Jeremy Bergstrom, 32

By Sarah Roberts

For someone so involved in so many crucial aspects of Rockford, Jeremy Bergstrom really didn’t plan it that way.

A local native, Bergstrom earned his undergrad degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and finished law school at DePaul University, with no intention of returning to Rockford.

Upon graduation, he was offered a job as a Winnebago County Assistant State’s Attorney – “the last thing I wanted to.” But he still took the job, where he specifically asked for any assignment except the juvenile division. Bergstrom was promptly assigned to that division, where he spent two-and-a-half years witnessing and working with families who “really needed help.”“That experience set the tone for my career. It made me realize that being part of a community and working to better it is really a responsibility.”

After working in local law firms and considering, then discarding, an opportunity to work in Chicago, Bergstrom accepted a full-time position at Prairie State Legal Services, where he had been helping out with backlogged housing cases on a part-time basis. He inherited all of Prairie State’s housing cases, despite knowing little about the area beforehand.

One of his most significant achievements was successfully representing clients in a federal lawsuit against HUD and the Rockford Housing Authority over the demolition of the Jane Addams Village. The resulting settlement helped tenants resettle, allowed the city to proceed with demolition and ensured that the development of affordable housing would be part of Rockford’s economic development agenda. For his advocacy, Bergstrom and Prairie State were awarded the 2008 Housing Justice Award from the National Center on Poverty Law.

Bergstrom also is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Illinois State, Chicago and Winnebago County bar associations and serves on both the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness and the RHA’s Redevelopment Committees for the Jane Addams/Brewington Oaks and Fairgrounds developments. He also has served on the board for the Winnebago County Bar Association, Rockford Day Nursery and The MILL, and is active in his church, St. Peter Cathedral Parish.