Passenger Link – March 2026

Valentines at CityLink

Love was in the air at CityLink! We celebrated the love we have for all our employees across the Administrative Building and Transit Center!

CityLink Steps Challenge

Over the past six weeks, we stepped up in a big way with the CityLink Steps Challenge! Together, CityLink employees walked an incredible 10,077,353 steps – that’s approximately 5,039 miles. Nearly twice across the United States and almost 20% of the way around the Earth! Along the way, participants burned an estimated 400,000+ calories – the equivalent of about 1,600 Big Macs!

A huge congratulations to our top three steppers, Fred, Sandy, and Mark, for leading the way. Shoutout to John for most improvement and to Kedijah for showing up and participating every single week!

We wrapped up the challenge by celebrating in our special prize room, where fellow CityLink team members and directors gathered to recognize the dedication, teamwork, and energy that made this initiative such a success.

Community Engagement

On Friday, January 30, 2026, the Marketing & Community Engagement Team were
invited to the Peoria Riverfront Museum to celebrate the grand opening of their newest exhibit, “The Promise of Liberty”. This powerful exhibition looks honestly at America’s
aspirations, achievements, contradictions, and unfinished work, inspiring today’s
citizens—and tomorrow’s—to imagine a stronger democracy and a more inclusive society.

The exhibition features some of the most significant documents and objects in U.S.
History, including a 1776 edition of the Declaration of Independence, the first printing of the U.S. Constitution, a copy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and more. You can view this exhibit yourself for free by participating in Access for All Day
every second Sunday of the month.

Black History Month Celebration

CityLink was honored to participate in the Peoria High School Black History Month
program. This event is made possible through the support of Shaun and Reggie
Livingston, with Shaun being a proud graduate of the Class of 2004. This event
celebrated the 100th year of Black History, honoring the past and empowering the
future. Students had the opportunity to hear motivational words from African American leaders in our community, while others showcased their talents through a variety of dance tributes and drumline performances.

Civil Rights Activist Everett Dirksen

We honor Everett Dirksen of Pekin, IL, a Republican Senator who ensured the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. From humble beginnings in Central Illinois to national leadership in the US Senate, Dirksen’s mix of leadership and cooperation, with a passion for social justice, helped shape civil rights advancements in the 20th century and beyond.  

Dirksen was from Pekin, Illinois, and while he wasn’t a “civil rights activist,” he played a huge role in getting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. This act is considered one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in the 20th century.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin, expanding access to jobs and public spaces, especially in the South, and marked the first major civil rights law since Reconstruction, ending decades of “separate but equal” Jim Crow laws that denied Black Americans equal opportunity.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the first time enough people voted to stop a filibuster and forced senators to cast a vote, where Dirksen broke the tie with his vote. During this time, segregationist senators were staging a months-long filibuster on the floor,

preventing a vote on the bill. It’s still considered the longest filibuster in legislative
history, lasting more than 60 working days. Time Magazine labeled the final result a “product of principle and compromise.”

From the 1930s to the 1960s, Dirksen would sponsor legislation including anti-lynching measures, the creation of a commission to study equal employment, training for Black pilots in the World War II era, and more. During the 1950s he worked to secure equal tax treatment for the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs on behalf of a
constituent and served as one of the leaders in the debate over what ultimately became the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Dirksen would once again play a legislative role during the negotiations over the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 that contained the Fair Housing Act.

Easter Schedule

Irish American History

Irish-American Heritage Month is celebrated throughout March, honoring those who have ties back to the Celtics. On March 17, we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, a Catholic holiday that honors the saint who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, but the month long celebration pays tribute to all Americans who have Irish ancestry in their family tree.

The Irish ties to American history start back when our country was first founded, with nine of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence having Irish origins in 1776. Not long after in 1790, the United Kingdom repealed its Anti-Catholic Penal Laws, allowing Catholics to leave the country and come to America. While this led to an uptick in Irish immigrants, the largest emigration came in the mid-1900’s, with the Irish Potato Famine.

In 1991, the first Irish-American Heritage Month was declared by U.S. Congress, with President George. H.W. Bush, and since then, the current president has issued a proclamation each year. Each year in March, the Irish Taoiseach, the prime minister of Ireland, visits with the United States for St. Patrick’s Day. A Shamrock Ceremony takes place in the morning at the White House, where a crystal bowl containing a
shamrock is presented to the president in the Oval Office.

During the last census, taken in 2022, 30.7 million, or about 10% of the United States population claimed Irish ancestry, with Cook County, Illinois being the nation’s county with the largest Irish American population, with 418,997 people.

Some famous Irish-Americans include Gene Kelly, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Mel Gibson, Quentin Tarantino, Jimmy Fallon, Ed Sullivan, Debbie Reynolds, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nicholas Sparks, Tom Brady, and many more. Also 22 presidents have ties to Irish ancestry, including Ulysses S. Grant, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Regan, and Barack Obama to name a few.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality. 

It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions,
whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. Since those early years,
International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to
celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women, who have played an
extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

The world has made unprecedented advances, but no country has achieved gender equality.

Globally, legal restrictions have kept 2.7 billion women from accessing the same choice of jobs as men and less than 25 percent of parliamentarians were women, as of 2019. One in three women experience gender-based violence, still.

Let’s keep making progress toward building a better world, which includes advocating for
women’s rights and promoting global peace.

American Heart Association – How to Get Healthy Sleep