Displaced homemakers could be displaced again

When divorced mom Vera Davis lost her job as an office manager, she felt helpless.

"It hit me like a ton of bricks that a job like that wasn't going to be available to me again without a degree," the Arlington Heights woman said.

Davis, 54, eventually found a home at Harper College, where she enrolled in 2006. The business management major expects to graduate next spring and continue onto Roosevelt University.

Now Davis, and many women in her position, are upset those kinds of success stories might be in jeopardy.

Funding for the 30-year-old Displaced Homemakers program, offered at 10 community colleges statewide, including Harper and Elgin Community College, was eliminated in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's budget cuts.

The $621,300 state grant provides tuition assistance and career training to more than 1,500 women yearly who lost their primary means of income by a divorce, separation or the death of a spouse.

Janet Lane, 50, of Schaumburg is among the 200 low-income Harper women to receive financial assistance with tuition and books thanks to the grant. She's divorced with an 18-year-old son. Since enrolling in 2006 with no job and little schooling, Lane has made the dean's list twice and is on track to earn a degree in applied science.

"This cut will make a dent on so many women's lives who are trying to make a fresh start," said Lane. "Without this program, there'd be no future for either me or my son."

Many of the women aided by the Displaced Homemakers program are victims of domestic violence. That's true in 70 percent of the cases at Harper.

"Many come to us to help get started again," said Kathleen Canfield, women's program director.

While Harper enjoys other funding sources, the grant was the sole means of support for many other schools. Prairie State College in Chicago and Southeastern Illinois College in downstate Harrisburg have already cut services. Canfield said Harper will also have to scale back assistance if the grants cease.

Elgin Community College found room in its budget to maintain the program, which served 164 women last year. That might not happen next year, so staff and students have launched a letter-writing campaign to local legislators asking funding be restored.

"We use those dollars to empower these women and facilitate their journey toward economic self-sufficiency," said Judy Burman, adult coordinator of ECC's alternative workforce transitions department. "It's very devastating."

Blagojevich spokeswoman Katie Ridgeway said the governor had to act responsibly to make up for a $2.1 billion budget deficit.

State Rep. Fred Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, has introduced a bill to restore the grant funding.