CALL OR WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TODAY
Please contact your representatives NOW urging them to find an alternative method of balancing the budget so that people with disabilities are not harmed by the proposed funding cuts.
If you don’t know who your legislators are, click here
Here is a sample letter you can personalize and send to your legislator. If you need additional help, please call Sherry Ladislas at 815.717.3750.
Dear Representative/Senator _____________,
While I appreciate that everyone must “share the pain” of eliminating a $13 billion budget deficit, I would argue that that kind of thinking does not and should not apply to those Illinois citizens whose very lives depend on the support of others. Illinois continuously ranks among the lowest in the nation when it comes to funding services for people with disabilities and mental illness. I don’t know how it is possible for agencies to cut back any further without harming the people they are responsible for serving.
This is not a matter of providing funding for extra-curricular activities in schools or salary increases for staff. This is a matter of ensuring that people who cannot feed or bathe themselves receive the support they need to be healthy and safe; that people with persistent mental illness receive the long-term supports that they need. It’s a matter of ensuring that vulnerable people have a safe place to live and that organizations providing these important services have the means to do so.
[Write your personal story here.]
It is also my understanding that cutting these funds reduces the amount of money that Illinois receives from the federal government for Medicaid services, which Illinoisans have been told is a priority of Governor Quinn’s.
I urge you to restore the proposed cuts to funding for people with disabilities and mental illness. It’s the right thing to do.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]