Hundreds Protest Budget Cuts Proposed By Gov. Rauner Outside Thompson Center
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than 500 people gathered outside the Thompson Center downtown this morning against budget cuts proposed by Governor Rauner. Demonstrators say the cuts squarely hit the most vulnerable people in the state.
Ann Pinkney is with Metropolitan Family Services which has received aid from the state to provide legal services to victims of domestic violence, after school programs for young people, and mental health services for about 9,000 people. She says the governor proposes cutting doctors out of that mental health care mix and that that would have a bad result.
"These are individuals who would go in hospital rooms…would go to jails. We're that sort of catch-net that's able to get people and provide them with services but without the doctors…we're hamstrung," she says.
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Even though money for a lot of services dried up yesterday…many agencies plan to try to stay open and serve people while the governor and lawmakers battle over the budget.
Dawana Williamson, senior vice-president for youth development at the YMCA of Metro Chicago says new eligibility requirements for pre-and-after school day care would only allow a family of two--an adult and a child--to have an income of 664 dollars a month or less to be eligible for state help.
Williamson says, "It's drastic. Right now, a family of two can make about $2,600."
Jaleesa Lockhart thinks about what the proposed cuts would mean for her and her three-year-old son who goes to the Y.
"Where is he going to go? Who's going to take care of him while I'm at work? Do I have to quit my job to take care of him?" she asks.
Willie and Brittany Preston says that without state help, they would not have been able to take advantage of the YMCA's before-and-after school programs so they could work on college degrees.
