People with kids, disabilities to feel the pinch without a state budget
Social service workers in the suburbs got advance notice of impending layoffs Wednesday, as confusion over funding reigned because of the state budget impasse.
Many human-service agencies gave two-week or one-month advance notice of layoffs in anticipation of possible severe cuts in state funding. Others tried to keep operations going normally in hopes of later reimbursement. At least one agency laid off some workers immediately.
"There is a lot of confusion," said Mike Shaver, chief operating officer of Children's Home + Aid. He notified 76 workers at early childhood centers statewide, including seven in Carpentersville, Palatine and Schaumburg, that they will be laid off July 17 unless the state restores funding to the Preschool for All program, which had greatly expanded under indicted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Likewise, the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago notified many of its clients they no longer qualify for preschool care because of anticipated cuts.
Forty-eight employees - one-third of its work force - will be out of work July 31 unless there is new funding. The biggest hit would come at the YWCA's Glen Ellyn office, with 25 lost jobs, because of the cuts in early childhood funding, which were implemented Wednesday.
Similar cuts could occur at the YWCA in Lake County and Elgin.
On Wednesday, Gov. Patrick Quinn vetoed a portion of the state's budget that funds nonprofit social service agencies, which legislators had cut by about half. The veto leaves the state with no budget for those services now, since the new budget year started Wednesday. Legislators are not scheduled to return to Springfield until July 14.
The Association for Individual Development told parents that its Elgin work program would shut down July 10 without renewed funding, meaning adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities there would be out of work.
Matthew Fowler, 21, of West Dundee, was a normal young boy until he had an aneurysm at age 12, followed by epileptic seizures and brain damage. Seeing and working with others at the work program is the main thing that helped him develop, his mother Lillian Fowler said.
"If they're not challenged or given something to do, they just withdraw," she said. "It's a very lonely life because they can't go out and meet new people. It saddens me that nobody's standing up for them."
Lutheran Social Services in Des Plaines laid off 32 people Wednesday in childhood services. But after getting a message from the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services that it identified other funding for the programs, administrators are trying to figure out if it's safe to call those people and tell them they have their jobs back.
"We're feeling whiplash," said the Rev. Dan Schwick, assistant to the president. "It's very much up in the air at this moment."
In past years, the state continued most normal operations during budget crises, but this year the state sent notices to some agencies terminating contracts immediately. Some providers said they felt like pawns.
"We're very uncomfortable being caught in the middle of a political struggle," Schwick said. "It's clear to us the maneuvering is not about public policy, it's about political power games."