coalition Politics in Chicago by Jakobi Williams, 2013.
The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation by Natalie Moore, 2016.
Frances Willard: A Biography by Ruth Bordin, 1986.
Family Properties: How The Struggle Over Race and Real Estate Transformed Chicago and Urban America by Beryl Satter, 2009.
Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois, 1778-1870 by Frank Cicero Jr., 2018.

JIM NOWLAN, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, FORMER ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE, FORMER PROFESSOR - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago by Mike Royko, 1971.
Illinois: A History of the Prairie State by Robert Howard, 1972.
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon, 1991.
Trilogy of Desire: The Financier, The Titan, The Stoic by Theodore Dreiser, 1972.
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and War Years by Carl Sandburg, 1939.

SAMUEL WHEELER, ILLINOIS STATE HISTORIAN
Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi by Timothy R. Pauketat, 2009.
Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois, 1778-1870 by Frank Cicero Jr., 2018.
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald Miller, 1996.
Illinois: A History of the Land and its People by Roger Biles, 2005.
Finding a New Midwestern History edited by Jon K. Lauck, Gleaves Whitney, and Joseph Hogan, 2018.

Additional Reading
Kaskaskia: The Lost Capital of Illinois by David MacDonald and Raine Waters, 2019.
Frontier Illinois by James Davis, 1998.
Freedom’s Champion: Elijah Lovejoy by Paul Simon, 1994.
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon, 1991.
Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 by William M. Tuttle Jr., 1996.
The Illinois Governors: Mostly Good and Competent Men by Robert P. Howard, 1988.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama, 1995.

DAVID JOENS, DIRECTOR - ILLINOIS STATE ARCHIVES
The Illinois Governors: Mostly Good and Competent Men by Robert Howard, 1988.
Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois, 1778-1870 by Frank Cicero Jr., 2018.
Corn Kings & One-Horse Thieves: A Plain-Spoken History of Mid-Illinois by James Krohe Jr., 2017.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, 2003.
Illinois Vignettes by John H. Keiser, 1977.

Additional Reading
Bloody Williamson by Paul Angle, 1969.
Boss: Richard J. Daley of Illinois by Mike Royko, 1971.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, 1906.
Illinois: A History of the Prairie State by Robert Howard, 1972.
The Illinois State Archives: 100 Most Valuable Documents online exhibit:
https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/online_exhibits/100_documents

ROGER BILES, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF HISTORY - ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY,
AUTHOR OF ILLINOIS: A HISTORY OF THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
Twenty Years at Hull-House by Jane Addams, 1910.
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon, 1991.
The Social Order of a Frontier Community by Don Harrison Doyle, 1983.
The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America by Nicholas Lemann, 1991. 
Illinois: A History of the Land and Its People by Roger Biles, 2005.

FRANK CICERO, JR., ATTORNEY - KIRKLAND AND ELLIS, AUTHOR OF CREATING THE LAND OF LINCOLN: THE HISTORY AND CONSTITUTIONS OF ILLINOIS, 1778-1870
Nathaniel Pope, 1784–1850: A Memoir, Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society by Paul Angle, 1936.
French Roots in the Illinois Country: The Mississippi Frontier in Colonial Times by Carl Ekberg, 1998.
Confronting Slavery: Edward Coles and the Rise of Anti-Slavery Politics in Nineteenth-Century America by Suzanne Cooper Guasco, 2013.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal: A Study in Economic History by James William Putnam, 1918.
Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness: The Illinois Legislative Years by Paul Simon, 1971.

ERIKA HAROLD, ATTORNEY - MEYER CAPEL, REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz, 1991.
Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality by Thomas J. Gradel and Dick Simpson, 2015.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, 1906.
The Transformation of Rural Life: Southern Illinois, 1890-1990 by Jane H. Adams, 1994.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, 2012.

CHUCK LEVESQUE, PRESIDENT - DEPAUL USA
Fair Weather by Richard Peck, 2001.
Chicago: A Novel by Brian Doyle, 2016.
Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg, 1922.
The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks by Gwendolyn Brooks, edited by Elizabeth Alexander, 2005.
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald Miller, 1996.

GREG SHAW, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR - ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson, 2010.
Division Street: America by Studs Terkel, 1967.
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz, 1991.
The Dealmakers of Downstate Illinois: Paul Powell, Clyde L. Choate, and John H. Stelle by Robert Hartley, 2016.
Frontier Illinois by James E. Davis, 1998.

CHRISTOPHER BELT, ILLINOIS STATE SENATOR, 57TH DISTRICT 
A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White Jr., 2009.
Freedom’s Champion: Elijah Lovejoy by Paul Simon, 1994.
A Righteous Cause: The Life of William Jennings Bryan by Robert Cherny, 1985.
Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America by Elliott Gorn, 2001.
Behind the Smile: A Story of Carol Moseley Braun’s Historic Senate Campaign by Jeannie Morris, 2015.

EMANUEL “CHRIS” WELCH, ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE, 7TH DISTRICT
American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation by Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor, 2000.
Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago by Mike Royko, 1971.
Mayor Harold Washington: Champion of Race and Reform by Roger Biles, 2018.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama, 1995.
Our Culture of Pandering by Paul Simon, 2003.

