CDEL Impact Award

The CDEL Impact Award recognizes a volunteer, law firm, organization, coalition or corporation that has developed an initiative, program or services that profoundly impacts the lives of senior citizens and people with disabilities in Cook County.

2025 CDEL Impact Award Winners:

BCBS Blue Door Neighborhood Centers, Center on Halsted, Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Solutions for Care

The 2025 Impact Award recognizes four of CDEL’s most important thought partners in the development of our new project focused on advanced legal planning in 2024.  The Power of Planning is funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and is focused on providing culturally connective outreach and legal representation of individuals with an early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.  Under the grant, CDEL is responsible for creating materials that will be accessible statewide to members of the Black American, Hispanic/Latinx American, and LGBT+ communities living with dementia and their caregivers.  

The Impact Award Winners have made and continue to make invaluable contributions to the development and launch of the Power of Planning.  Solutions for Care, a long-time partner of CDEL, knows first-hand the importance of advanced planning for seniors. They hosted the bilingual pilot of our Latino/Hispanic module at their North Riverside offices.  Center on Halsted, also a long-time partner of CDEL, was essential in the development of culturally relevant and affirming programming for the LGBT+ community. We launched the pilot of our Power of Planning LGBT+ module at their office in Lakeview.  BCBS Blue Door Neighborhood Centers, a new community partner of CDEL, made an immense effort to coordinate the launch of the Power of Planning’s Black American module in Morgan Park and Pullman, communities of historic impact on the South Side of Chicago. And finally, staff from Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center generously shared their expertise and were instrumental in making community connections to help the Power of Planning flourish.  The professional and person-centered input from RADC informed our understanding of memory loss, the current state of dementia treatment and what specific needs our community members face. CDEL is incredibly grateful to these four community partners!   

Previous CDEL Impact Award Winners:

  • 2024: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

  • 2023: Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough

  • 2022: Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin

  • 2021: Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation

  • 2020: The Consumer Fairness Act of 2019 Coalition: Hon. Barbara Flynn Currie, Retired Majority Leader, Illinois House of Representatives; Hon. Will Guzzardi, 39th Illinois House District, Illinois House of Representatives; Hon. Iris Martinez, 20th Senate District, Illinois Senate; Jody Blaylock, Heartland Alliance; Jeffrey D. Coleman and Vaishalee Yeldandi, Jenner & Block, LLP; Hon. Thomas Donnelly, Circuit Court of Cook County; Bob Glaves, Chicago Bar Foundation; Kevin Herrera, National Immigration Law Center; Matthew Hulstein, CVLS; Ashlee Highland, CARPLS; Steven Pflaum, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP; Caroline Simon, Chicago Legal Clinic; and Heather Wier Vaught, Heather Wier Vaught P.C.

  • 2019: Hon. Thomas More Donnelly, Law Division, Circuit Court of Cook County

  • 2018: Hon. Robin Kelly, U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois 2nd District

  • 2017: Theresa Jaffe, Theresa Jaffe Consulting

  • 2016: Hon. Michael Quigley, U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois 5th District

  • 2015: Hon. Edward M. Burke, 14th Ward Alderman, City of Chicago

  • 2014: Hon. Timothy C. Evans, Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County and Hon. Patricia Banks, Elder Law & Miscellaneous Remedies Division, Circuit Court of Cook County

  • 2013: Hon. Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General

  • 2012: Kevin Hull, Hull Partners; Anthony O’Neill and Benjamin Whipple, Williams Montgomery & John Ltd.; Hon. Aurelia Pucinski, Illinois Appellate Court; and John Marshall Law School Students

  • 2010: Peter M. Shannon, Jr. and Peter Mone, Baker & McKenzie LLP

  • 2008: Hon. James Houlihan, Assessor, Cook County

  • 2005: Philip H. Corboy, Corboy & Demetrio, P.C.

  • 2000: Kerry R. Peck, Peck Bloom, LLC; Hon. Marvin E. Aspen, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and Hon. Donald P. O’Connell, Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County