Update: September 11, 2008
September 11, 2008
Illinois General Assembly
Senators
The House passed both SB 790 and SB 1103 yesterday. SB 790 provided the revenue stream and SB1103 restored the DASA cuts. Efforts now move to the Senate – we must ask all Senators to urge leadership to convene session in Springfield immediately and to concur on SB 790 and SB 1103. Please contact any and all Senators to assist in this effort.
THANK YOU,
Sara
I received this email and posted it on my blogs. I sent all Illinois Senators and House of Representatives legislators’ faxes on Monday, September 8, 2008 regarding this matter. The only Illinois General Assembly person to contact me on this issue was the Honorable Paul Froehlich of the 56th District of Illinois.
Please act on this matter immediately to restore the budget cuts to DASA.
Thank you.
Fred Nance Jr.
Sara:
I am sending this correspondence by fax to all Illinois General Assembly members of the Senate. I have confirmation by my technical apparatus that each Senate person received my fax sent on Monday, September 8, 2008, which you are in receipt. I will reproduce the list of the Illinois General Assembly members I sent my faxes too upon your request, along with the individual fax numbers I sent my correspondence too. I will also post this correspondence on my blogs so the world will know how responsible our Illinois legislators are in taking care of their constituents.
This is the message sent to the Illinois General Assembly Senate members recorded on the fax cover sheet.
Illinois Senators:
Please review and respond by restoring the funding to DASA. Please do not think this dilemma will bypass your constituents and their communities. The impact of substance abuse and alcoholism affects us all.
The time is short. If we do not head-off the criminal thinking and behaving of substance abuse and alcoholism, it will capture our communities and the outcomes will be devastating. The time to act is now. The money has been found to restore the budget of DASA. Come aboard and join the fight against drug abuse, alcoholism, crime and recidivism.
cc:
Sara Howe, Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association (IADDA)
http://clickforjusticeandequality.blogspot.com/
http://clickforjusticeandequality.wordpress.com/
http://click.townhall.com/
http://www.frednance.newsvine.com/
Update: September 10, 2008
On September 9, 2008 Alderman and Chairperson of the Committee on Health, Ed Smith, held an agenda in Chicago's City Council Chambers on the state of the Budget Cuts of Illinois Governor Blagojevich and the Illinois General Assembly. I presented testimony and the writing below. I left the writing below for other City Council members of Chicago, which were not present.
I informed the City Council members that I faxed the writing below to all 177 Illinois General Assembly members, having confirmation of receipt for them. I informed them that Governor Blagojevich and the Illinois General Assembly have basically dismantled the Illinois social service system. I informed them that not only can I not get funding for my company to provide services to those who suffer from substance abuse and alcoholism, I cannot obtain employment because of the budget cuts.
What was also surprising and I spoke out about it was when I heard about this City Council meeting I imagined the Chicago City Council Chambers would be filled to the rafters dut to the impact it would have on our communities, such as an increase in criminal thinking and behaving. I informed the City Council members present that no community would be immune to the onslaught of crime and this dilemma.
About 50 senior citizens of McHenry County were in attendance, among other social service agency personnel and customers. There were about 5 City Council members present for this hearing. I was amazed at the non-presence of all Chicago City Council members. Are these people blind to what is going on here? Do they think their communities will be safe with the budget cuts and the dismantling of Illinois' social service system? The voters should beware of who they have in office.
Update: September 8, 2008
September 7, 2008
Illinois General Assembly
My name is Fred Nance Jr. I am writing and sending this correspondence advocating for the Human/Social Service agencies and our clients. The correspondence accompanying this cover letter responds to the Illinois Budget Cuts effecting substance abuse and alcohol treatment. The Budget Cuts handed down by Governor Blagojevich and this Assembly has dismantled needed services to this population. Along with my colleagues and peers, I cannot obtain funding for my company or employment because of Governor Blagojevich’s Budget Cuts.
I am President and CEO of C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP. C.L.I.C.K. is a not-for-profit social service agency. My website is http://www.clickservices.org/. Prior to the development of C.L.I.C.K., I was a victim of substance abuse and alcoholism for 27 years.
I am 59-years-old. For 27 years I was involved in criminal thinking and behaving due to substance abuse and alcoholism, leading to incarceration on January 16, 1992 at the age of 42 for drug related crimes. Upon entry into the Cook County jail at the age of 42 I did not have a G.E.D. I achieved my G.E.D. in the Cook County jail. When I entered the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) in July of 1992 I started taking courses at Lakeland and Kaskaskia Colleges before taking college courses with Roosevelt University. When I was released from IDOC on December 20, 1994, I continued at Roosevelt University’s Chicago Downtown Campus. I achieved my Bachelor and Master Degree from Roosevelt University in Social Science and Community Counseling, respectively. I will complete my PhD in Human Services focusing on Social Policy Analysis and Planning in the Fall/Winter session of 2008 with Walden University.
