Representative Maurice West
 
     State Representative Maurice West is serving his first term representing the 67th House District in Rockford, IL.  A Rockford native, Rep. West serves on four committees, which are the Appropriations for Higher Education, Higher Education, Mental Health, and Judiciary - Criminal. He was also elected to serve as the House Secretary for the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.
     Rep. West is a proud graduate of Jefferson High School, class of 2003. After high school he went on to receive his Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Sociology from Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL, and Master's degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.  
     After completing his education he came back to Rockford and began working at Rock Valley College (RVC) as a Career Counselor for the Dislocated Workers Program.  For three and a half years he assisted people within the community who were laid-off from their jobs to find new work and/or be retrained to become more marketable in the workforce.  While at RVC, he received the Booker Washington Community Center’s 25 Black Leaders to Watch Young Leader on the Rise Award in 2012.
     Rep. West is heavily involved in his community. He is an ordained minister and an active member of his church. He encourages those that are homeless on a monthly basis at a local homeless shelter. He's the founder of the Share the Warmth - Rockford, which provides warm articles of clothing for the homeless each year. He served as a community member for the Education Committee for the Rockford Public School Board and the Rockford Park District Foundation.  He also served on the boards for the Community Action Agency, Rockford Area Arts Council and Rockford Association for Minority Management. 
     In 2014, the Register Star recognized Rep. West as one of the 14 to Watch in 2014 for his community activism.  He also ran for political office in 2013 (city council) and 2015 (community college trustee).
     Maurice recently worked at Rockford University as the Director of Career Development since 2013. He is also an award-winning music composer and founder of TheWESTMelodies.
     A month before being sworn-in for his first term, Maurice married his beautiful bride, Leslie.
     Rep. West will talk about current events as it concerns the Rockford area and will obviously answer any questions we might have.  This will be a most informative program and we would encourage our members to invite guests and prospective members to join us for this Zoom meeting.  Just forward the Zoom meeting information to them.