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Hoffman Estates adopts Cook County 'United Against Hate' pledge
Summary
The Village of Hoffman Estates on Jan. 20 adopted Resolution 1726-2025 to join Cook County’s United Against Hate initiative; the vote was unanimous and included remarks from Cook County Commissioners and local committee members.
The Village of Hoffman Estates adopted Resolution 1726-2025 on Jan. 20, 2025, pledging to join Cook County’s United Against Hate initiative and committing the village to “fighting injustice and intolerance,” Mayor McLeod said during the Board meeting.
The resolution — approved by roll call vote with all trustees voting aye — adopts the Cook County United Against Hate pledge, which the text of the resolution describes as a public and educational campaign to “disrupt intolerance” and encourage residents and businesses to display a Beacon indicating “hate has no home here.”
Why it matters: the resolution enumerates national- and state-level hate-crime and bias-incident statistics cited in the Cook County materials and frames the pledge as a local, public declaration against antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, anti-LGBTQ+ attacks and other forms of bias.
Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton, who represents the 14th District, attended and described why he helped start the initiative. “I found a bag laying in my driveway, filled with rice,” Britton said, recounting discovery of antisemitic pamphlets that spurred the countywide campaign. Britton said the pledge has grown to more than 70 partners.
Commissioner Kevin Morrison thanked the village board and said, “no types of bigotry and hate belong in Cook County,” and praised the timing of the resolution on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Local members of the village Social Justice Committee spoke in favor. Ron Koppel, identifying himself as a Holocaust survivor’s son and an Illinois Holocaust Museum docent, said, “When one hatred is allowed to fester, others climb in behind it.” Beth Tickfoe told the board that committee members and the police department have helped residents feel safer.
The resolution text (Resolution 1726-2025) calls on residents to take the Cook County pledge and to display the United Against Hate Beacon at homes, storefronts, vehicles and online. The board did not attach enforcement mechanisms; the resolution is a public-commitment and educational pledge.
The board presented copies of the resolution to the visiting county commissioners and invited Social Justice Committee members forward for a photo. The meeting proceeded to other agenda items after the vote.
