IDHS Secretary Grace Hou Receives Excellence in Public Service Award

On December 9, 2021, our Board Member and IDHS Secretary Grace Hou received the 30th Annual Motorola Solutions Foundation Excellence in Public Service Award, presented and administered by the Civic Federation. The award is an annual recognition of a non-elected government official who has had an extraordinary impact on the quality of state or local government services in Illinois.

Grace has dedicated her career to advancing social justice by working in the non-profit and public sectors systems for change improvement. Her compassionate and innovative leadership during the pandemic has greatly impacted Illinoisans from a social services perspective including increasing access to SNAP food benefits, reducing the Medicaid backlog, instituting rental assistance.

Learn more about Grace.

As Governor JB Pritzker stated before presenting the award to Grace, “Hundreds of thousands of families enjoy a better quality of life because Grace has breathed life back into our human services infrastructure once again.”

We are so proud of Secretary Grace Hou and her accomplishments and are grateful for her steadfast leadership as a Board Member and as a public servant. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!

Watch the award ceremony here.

Read the full announcement from the Civic Federation here.