LATOYA GREENWOOD, ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE, 114TH DISTRICT
Never Been a Time: The 1917 Race Riot That Sparked the Civil Rights Movement by Harper Barnes, 2008.
Harold, The People’s Mayor: The Biography of Harold Washington by Dempsey Travis, 1989.
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz, 1991.
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, 2006.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, 1959.

TERRI BRYANT, ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE, 115TH DISTRICT
Down Don’t Bother Me: A Novel by Jason Miller, 2015.
Sins of the South: Big Secrets in a Small Town by Maureen Hughes, 2012.
Roadside History of Illinois by Stan Banash, 2013.
When Lincoln Came to Egypt by George Smith, 2016.
The State of Southern Illinois: An Illustrated History by Herbert Russell, 2012.

MIKE LAWRENCE, FORMER DIRECTOR - PAUL SIMON PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Dirksen: Portrait of a Public Man by Neil MacNeil, 1970.
Governor Richard Ogilvie: In the Interest of the State by Taylor Pensoneau, 1997.
The Dealmakers of Downstate Illinois: Paul Powell, Clyde L. Choate, and John H. Stelle by Robert Hartley, 2016.
Bloody Williamson by Paul Angle, 1969.
The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America by Ethan Michaeli, 2016.

Additional Reading
The Illinois Tax Increase of 1983: Summit and Resolution by Joan Parker, 1984.
Freedom’s Champion: Elijah Lovejoy by Paul Simon, 1994.
Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois by John Bartlow Martin, 1976.
We Don’t Want Nobody Nobody Sent: An Oral History of the Daley Years by Milton L. Rakove, 1979.

BERNARD SCHOENBURG, POLITICAL REPORTER AND COLUMNIST, STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago by Mike Royko, 1971.
Paul Powell of Illinois: A Lifelong Democrat by Robert E. Hartley, 1999.
Governor Richard Ogilvie: In the Interest of the State by Taylor Pensoneau, 1997.
Golden: How Rod Blagojevich Talked Himself out of the Governor’s Office and Into Prison by Jeff Coen and John Chase, 2012.
The Illinois Governors: Mostly Good and Competent by Robert Howard, 1988.

Additional Reading
Dan Walker: The Glory and the Tragedy by Taylor Pensoneau and Bob Ellis, 1993.
Len Small: Governors and Gangsters by Jim Ridings, 2009.

JOHN SHAW, DIRECTOR - PAUL SIMON PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon, 1991.
The Heartland: An American History by Kristin L. Hoganson, 2019.
Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics by Ray LaHood with Frank H. Mackaman, 2015. 
In the Fullness of Time: The Memoirs of Paul H. Douglas, 1972.
P.S.: The Autobiography of Paul Simon, 1994.

Additional Reading
One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, An Unlikely Coach, and A Magical Baseball Season by
Chris Ballard, 2012.
Played in Peoria by Jerry Klein Sr., 1980.
Cleared for Takeoff: A Pilot’s Story of Challenges and Triumphs by William R. Norwood, 2014.

Poshard gift announcement (l-r) Glenn Poshard, Institute Director John Shaw and Jo Poshard

On December 3, 2019, The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute announced it received a $100,000 gift from Glenn and Jo Poshard for the Institute’s annual Renewing Illinois Summit for college and university students in Illinois.

The donation established an endowment for the Renewing Illinois Summit, which brings together students from across the state to generate new ideas. These ideas transcend conventional thinking and give a voice to the next generation of leaders who will determine the future of Illinois.

“This generous gift by Glenn and Jo Poshard provides a strong financial foundation to ensure the long-term future of the summit,” said John T. Shaw, Institute director. “It helps continue Paul Simon’s legacy, fosters opportunities for students, and inspires young minds to take part in public service. The gift will also help provide a unique opportunity for policymakers to connect with the leaders of tomorrow,” Shaw added.

In a statement, Glenn and Jo Poshard said the Renewing Illinois Summit is an exceptionally constructive project which they enthusiastically support.

“Ten years ago, based upon a study completed for the Illinois Board of Higher Education called ‘Illinois, A Tale of Two States,’ the stark contrasts between ‘two Illinois’ was made clear. To quote the study, one Illinois is ‘prosperous and well educated with unlimited economic opportunities.’ The other Illinois ‘struggles to make ends meet, lags in educational attainment, and is economically stagnant.’ Some in the public arena, for these and other reasons, seek to divide the state, calling for literally two states to be formed,” the Poshards said.

“Rather than dividing the state, the Paul Simon Institute and SIU, through a creative approach utilizing the best and brightest of our higher education students, seek to find the solutions to close this ‘prosperity gap’ in economic and educational attainment, thus creating ‘One Illinois.’ No other Institute or university in Illinois is more qualified to undertake this task and we want to be a part of it. We feel this is an important investment in the future of our state and SIU,” the Poshards added.

The 2022 Renewing Illinois Summit will be at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8. The theme is One Illinois: Noble Aspiration or Impossible Dream?

The Institute expects to host sixty to seventy students at the 2020 summit from Illinois community colleges and four-year universities. After the summit’s conclusion, the Institute will invite participants to Springfield to brief the press and policymakers.

The Renewing Illinois summit is a signature program at the Institute that reflects and embodies Paul Simon’s best values and optimism about the future.