IMPORTANT MESSAGE From Charlotte Cronin, Family Support Network

[Guest guest]

Family Support Network Members…

The Adult and Children's Home Based Support Services Programs are slated for

Elimination!

Gov. Quinn held a Budget Briefing this morning announcing the elimination of

billions of dollars of services including the Home-Based Support Services

Program.

The Home-Based Programs are only one of dozens of announced cuts and reductions

for DD Services.

Our Service Delivery System is being gutted. Our services and our providers

cannot survive with these cuts.

The following is a list of cuts as culled from the Governor's Budget Briefing

Handout:

The Budget Briefing Handout is attached to this e-mail.

· $251 million - 40% cut for providers who serve children & adults with DD…

§ This would include CILA, DT, and other services

· $103 million - Elimination of program for people with disabilities

including:

§ Autism Programs

§ Respite and Family Assistance Programs

§ Home-Based Support Services Programs

§ Children's Residential and Group Home Services

· $71 million - Closing six of nine state-operated developmental centers

· $18 million - Closing Illinois School for the Deaf, Illinois School for the

Visually Impaired and Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven't, call your State Senator and Representative. Identify them at

www.votesmart.org.

This is the message, " Support an income tax increase! Vote " NO! " any state

budget that cuts disability or human services! "

Become a " Key Communicator " … call others on behalf of the FSN.

We have almost 8,000 people in the FSN database. But e-mail addresses for only

about 2,400 of them. Please contact the FSN for contact information of others in

your community. We'll give you about a dozen (or more, if you can stand it)

names. We'll ask you to call them requesting their phone calls to legislators.

We'll ask you to get their e-mail addresses for the future.

Become a " Key Communicator " Coordinator…

I desperately need about 4 to 6 people who will help me identify " Key

Communicators " in legislative districts where we don't have them.

I need to do this right away. I'd like to have these people identified in the

next day or two.

I will be working from home over the weekend. Call me at 309-693-8981 to

volunteer and get started.

Contact the Media…

Write a Letter to the Editor.

Hold a press conference.

Contact a reporter.

Call the Family Support Network for help. I have what you need to feel

confident.

Join the Family Support Network! Make a Donation!

Dues are only $25 a year and we desperately need your financial support. We've

lost our funding, too.

I haven't been able to send out a newsletter since LAST June!

Here's a link to our Membership Brochure:

http://www.familysupportnetwork.org/2009%20Membership%20Brochure.pdf .

Membership in the FSN provides membership if The Arc of Illinois.

Please mail to The Family Support Network, 5739 W. dale Lane, Peoria, IL

61615

____ Individual/Family Annual Membership $25.00 ____ Lifetime Membership with a

$1000 or more donation Peoria, IL 61615

Payment Options:

Make checks payable to: The Family Support Network

Charge to my Visa or MasterCard*

Name _________________________________________ Organization:

_________________________________________

Address: __________________________________ City: ______________________ State:

______ Zip: ______________

Phone Number: ______________________ E-mail Address:

__________________________________________________

*Name as it appears on MasterCard or Visa:

_______________________________________________________________

Card Number: _______________________________________________________________

Expiration Date: __________

Card Holder's Signature: _______________________________________________________

More to come as we have it. I will be working this weekend. I will be personally

calling many of you for help.

Please help me by volunteering. This is your life and the lives of people you

love deeply that we're talking about.

Charlotte

309-693-8981 or fsn@....