Join Illinois Partners, the Responsible Budget Coalition, and the Health and Human Service Coalition of Illinois for a webinar reviewing the FY26 State Budget.
We will discuss what’s happening at the federal level in the budget reconciliation process, the FY26 state budget, and how we can advocate for revenue and continued funding for vital programs. Please join us on Thursday, June 26th at 3 pm. Register here and email lauren@illinoispartners.org with any questions or accessibility needs.
Act now: Urge Your Legislator to Support Loan Repayment for Human Service Workers
Earlier this month, Illinois Partners for Human Service and Living Wage, Thriving Communities supporters took key actions to demand NO CUTS to human services in the FY26 Illinois state budget. Joined by Carrie Ward, Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, our Executive Director Lauren Wright testified in the Human Service Committee to support the passage of the Living Wages, Thriving Communities Resolution (HR151/SR123). The Resolution not only describes the history of underinvestment in the human service sector and the impact on frontline human service workers, but also asks the state to commit to strategizing improvements to funding processes and making no cuts to the sector. Because of the calls, emails and actions you took to let legislators know you care, we witnessed unanimous support from the committee for the Resolution, which now has 15 co-sponsors in the House!
Our Director of Advocacy & Workforce Initiatives, Cosette Ayele, also testified with Becky Levin, VP of Policy at TASC in support of continuing funding for the Human Services Professional Loan Repayment Program (HB1588/SB1306). Although there are close to 600 applicants for loan repayment through this program, we still have to fight to ensure that $5 M is appropriated by the state to support the continuation of the HSPLRP in the next fiscal year.
You can continue to support the Human Services Professional Loan Repayment Program by calling and emailing your legislators and asking for them to sustain it, or easily by using our Action Alert on VoterVoice to let your legislator know you care about this program.
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