An OPEN LETTER to Friends & Families from the Executive Director

Dear HH Friends & Families:

We need your help – please read on!

Along with every other agency in Illinois that serves people with developmental disabilities, we have received a letter from the Department of Human Services, that our grant funding for the new fiscal year beginning July 1st is being eliminated. By itself, this means a loss of a quarter of a million dollars in funding for service to people with disabilities.

But, unfortunately, there’s more. Another source of state funding, called home based support, is also being eliminated – now we are over the half million dollar mark in lost revenue.

But even that’s not the end – as much as 30 - 40% cuts are proposed for our fee-for-service funding. This would mean another million and a half dollars in lost revenue. Another way to quantify the impact of a loss of $2 million dollars is to realize this equates to a loss of 80 full time direct service personnel or nearly half of our existing service personnel. Without staff we cannot provide service – services close – vulnerable people are left adrift without access to resources. No wonder it’s being called a “doomsday budget”. There is no way that we can continue to operate our programs with this combination of drastic cutbacks in funding.

Does this make sense to you? Is this what you think Illinois should be doing to solve its money problems? Do you agree that people with disabilities should bear a major portion of state cutbacks?

Is there anything that can be done to stop these planned cuts? Yes, you can advocate for people with disabilities and their families. You have a voice and you must make it heard loud and clear and you must make it heard quickly. There is no guarantee that you can change this picture, but if we don’t speak out these cuts will surely happen to the detriment of people with disabilities and the communities they live in.

So if you want to help go to: http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx

and look up your home address to find out who your State Representatives and Senators are and what their addresses and phone numbers are. Then make a phone call, send an email, or make a visit to their neighborhood office. . . .

. . . .. .. and tell them:

• Who you are and where you live. If you have a friend or family member with a disability– share their personal story.
  
• That they should not vote for a budget which makes drastic cuts to services for people with disabilities.
  
• That they should support a revenue increase that is targeted for disability services.
  
• About the negative impact of the loss of services (and the loss of jobs) to their constituents.
  
• That costs will just be shifted to other, more costly alternatives such as prisons, hospitals, or nursing homes.
  
• All of the benefits that have developed from a system of community based services over the past 25 years will be lost.
  
• That you count on them to “do the right thing” and not to balance the state budget on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens

DO IT NOW PLEASE - for your own sake and for the sake of the people who need these services. Get your friends to do the same – the greater the quantity of letters, emails, phone calls or visits the greater the likelihood that someone will listen.

DO IT NOW! LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! DO IT NOW!

Keep the faith,
Dennis Trybus Ph.D.
Executive Director
Helping Hand Rehabilitation Center