On a stormy Friday morning, hundreds met to discuss another gathering storm: Potentially massive cuts to local social service agencies brought by gridlock at the state capitol.
“I don’t want to be a victim of their indifference and I don’t want to be a victim of their stalemate,” said Jean Hess, whose family is helped by the Association for Individual Development, an Elgin-based non-profit that assists the developmentally disabled. “I don’t want to be held prisoner by people who can’t make up their minds.”
Hundreds of people came to Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services in Aurora June 19 to protest potential state budget cuts. Representatives and clients of a dozen non-profit social service agencies said that crucial service cuts will be made if the state legislature does not appropriately fund the agencies.
The large crowd—representing domestic violence shelters, counseling programs and senior services—was vocal, and multiple non-profit representatives and elected officials took the opportunity to throw some criticism at Springfield.
“I don’t like to see it when social services have to take the brunt of the cuts,” said Aurora Mayor Thomas Weisner. “We are expecting our leadership to act like leaders. We are expecting them to act as human beings and not as politicians.”
Gov. Pat Quinn has said there will be more than $9.2 billion in spending cuts if the state legislature does not pass a proposed income tax hike, which would raise income taxes for two years to 4.5 percent from 3 percent. The state House of Representatives rejected the increase earlier this month.
But the tax increase was popular at the rally, with many holding signs supporting it. State Sen. Chris Lauzen, an Aurora Republican, was heckled by the crowd for voting against it and supporting cuts elsewhere to fund social services. Meanwhile, State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, was cheered for advocating a state income tax increase.
“No one likes [tax increases], but where are we going to cut?” she said. “It’s not an easy vote, but it has to be done.”
Rally organizers have said the cuts will have a drastic impact, with an estimated loss of $8.6 million in funds that goes directly to social services. About 264 full-time jobs would also be lost, organizers said.
At Senior Services Associates, a senior advocacy and support group that operates five offices in Kane, Kendall and McHenry counties, case manager Nancy Luciano said 112 seniors would have services eliminated and 174 would have services cut in half.
“We are going to have to cut our staff too,” Luciano said. “And all this is coming at a time when aging population is increasing.”
Comm. Dan Hoffman of the Aurora Police Department said funding cuts would not just hurt those who use the services, but also would damage the community.
“We have 5,000 domestic violence calls in Aurora [every year],” Hoffman said. “Where are the children, the women, the victims going to go? I don’t know. We need these services to help reduce crime in the city.”
While the crowd was encouraged to contact state legislators, many were left wondering what they would do if the funds cannot be saved.
Delores Stein, for example, fled to Illinois from Louisiana and was able to find a place to stay at Mutual Growth, an Aurora-based domestic abuse shelter.
“I had to get out of a bad situation,” she said. “I didn’t have anyone here. But they had a bed for me and my children.”
She said since she received assistance from Mutual Ground, she has been able to move into a transitional home, find a good job and watch her children’s grades skyrocket. In fact, she is now working with another non-profit facing potential cuts.
“There is also a chance of getting laid off,” Stein said. “I fled a bad situation and I don’t want to go back there. But I don’t know what else I would do.”
By Jim Jaworski
Triblocal.com reporter
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