Maria Antonia "Toni" Berrios is serving her third term in the Illinois General Assembly as the 39th District State Representative. Her district on Chicago’s Northwest Side includes parts of the Avondale, Belmont Cragin, Hermosa, and Logan Square neighborhoods. Berrios is the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives and the legislature’s youngest Hispanic.
As a state representative, Berrios' top priorities are to improve education and the quality of family life in her district and throughout Illinois. She has focused on issues that increase the well-being of children, seniors and working families. She strongly supports after school programs, affordable housing, initiatives that reduce crime and better health care for everyone.
In Springfield, Berrios serves on five committees. She is the Chairperson of the Biotechnology Committee and is the youngest member of the Executive Committee. She is also a member of the Insurance Committee, Tourism & Conventions and the International Trade & Commerce Committee. In addition, Berrios serves as the secretary of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus.
Before her election in 2002, she worked with the Illinois Liquor Control Commission on improving the health of the state’s residents. She has also worked with Secretary of State Jesse White when he was the Cook County Recorder of Deeds.
Berrios has always been an active member of her community, volunteering her time over the years with various organizations and events, including the Young Democrats of Cook County. She served on the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of Chicago, which has more than 850 troops, 16,500 members and a budget of nearly $5 million. Berrios also serves on the Board of Directors of Child’s Play Touring Theatre, a premiere theater company in the United States which for more than a quarter of a century has dedicated itself to exclusively performing works written by children.
Berrios is a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University with a Board of Governor’s Degree. She holds an Illinois Life Insurance License and a Certificate of Completion from the Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development, conducted by The Council of State Governments Midwestern Office in cooperation with The Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Berrios was also chosen among legislators across the nation to participate in the Foreign Policy Institute for State Legislators conducted by the Center for Women Policy Studies and the American Council of Young Political Leaders. Berrios is also a part of the National Foundation for Women Legislators.
January 2008
