Post by Logan on Jun 21, 2016 4:01:46 GMT -6
Illinois women hit 'disproportionally hard' by record state budget impasse
As Illinois government has lurched along for nearly a year without a formal budget, women who rely on state services have been among those suffering the most.
Frozen out of the haphazard funding system that's emerged during the impasse are social service providers, many of them not-for-profit organizations whose largely female workforce deliver state-subsidized help for struggling mothers and their children as well as victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
"It's hitting women and children disproportionally hard and in ways that lots of us are still trying to get a grasp on," said Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who chairs the human services committee. "It's across the board. It's really sad."
Women make up nearly two-thirds of the recipients of a low-income college tuition grant program that's been underfunded. Women are also the ones seeking help through programs that have lost state funding entirely, including intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, home visits for teen parents, and prenatal and family care management for at-risk mothers. The funding crunch has gotten so bad that low-income women seeking breast and ovarian cancer screenings are being told to wait in a long line, unless they're already displaying symptoms.
Read more: www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-illinois-budget-women-met-20160617-story.html
As Illinois government has lurched along for nearly a year without a formal budget, women who rely on state services have been among those suffering the most.
Frozen out of the haphazard funding system that's emerged during the impasse are social service providers, many of them not-for-profit organizations whose largely female workforce deliver state-subsidized help for struggling mothers and their children as well as victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
"It's hitting women and children disproportionally hard and in ways that lots of us are still trying to get a grasp on," said Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who chairs the human services committee. "It's across the board. It's really sad."
Women make up nearly two-thirds of the recipients of a low-income college tuition grant program that's been underfunded. Women are also the ones seeking help through programs that have lost state funding entirely, including intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, home visits for teen parents, and prenatal and family care management for at-risk mothers. The funding crunch has gotten so bad that low-income women seeking breast and ovarian cancer screenings are being told to wait in a long line, unless they're already displaying symptoms.
Read more: www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-illinois-budget-women-met-20160617-story.html