I attended a NBC Channel 5 press conference promoted by the Honorable Congressman Danny Davis on Saturday, September 6, 2008, regarding the recent budget cuts impacting social services. Press conference speakers included Congressman Danny Davis, Raphael Rivera of Healthcare Alternative Systems, Skip Land of Safe Haven, Melody Heaps of T.A.S.C. and Anthony Cole of Haymarket Center.
This correspondence and its attachments are being sent to all Illinois General Assembly members, that is, House of Representatives and Senators. The attachments have been posted on my blogs at http://clickforjusticeandequality.blogspot.com/, http://click.townhall.com/, http://clickforjusticeandequality.wordpress.com/ and http://www.frednance.newsvine.com/.
During our roundtable discussions, before the press conference on Saturday, September 6, 2008, I requested the social service agency in attendance to ask their clients/customers/consumers and laid-off employees to develop blogs on the Internet to tell their story of how the budget cuts of Governor Blagojevich and the Illinois General Assembly are affecting their substance abuse and alcohol treatment. I asked them to assist them in developing these blogs if they are unable to do it for themselves.
FY 09 budget cuts issued through The Illinois Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (DASA) will decimate the statewide substance abuse treatment and case management system that serves courts and probation. A total of $110 million ($55 in State funds plus an additional $55 in Federal matching dollars) will be eliminated from a $250 million budget, reducing funding to 43% less than last year’s funding levels.
Budget Cuts Result in Thousands Being Denied Critical Services:
An estimated 42,000 people will lose access to treatment services in the next year across the State of Illinois.
Budget Cuts Clog the Criminal Justice System:
The Illinois criminal justice system makes more referrals to publicly funded substance abuse treatment than any other entity, totaling 35% of all referrals to treatment.
The Illinois State’s funding cuts will drastically reduce treatment as a sentencing option.
The justice system will be left with no resources but to release addicted offenders back to the community, hold them indefinitely in already overcrowded jails or send even more nonviolent offenders to prison.
Action Is Needed Now—Delays Increase Costs:
The longer the funding cuts remain in effect the damage caused will cost more and take longer to repair. As clinical staff is laid off across the State of Illinois, and as people in need are turned away from services, it will take far longer to rebuild the system currently being dismantled by Governor Blagojevich and Illinois State Legislature.
Increased County Jail Costs:
With severely diminished or eliminated treatment, an estimated 4,540 offenders this year could wait even longer in jail for disposition (2,880 in Cook County Illinois and 1,660 outside of Cook County Illinois).
For every additional 30 days 4,540 individuals spend in jail (at an estimated $125/day in Cook County Illinois and $70/day outside of Cook County Illinois), it will cost Illinois counties an estimated additional $14.3 million.
Increased State Prison Cost:
Treatment and case management cost an average of $4,425 per person (services are usually delivered over a year to a year and a half). By contrast, 1.5 years in prison (a typical sentence for nonviolent, drug-involved offenders) costs an average of approximately $32,400.
With severely diminished or eliminated treatment, if judges send 4,540 defendants to prison instead of supervised community-based treatment, the State of Illinois could pay an additional estimated $127 million in prison costs.
THE ILLINOIS STATE’S LEADERSHIP MUST WORK TOGETHER TO IDENTIFY A REVENUE SOURCE AND RESTORE FUNDING TO COMMUNITY-BASED TREATMENT SERVICES IMMEDIATELY.
THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE AND GOVERNOR BLAGOJEVICH SHOULD NOT HOLD THE STATE OF ILLINOIS CITIZENS HOSTAGE TO VIOLENCE AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MAKE A POINT TO EACH OTHER.
THE BUDGET CUTS BY GOVERNOR BLAGOJEVICH AND THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE COULD HAVE TAKEN A 5% CUT ACROSS THE BOARD TO MEET BUDGET DEMANDS.
GOVERNOR BLAGOJEVICH AND THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE DID NOT CUT THE SHERIDAN PROJECT, WHICH PROVIDES SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT TO INMATES AT SHERIDAN CORRECTIONAL CENTER.
WHAT SENSE DOES IT MAKE TO PROVIDE SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT TO CRIMINAL INCARCERATED IF THERE IS NO VIABLE, SUPPORTIVE, COMPREHENSIVE AND OPTIMAL AFTERCARE TREATMENT?
THE CITIZENS OF ILLINOIS WILL SUFFER TORMENT, INJUSTICE AND INCREASED CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS, THEIR HOMES AND IN THE VERY LIVES.
WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH TO RESTORE THE BUDGET FOR COMMUNITY-BASED SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT? WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO STAND FOR “REAL” JUSTICE?
