Fw: Arc and The Upside Down Budget

[Guest guest]

This is a letter we should all send out to our legislators...I know I will be

sending it out shortly to a group of northshore legislators.

Have a good holiday, everyone.

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

Arc and The Upside Down Budget

The Arc of Illinois

July 2, 2010

Leaders in The Arc:

The following letter to the editor was sent out to papers and legislators this

morning.

Tony auski

The Arc of Illinois

815-4664-1832

Letter to the Editor

The upside down world of Illinois politics is taking an unnecessarily harsh toll

on people with developmental disabilities and their families. While legislators

hide in their local offices abandoning their responsibilities in the state

capitol, anywhere from 3,000 to 15,000 children and adults will lose vital

community supports. In addition, about 800 of their direct care staff are about

to enter the unemployment lines.

The new state budget handed over to the Governor slashes $94 million from

community services to children and adults with developmental disabilities. That

same state budget grants its state employees about $225 million in salary

raises. And there is not one penny for the 20,100 children and adults on the

waiting list!

This budget invests in state institutions and wasteful spending. It is a major

step in the wrong direction.

We should be investing in families and community services. People with

disabilities want supports to be independent and they want to be productive

members of their communities.

Once again the upside down world of Illinois politics take precedent over good

public policy and people with disabilities are the victims.

Tony auski

Executive Director

The Arc of Illinois

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