WE'RE BUILDING A MOVEMENT IN ILLINOIS! JOIN US!

We need you to get this message out immediately while our legislators are working on the FY14 budget!

Following are some suggested talking points:

Human services have been cut severely since FY09 and continue to be stripped down each fiscal year. They can NOT be cut any further. There is a solution. Illinois can pass a balanced budget without cutting community-based services.

As an alternative to budget cuts, Illinois should:

• Use the $1.52 billion dollars in revenue the state received this past April to pay back bills. It does not make sense to go into FY14 with overdue bills if we have the revenue in FY13.
• Use available excess funds in the Corporate Franchise Tax Refund Fund and other special state funds. These funds are urgently needed to be invested in community-based services.
• Re-examine funds that were budgeted, but not spent, in FY13 and redirect them to avoid cuts to community-based services.  For example, although several state facilities have closed, money is still budgeted at the same level as in previous years.

The bottom line is this: Community-based human services are already stretched to capacity. It is no longer possible to expect human service providers to do more with less.  Yet, more will be expected.  The transition of many of our most vulnerable residents from institutions back into the community and the state-wide move toward managed care will put even more responsibility on the backs of human service providers.  These resources simply must be protected.

Issue of the Week:  Serving Those in Need

Illinoisans are able contribute to their communities through the use of their education and vocational training. The programs and services that enable people most in need to work and achieve independence are continually threatened by state budget cuts.

Pioneer Center for Human Service has been handcuffed in its efforts to help those in McHenry County by state budget cuts. CEO Patrick Maynard states the organization “is owed $4 million by the state in delayed payments up to and over 180 days. Slashing our reimbursement levels leaves our clients at high risk, translating into significant increases in suicides and hospitalizations in our county. What could have cost $20-50,000 in local services now escalates to over $100,000 in costs for emergency and crisis responses.”

Supporting the organizations that help out families is a key responsibility of the state. Paying the non-for-profit human service community providers for services delivered to those in need is the number one obligation of the state. We need your help. Please reach out to your local legislator and inform them of the need to support restructuring the debt so that our community providers can get paid.

Please click here to support these services in your community. Learn more about the need for Illinois to pay its overdue bills and how Illinois Partners for Human Service is fighting for the dignity of all Illinoisans through the restructuring of our State's debt.