User:Jeasax7

Early Life

John Arrington is a native son of Illinois. He is the fourth child in a family of 11 born to a working class preacher and stay at home mother. It was from both his parents that he learned the important values of personal responsibility and hard work. He was born in Dixmoor, Illinois, a small industrial town of 6,000 on the outskirts of Chicago. As a youth he was lulled to sleep by the rhythmic pounding of the steel mills with three bustling work shifts. Each morning he was awakened by the blaring horns of the lively freight yard one block from his home during America’s steel mill boom.

As the steel industry deflated and people began to lose their jobs, John learned from watching his father create opportunities through difficult situations. His father who worked 12 to 16 hour days as a bus driver and eventually a bus company owner, instructed by example that with hard work and perseverance, anything can be accomplished. Despite numerous barriers present for minorities during the 1950’s, his mother learned stenography on her own and was one of less than a hand full of minorities to earn a secretarial certificate from DePaul University in 1952. He learned from his parents that hard work was to be valued, cherished and protected and that while excuses make victims, obstacles create opportunities. His parents’ mantra was “If you don’t have a job, make one”. Both of his parents were very active in all nine of their children’s learning and wanted their children to have the opportunity to get the education they needed to succeed in life. His mother taught John and his siblings to read at young ages. His dad successfully ran for the local school board in the late 60's to improve the learning environment for his children and other community youth. All nine of the siblings have high school diplomas and eight of the nine siblings have college degrees.

Education

John earned numerous certifications in government, leadership and public service, in addition to a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge Massachusetts. John earned his bachelor’s degree from Chicago State University in 1986. He earned his Educational Administration, Superintendents’ Certificate from Western Illinois University in Macomb Illinois. He is a life long learner and continues his doctoral studies at Western Illinois University.

Public/Community Service

Upon returning home after college and seeing vacant steel mills, abandoned houses, and the blank faces of hopelessness, he purposed to fight to better his own neighborhood and improve conditions by teaching residents self-sufficiency, personal responsibility, and collective empowerment.

He served as a community organizer for almost four years working throughout the southern suburbs organizing people to take personal and collective responsibility for themselves and their communities. He continued his quest to improve his country through public service in 1995 and was elected and re-elected to the Harvey City Council as Alderman and served for eight years as an innovative and fierce advocate for his constituents.

He was subsequently elected by his peers as Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, and served as chair and co-chair on the finance and public safety committees, where he established unprecedented programs and initiatives. Notably, he worked to develop and refine local taxing policies, created an environment favorable to business growth and expansion, and brought in millions of dollars in development. He recruited an expert staff and organized highly successful annual job fairs that brought together hundreds of employers and thousands of job seekers together. Arrington also opened a community resource center, which hosted personal development trainings, business and entrepreneurial development programs, and citizen advocacy forums.

In 2004, he was a candidate for United States Senate in the Republican special election central committee process. He advocated both then and now for strong national security, economic development, individual expression through open markets, job growth, business/entrepreneurial development, and prudent common sense change. John spent almost four years as a high school administrator at Thornton Township School District 205 in South Holland Illinois, and currently owns a management consulting business with his wife Joy.

Family Life

John and Joy have been married for 19 years, and have four children. Joy is also a licensed real estate agent and heavily involved in the activities of their children. John, Joy, and their children attend Bethel Gospel Tabernacle non-denominational church in Harvey, Illinois. He is an accomplished saxophonist, an avid reader, and stays healthy through jogging and exercise five days a week.

Personal and Political Beliefs

John is a bridge-builder, committed to bi-partisan working relationships in the U.S. Senate to ensure all Americans benefit from their government. His faith is Christianity and his passion is public service. He understands people and knows how to negotiate in the best interest of his constituency. He is politically conservative both socially and fiscally. He is guided by strong personal beliefs that were embodied in the wisdom of our founding fathers of a government of the people, by the people and for the people. He is a fighter for the traditional family, free markets, freedom of expression and faith, strong educational system, and is a strong believer in low taxes and the tried and true model of less government is best government.