The Oak Park native behind the advisory referendum question on the November ballot is Jacob Drews, a 20-year-old sophomore attending Columbia University who is deeply invested in his Oak Park community.
Drews, with the help of former Gov. Pat Quinn, did the necessary work to get on the Nov. 5 ballot a question that asked Oak Park voters if they want the power to make changes in the village more directly.
The ballot question asked: “Shall the people of Oak Park have the initiative right to amend and propose ordinances by voter petition and enact those ordinances by voter referendum?”
“Oak Park has long been on the forefront of new ideas in Illinois and a leader in Illinois. So we thought, ‘Why don’t we try to get this done in Illinois and have Oak Parkers lead again on a progressive cause like this?’” said Drews.
Drews also believes that if passed, this referendum is an opportunity for the rest of the state to follow the village’s lead. Oak Park would be the second municipality in Illinois to have this power, the first being in Arlington Heights
“The rest of Illinois is really paying attention to what Oak Park does, so if they do this, it will send a strong signal to other communities throughout Illinois that Oak Park is doing this, so we need to get on this,” he said.
Drews has lived in the village his whole life, attending the Oak Park School District schools Horace Mann Elementary, Percy Julian Middle School and Oak Park and River Forest High School. He presently attends Columbia University, where he is studying political science.
He believes his Oak Park education prepared him well for his ivy league college.
“Coming to Columbia, I thought all these people are gonna be so much smarter than me. They’re gonna come from fancy boarding schools and whatnot, I’m going to be so behind,” said Drews. “But I have to say OPRF and Oak Park public schools as a whole, really prepared me quite well. I feel it was a phenomenal education.”
He grew up being interested in politics, reading the Chicago Tribune in elementary school and being affected by the 2016 election.
“When Hillary Clinton lost, I remember that was a big wake up call,” said Drews. “I remember thinking, this actually takes work to maintain our democracy.”
In high school, he spent lots of time volunteering and interning in local offices.
While volunteering for State Rep. Camille Y. Lilly, he started learning about what politics is really about.
“You read the paper and you think politics is one thing, but I found that really politics is very, very local,” said Drews.
He recalls going to block parties to talk with community members while volunteering with Lilly.
“Every Saturday we would go to like five different block parties,” said Drews. “I would see how she interacted with all the people. Endless amounts of energy, just listening to people, talking to them. That was a very important thing for me to see.”
Drews also interned with State Sen. Don Harmon and Rep. Danny Davis.
“I met some really good mentors and people that gave me some really cool insights into how politics in Illinois works,” he said.
While interning for Davis, Drews met former Gov. Quinn and found they “both had an interest in direct democracy,” said Drews. They worked through the Oak Park Township to get the proposal on the ballot.
“We’re optimistic that it’ll pass overwhelmingly in Oak Park,” said Drews.
When asked about the future, Drews says he has been enjoying Columbia University, and lately has been thinking about law school.
“Doing all this work in Oak Park, I’ve really seen how important advocacy is. I think there’s no better way to advocate that through the law,” said Drews. “I’d like to do stuff where I can continue to do my small part in helping my community or other communities.”
