With no new revenue and a doomsday budget plan that cuts funding for critical programs in half, the state’s social and human service programs are on the brink of disaster. Massive layoffs, facility closings, seniors without home care, working parents without child care assistance and more will soon be reality in Illinois unless legislators come up with a solution - and fast.

The Naperville Sun has more on the specific impact of the cuts:

Family Shelter Services

The Wheaton-based agency provides services to victims of domestic violence, including shelter space, counseling and court advocacy. The agency receives a large chunk of its funding — $800,000 of its $2.4 million budget — from the Illinois Department of Human Services. The worst case scenario, Executive Director Karen Kuchar said, would be for the state grant to be cut in half.

“Half of it would be very, very disastrous,” she said. “… It boggles the mind as to what we need to do.”

Should it lose a significant portion of its funding, the agency would have to look at cutting down on shelter space and eliminating programs at a time when there is more need. Typically domestic violence incidents go up during times of economic woe, Kuchar said.

“It’s a time when the need is even greater, so it’s very concerning that we may need to cut programs,” Kuchar said.

Family Shelter Services currently serves about 300 clients in its shelter, 900 for counseling and education services and 2,000 for court services such as victim advocates and orders of protection.

The agency has already cut some services because of the economy.

“We reorganized our programs in order to face the economic downturn. We did eliminate some staff positions and did consolidate,” Kuchar said. “This really cuts into the meat of our programs.”

While the potential loss of significant grant dollars is “alarming,” Kuchar said she’s “hopeful there will be some movement” in Springfield.

Assisting the disabled

The Association for Individual Development is still dealing with its massive $750,000 cut in state funding last year that resulted in a hiring freeze. This year, the Aurora-based organization worries that as much as 50 percent of its funding from the state could be cut, AID President Lynn O’Shea said.

“We are very, very concerned about our grant-funded programs. Any program that was funded 100 percent by state funding likely would be the first to be cut,” she said.

About six AID programs are at risk for elimination, O’Shea said, including supervision for those in a mental health residential apartment program, respite care for autistic children and a job training program.

The agency could face a reduction of 70 staffers and six psychiatrists, O’Shea said.

Another compounding problem is AID’s waiting list of 1,000 people. At least half of those individuals are waiting to move into group homes, while the other half are waiting for employment programs and respite care, she said.

Serving seniors

Senior Services Associates, which assists the elderly in Kane, Kendall and McHenry counties, could lose funding for its elderly abuse program and community care program, said Bette Schoenholtz, executive director.

“It is something that has been coming for a lot of years. … It’s time that someone has to do something about it,” Schoenholtz said.

The elderly abuse program handles about 500 cases annually for reports of physical, emotional or financial abuse among senior citizens. The trial under way in Kane County involving two Geneva sisters accused of neglecting their mother is one example of an elderly abuse case, Schoenholtz said.

The community care program allows professionals to assist the elderly in cooking and cleaning or provide companionship in their own homes. Funding for that program could potentially be sliced in half, resulting in care to 600 clients instead of 1,200.

Counseling those in despair

Nearing its new fiscal year, Suicide Prevention Services in Batavia is already bracing for more tough days ahead. Executive Director Stephanie Weber said the six-member staff will take a 20 percent reduction in hours and, instead of paying someone to clean the office, staff members are doing it.

“We’ve already cut everything we can,” she said.

Any further loss of funding would certainly lead to fewer services available, while the need is growing, Weber said.

“It’s heartbreaking and hard,” she said. “People are falling through the cracks.”

From the Tri-Cities and Kaneland Chronicle:

If lawmakers cannot undo its 50 percent across-the-board cut for human services programs, Mutual Ground, a battered women’s shelter in Aurora, will close July 1. The shelter also serves Batavia and Geneva.

State funds provides 34 percent of the agency’s $1.8 million budget, which includes shelter, advocacy, a hotline, sexual assault counseling and treatment. A loss of $300,000 is too much to keep the doors open, Mutual Ground’s executive director Linda Healy announced Monday.

“This means somebody is going to get killed because there will not be a place for them to go,” Healy said. “Right now we have 20 children here and the oldest is 5. We have eight adults.”

The agency will manage to see women and children for counseling and legal advocacy, but not for shelter, she said.

Vickie Smith, director of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said if the cut stands, 52 shelters with 67 programs across the state will be affected.

And Jacksonville’s Journal-Courier:

A partisan budget stalemate has left Jacksonville and other communities questioning how to provide state services ranging from elderly care to drug addiction treatment as drastic cuts loom.

…

Without increasing income taxes or finding other new revenue sources, a shortfall of between $5 billion to $7 billion is expected for the coming fiscal year, Sen. Demuzio said.

She and state leaders, including Gov. Quinn, predict the shortfall will require layoffs and cuts of up to 50 percent in human service programs funded by state grants. Such programs include home care for the elderly, Meals on Wheels, nursing homes, child-care subsidies, treatment for the developmentally disabled and prescription medication assistance for the elderly.

Unless a budget resolution is reached, service cuts will start taking effect July 1.

…

The agency is predicting that 65,000 people with alcohol and substance abuse addictions will not be treated; 80,000 low income, working mothers will lose their child care services, which allow them to keep their jobs; and 20,000 seniors will lose services that help them stay in their homes, spokesman Tom Green said Monday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Budget News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.