Fw: Arc Update on Mabley Hearing and New State of the State Ranking

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Arc Update on Mabley Hearing and New State of the State RankingFYI...it is good

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Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

Arc Update on Mabley Hearing and New State of the State Ranking

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Dear Ellen,

Shirley , Executive Director of the Family Support

Network and I met with State Senator Steans on Tuesday. Senator Steans

is a strong supporter of community services and Chairperson of the Senate

Appropriations Committee. This committee reviews the Dept. of Human Services

Budget, so the Senator and the committee are key to our important work. At the

meeting, we discussed the good work of the Family Support Network and the need

to increase the transition line appropriation in the state budget. The

transition line increase will be necessary to assist in the closing of Mabley

and ville and provide necessary resources for community providers to

transition people out of those state institutions. Here is a picture of Tony and

Senator Steans.

Illinois is once again moving in the wrong direction!

The 2011 State of the State’s now ranks Illinois as number three in the

largest number of people in state institutional settings. As of Sept., 2011

there are 2,027 individuals with intellectual and other developmental

disabilities in Illinois state institutions. We are now only behind Texas and

New Jersey for the number one and two positions. We were number four in the last

State of the States Report!

Yesterday, AFSCME picketed Director Casey, Rep

and Senator Bivins as they toured Mabley.

Story from State House News follows, The Arc is quoted.

COGFA

Yesterday morning I got a call stating that the

Commission on Governmental Forecasting & Accountability (COGFA) will hold a

hearing on the closing of Mabley Developmental Center on Oct. 17th. As of this

morning, the notice of a public hearing has not yet been posted on the COGFA

website. The hearing on the closing of ville Developmental Center is

expected in late October. Members of the COGFA Commission are listed below.

The Commission on Government Forecasting &

Accountability (COGFA) will hold statewide hearings on the closings in the next

two months. That commission will make recommendations to legislators after those

hearings. This is an important commission.

The two co-chairpersons of COGFA are Senator

Schoenberg and Rep Patti Bellock.

Here are the members of COGFA and their email addresses.

If any of these legislators are your legislators, you need to meet with them.

Schoenberg jschoenberg@...

Frerichs frerichs@...

Matt senatormattmurphy@...

Suzi Schmidt suzi@...

Dave Syverson Sen1@...

Donne Trotter senatortrotter@...

Bellock rep@...

McCarthy kevmac37@...

Elaine Nekritz enekritz@...

Poe poer@...

Al Riley rep.riley38@...

Tryon Mike@...

Lots of concerns, few answers in Quinn closing plan

September 27, 2011

By Yount | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — New reports from Gov. Pat Quinn’s

administration say that closing seven state facilities will cost Illinois 2,660

jobs and nearly $300 million in lost economic activity.

The governor’s office gave the Legislature’s

Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, or COGFA, the closing

recommendations and economic impact studies for the seven sites Quinn has

targeted for closing.

Those sites are:

a.. Chester Mental Health Center in Chester;

b.. H. Singer Mental Health Center in

Rockford;

c.. Tinley Park Mental Health Center in Tinley Park;

d.. ville Developmental Center in ville;

e.. Jack Mabley Developmental Center in Dixon;

f.. Illinois Youth Camp sboro in sboro;

g.. Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.

Brie Callahan, spokeswoman for the governor, said

lawmakers are to blame for the job losses at a time when Illinois’

unemployment rate is more than 9 percent.

“Last spring, the administration made it clear to the

General Assembly there would be serious consequences to the budget they passed.

… The General Assembly did not appropriate enough funds in these particular

lines to keep all these facilities staffed and running for the entire year,â€

Callahan said.

Quinn, when he announced the closings earlier this

month, said 1,900 state employees would be laid off. The other 760 jobs would be

indirect losses from restaurants and dry cleaners, for example, because their

livelihoods depend on those state employees.

Chester

The Chester Mental Health Center in southern Illinois

may be difficult for Quinn to close. The Legislature would have to change state

law to allow the Alton Mental Health Center in Alton to replace Chester as

Illinois’ maximum security mental health center. Chester also would see its

patients sent to the McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield, the Elgin

Mental Health Center in Elgin and Chicago’s Mental Health Center.

