Human Service Agencies Scaling Back As State Budget Impasse Continues
(CBS) -- Officials with the region's social service agencies and their supporters says the ongoing state budget impasse is having a growing effect on the work that they are doing, or trying to do, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
Wendy DuBoe is CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, which raises money for and funds health and human service agencies and she says about 80 percent have had to cut back on the number of people they service because the state isn't reimbursing them for their work.
"We are very concerned about what we see as kind of a dismantling of a lot of the service capability of human service agencies and what that means for children, families and our communities around the state," DuBoe said.
Daisy Feidt, executive vice president for Access Living, says they have several programs to help people with disabilities that are funded by the state.
"One of them is our program called our ombudsman program which helps people with disabilities who are living in the community resolve issues that they're having related to getting healthcare, getting home services that provide support that they need in their own home," Feidt said.
Both officials say they are worried about long-term effects of the budget stalemate, even after it ends.