Springfield –- SEIU Healthcare Illinois – representing more than 35,000 child care providers and 35,000 workers who provide home care to seniors and people with disabilities – launched a hard hitting advertising campaign today timed to coincide with the return of legislators to Springfield calling on the General Assembly to stop deep cuts to child care and home care services in the FY10 budget.  The campaign includes television, radio, and print advertisements, as well as billboards and web advertising that will begin in Springfield and spread across the state in the coming weeks.  On Wednesday hundreds of SEIU Healthcare members will join more than a thousand labor and community allies in Springfield to lobby the General Assembly for a fair budget. 

The ads can be viewed on line here. 

“Working families in Illinois who depend on home care for an elderly parent or child care for their kids should not be asked to bear the burden of Illinois’s budget crisis,” said Keith Kelleher, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois. “The families who depend on these programs are the same families struggling with the downturn in the economy, unemployment, hours cuts and home foreclosure.  There is nothing left to cut in either of these programs without hurting already-struggling families. Illinois legislators need to fully fund these programs and find a lasting and fair solution to the overall budget crisis.  Our hope is that these ads are a wake up call for legislators and for voters about what’s really at stake in this budget.”

The state’s proposed FY10 budget includes a $50 million cut to the Child Care Assistance Program serving over 170,000 children in the state, a $40 million gap in funding for home care provided to over 51,000 Illinois seniors through the Community Care Program, and a $7 million cut to home care for people with disabilities in the Department of Human Services Home Service Program. Cuts could mean reduced eligibility, service cuts for seniors who depend on the care they receive in their homes, leaving families without access to critical care for their elderly loved ones and children.

“Access to child care is critical for working families when times are tough,” said Antonia Cotton, a child care provider from Peoria. “There are already too many children who aren’t getting the care they need. Cutting $50 million from the Child Care Assistance Program would force more families out the program and threaten parents’ ability to continue working.”

“A $40 million hole in the home care budget is a serious threat to tens of thousands of Illinois seniors and their families,” said Marlin Hosick, a 73-year-old Pekin resident who receives home care through the Community Care Program. “Cutting a few hours of care a week may not seem like a big deal to number crunchers, but for many seniors and our families it determines whether or not we are able to stay in our homes and near our loved ones.”
 
SEIU Healthcare Illinois has joined with more than 30 community, advocacy and labor organizations in launching the Campaign for Illinois’ Future -– a coalition committed to educating Illinois legislators and families about the need for a fair and lasting solution to the state deficit that protects needed public services. On Wednesday the Coalition will bring more than 1,000 people directly impacted by cuts to vital state programs to Springfield to rally and lobby their elected officials.