August 7, 2025
The state of Illinois helps African People hint their roots in Africa.
Illinois has launched a statewide initiative aimed toward serving to African People reconnect their ancestral ties to Africa.
Launched on Aug. 4, the state-funded Illinois Household Roots Pilot Program affords free DNA testing and genomic evaluation by means of The African Kinship Reunion (TAKiR) analysis mission. Led by principal investigator LaKisha David on the College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and backed by a $500,000 invoice sponsored by Rep. Carol Ammons of Urbana, the initiative goals to uncover and restore household ties damaged by the legacy of slavery and human trafficking.
With a aim to present African People “the chance to hint their roots again to their ancestral homelands, to reconnect with their ancestral heritage,” the Illinois mission plans to distribute a complete of 1,600 DNA kits across the state.
“My imaginative and prescient for this program is that it strengthens the Black group and it will increase our management, our imaginative and prescient, our delight, and our capability to achieve our full potential and be absolutely repaired,” Robin Rue Simmons, chairwoman of the Evanston Reparations Committee and founder and government director of FirstRepair, a nonprofit reparations help group, advised the Chicago Tribune. “This program provides us an help in repairing ourselves, a minimum of by giving us entry to understanding our lineage. From there, we are able to discover, self-educate, embrace, and uplift our tradition.”
Town of Evanston continues to steer in supporting the development of the Black group. In 2019, it turned the primary U.S. metropolis to implement a reparations program for Black residents, addressing the lasting affect of housing discrimination. Constructing on that dedication, Evanston’s Reparations Committee has now partnered with the Household Roots initiative, changing into the primary group to supply residents free DNA kits to discover their ancestry. The primary 250 kits have been distributed in the course of the metropolis’s Juneteenth celebration, with extra handed out on the committee’s July assembly.
“I’m hoping to present folks a extra cohesive household narrative,” David stated. “There’s one thing in figuring out about your self that triggers psychological well-being and contributes to your sense of self.”
Town of Evanston will distribute one other spherical of DNA kits on Thursday, Aug. 7, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Evanston Metropolis Corridor, 909 Davis Road. Locals are hopeful that the Household Roots pilot program will increase right into a long-term program that each one Illinois residents can partake in.
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