Budget Impasse Prompts Governor's Namesake YMCA To Cut Program For At-Risk Youth
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A lack of state funding during the ongoing budget standoff has forced a Little Village YMCA named in honor of the governor to shut down one of its longest-running programs.
There was big excitement nine years ago when the Rauner Family YMCA of Metro Chicago opened in Little Village.
Its biggest benefactors were venture capitalist Bruce Rauner and his wife, who donated $3.5 million. Now, with Rauner now the governor, and engaged in a budget stalemate with Democratic state lawmakers, the Rauner YMCA has been forced to cancel one of its oldest programs, Teen REACH. The after-school program helps keep at-risk youth off the streets by providing them with academic assistance, college and career preparation, and positive adult role models.
"The funding is gone, and we're concerned about what we're going to do moving forward," said YMCA Metro Chicago senior vice president DeWana Williamson.
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She acknowledged some degree of irony that the governor's namesake YMCA is losing a year-round program for 12-to-17-year-olds, due to a lack of state funding.
"I guess it's ironic, but I mean we offer this program at other Ys too, but I guess it's ironic that his name is on this particular Y," she said.
Williamson said Rauner has been a friend of the YMCA for many years, and "I wouldn't want to paint an unfair picture of him with regard to this."
Having said that, Williamson said parents and others who use the Rauner Family YMCA are frustrated.
"I think what they feel is legislators aren't really taking individuals into consideration in all that's going on at this point, and I think there's just frustration," she said.