The reports to COGFA state Chester’s closing would

mean the loss of:

a.. 485 workers;

b.. 581 total jobs lost;

c.. $37.8 million in lost worker income;

d.. $45.4 million in lost income from total job loss;

e.. $55.4 million in total economic loss to the

community.

Singer

Closing the Singer Mental Health Center would require

local community care providers in Rockford to care for the 845 people usually

treated at Singer.

But state Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, said that may

not happen.

“I am extremely concerned that this will send people

to hospitals or out (on) the street. A lot of these community providers do have

group homes, but there is not enough room,†Bellock said.

Closing the Singer Mental Health Center would mean the

loss of:

a.. 164 workers;

b.. 272 total jobs lost;

c.. $13.8 million in lost worker income;

d.. $20.3 million in total lost income from total job

loss;

e.. $28.1 million in total economic loss to the

community.

Tinley Park

The mental health center at Tinley Park is one of the

state’s busiest, handling nearly 1,900 people a year. Those people would be

sent to community care providers and local hospitals.

Bellock said community care providers in Cook County are

overwhelmed and she fears the worst if a plan to transition people out of Tinley

Park slowly is not available.

“For a local community to step up and pay for this

kind of care, that would be impossible,†said Bellock.

If Tinley Park closes its doors, that would mean the

loss of:

a.. 207 workers;

b.. 365 total jobs lost;

c.. $19.8 million in lost worker income;

d.. $34.8 million in total lost income from total job

loss;

e.. $50.5 million in total economic loss to the

community.

Mabley

The fear in Dixon, home of the Jack Mabley Developmental

Center, is jobs. Dixon Mayor Jim Burke said replacing nearly 300 jobs in his

tiny town would be difficult.

“That’d be a pretty big blow (to the local

economy),†said Burke. “There are some pretty well-paid people there.â€

If Mabley closes, that would mean the loss of:

a.. 174 workers;

b.. 244 total jobs lost;

c.. $10.7 million in lost worker income;

d.. $14.1 million in total lost income from total job

loss;

e.. $45 million in total economic loss to the

community.

ville

The Arc of Illinois is one of the state’s biggest

advocates for people with developmental disabilities. But Arc President Tony

auski said closing ville is not a bad idea, as long as the state

takes its time in finding new houses for center’s 96 residents.

“I think, if the resources are there, and if (the

state) makes an effort to work with the individuals and the families, I think

you could do this in a year,†said auski.

However, Quinn is proposing to close all seven sites

within 90 days.

Closing ville would mean the loss of:

a.. 441 workers;

b.. 591 total lost jobs;

c.. $27.1 million in lost worker income;

d.. $35.7 million in total lost income from total job

loss;

e.. $47 million in total economic loss to the

community.

sboro

The youth center in sboro may be the easiest for

Quinn to close.

Illinois’ juvenile justice system, unlike the adult

system, has room for the 59 youth inmates housed in sboro.

If sboro’s youth center were to close, that

would mean the loss of:

a.. 96 workers;

b.. 149 total jobs lost;

c.. $6.4 million in lost worker income;

d.. $8.9 million in total lost income from total job

loss;

e.. $23.5 million in total economic losses to the

community.

Logan

No one in Lincoln believes Quinn is bluffing about

closing Logan Correctional Center.

The town has one shuttered state facility, the Lincoln

Developmental Center, and Mayor Snyder said he doesn’t want another.

“We lost somewhere around 600 jobs about nine years

ago, and we’re still struggling to recover,†Snyder said.

There also are worries within the state’s prison

system. Closing Logan would force 1,500 inmates to sleep in gymnasiums at other

prisons. Randy Hellmann works at Pinckneyville Correctional Center now, but was

a guard at other prisons in the 1980s when Illinois last tried to keep inmates

on the gym floor.

“I can’t tell you the numerous fights, inmate

assaults, and staff injuries when this did take place,†Hellmann said.

If the Logan Correctional Center closed, that would mean

the loss of:

a.. 356 workers;

b.. 460 total jobs lost;

c.. $21.7 million in lost worker income;

d.. $27.1 million in total lost income from total lost

jobs;

e.. $73 million in total economic losses to the

community.

.

Tony auski

Executive Director

The Arc of Illinois

20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209

fort, IL 60423

815-464-1832 (OFFICE)

708-828-0188 (CELL)

Tony@...

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