Oak Park Village President was in Washington D.C. Thursday, part of a contingent of 80 Illinois and Indiana elected officials and organization leaders invited there to tout the goodness of the Biden administration on their respective towns, according to a village of Oak Park news release.
The release explains that Scaman was invited by one of the state’s U.S. senators, a high-ranking Democrat on Capitol Hill, to participate in the Communities in Action forum at the White House.
“It’s an honor to have been invited by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to represent Oak Park and join this committed group of leaders to share the stories of how our community has benefitted greatly from the numerous ways that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have helped advance our priorities,” Scaman stated in the release.
She was set to be involved in “robust” discussions and put the village’s efforts in a national spotlight.
President Scaman is representing #OakPark in Washington D.C. this afternoon at the invitation of Senator Durbin to participate in @WhiteHouseIGA46 Communities in Action forum with other leaders from Illinois and Indiana. More: https://t.co/MfJBfLFUyl pic.twitter.com/TAaVf2wkfo
— Village of Oak Park (@vopnews) February 1, 2024
According to the release, the mayor was expected share information about how the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding has not only helped Oak Park recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also how the money also aided in advancing other priorities and initiatives for the west suburb.
Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President Tom Perez and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. were expected to be among the federal leaders address forum attendees, the release states.
The meeting comes as Oak Park is also involved with helping to house asylum seekers bused and flown in to the Chicago area from Texas and other southern border states — where the migrants, mostly from Venezuela, crossed into this country from Mexico.
Last month, village leaders decided to extend the migrants’ housing in Oak Park from Jan. 31 to the end of February. The village is seeking state grants to help cover expenses for extending the shelter, and has joined the chorus of municipalities imploring the federal government to give more aid.