Agencies can be less reliant on state

The news last week from Gov. Pat Quinn was not well-received by social service providers. Already facing cuts in state funding and dealing with the failure of the state to pay its bills on time, those who work in the human services realm were clear on what they thought of Quinn’s three-year budget projection of perhaps 9 percent cuts.

It could “devastate all of these community safety net services,” Kim Zoeller, president of the DuPage County-based Ray Graham Association, told the Daily Herald’s State Government Writer Mike Riopell. “There have been so many cuts and failures to pay bills on time.”

Indeed it would continue to be a painful time for these agencies. More details on what will happen in the next year will come when Quinn unveils his next budget in February.

But in the midst of this negative state funding discussion, some agencies aren’t waiting for the next shoe to drop. They’re taking action and getting results. That’s heartening to see and should provide encouragement to other agencies and the people they serve.

Daily Herald staff writer Kimberly Pohl reported earlier this week on a Palatine nonprofit agency that started up a for-profit company as one way to guarantee services could continue.

Wayne Kulik, the executive director of the Countryside Association for People with Disabilities, explained to Pohl that the agency had to notify 160 families back in 2010 that its In-Home Respite program would be cut significantly because of a loss in state funding. Then, at the last minute, the money arrived. It happened again in 2011.

“I thought, ‘This is no way to treat a family,’” Kulik said. “I knew we had to find ways to diversify our funding sources so we didn’t have to do that to people.”

And so the organization created Parkside Homecare Services Inc. five months ago. It provides nonmedical, in-home services to anyone who needs assistance. It is licensed through the Illinois Department of Public Health. And while it doesn’t expect to turn a profit for 18 months, Kulick says officials are confident it will be successful and when it is, those profits will support the In-Home Respite program that each year is in danger of folding at Countryside, which gets 70 percent of its funds from the state.

It’s a good business move for Countryside, which has served people with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities since 1954. They still need state funding, but to have a backup plan makes sound strategic sense.

Others are doing similar things: WINGS, a Palatine-based domestic violence agency set up three successful resale shops; Northbrook-based Glenkirk acquired a paper shredding company that employs people with disabilities.

These are important suburban agencies doing yeoman work for the disadvantaged. Their creativity in securing revenue in tough times provides a primer for all who are reliant on the state to come through.