KIDS COUNT Policy Report
The Annie E. Casey Foundation released a new report this week looking at U.S. Census Bureau data collected during the pandemic titled Kids, Families and COVID-19: Pandemic Pain Points and a Roadmap for Recovery. The report demonstrates how families across the country are challenged to meet basic needs during this global public health crisis while managing school, work and mental health. Voices for Illinois Children has also looked at the state data. The pandemic has further widened economic and health inequalities that existed before the pandemic began. Looking at Census data from mid-September to mid-October, nearly one quarter of Illinois African-American adults with children surveyed indicated they sometimes or often did not have enough food to eat in the past week. Of the same households, nearly one third indicated little or no confidence in their ability to make their next rent or mortgage payment. Voices will remain firm in its commitment to seeing that if there is not enough federal relief for the state’s families that the state of Illinois step in, even with its own financial challenges, to meet the basic needs of our children and their parents. You can find a copy of the Casey report here.
State Budget
On Tuesday, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced $711 million in budget cuts for the current fiscal year. This follows a November report from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget that projected a state budget deficit of $3.9 billion (absent any budget reductions or new revenue). Voices’ Mitch Lifson took a look at the GOMB numbers in a blog post. In September, the Governor ordered state agencies to begin looking at 5% budget cuts for this year and 10% for the next fiscal year. The cuts outlined this week encompass reduced grant expenses due to lower than expected caseloads, delaying Department of Aging provider rate increases, a freeze on new Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Grants, and $75 million in cost personnel cost adjustments to be negotiated with unions.  Just before Thanksgiving, the state indicated its plans to borrow $2 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank under a program established in the spring with one of the approved pandemic relief packages. The state needs to repay the borrowed funds within three years. State officials are hoping a new federal coronavirus relief package will help provide the money for repayment of the bonds as well as help fund state services in this and the next fiscal year. Still, even with the borrowed funds and proposed budget cuts, the state faces severe financial challenges. New state revenue will need to be part of the picture coupled with further relief for low- and moderate income families.
Town Halls on Illinois’ Early Childhood System
At the end of 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker appointed a Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding. He charged the Commission with studying and recommending funding goals and funding mechanisms to provide equitable access to high-quality early childhood education and care services for all children birth to age five. The Commission and its working groups have been meeting throughout the year and are preparing their final recommendations. As part of their process, the Commission is holding a set of online, town hall meetings. The next town hall is tonight, December 16th at 8:00 PM. You can view it via YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/advanceillinois. There will be a chat box where you can make comments or ask questions. There are also two town halls scheduled for January. - Wednesday, January 6th from 8:00 p.m.-9:15 p.m. You can register for this event here.
- Thursday, January 14th from 8:45 a.m.-10:00 a.m. You can register for this event here.
Following a brief presentation about Commission recommendations, there will be a Q&A session between participants and Commissioners, as well as time for general public comment. These recommendations could set the course of the state’s early childhood system for years. Register now and make sure your voice is heard on this important topic.
MightyMath!
Did you catch our Family Math Event live on Facebook last month? If not, you can see a recording of it here at https://bit.ly/2Vn3ekh. A big shout out to the YWCA’s Beatriz Leyva who provided a bilingual presentation on the math concepts of patterns, attributes, comparisons and quantities. Not only can you see the presentation on the internet, you can also find English and Spanish MightyMath videos on the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago’s MPWR site: https://mpwr.today/feed. The videos have some fun math exercises you can do with your child at home and with items around the house. Plus, we have English and Spanish readings of the books Big Dog, Little Dog and Caps for Sale.
Voices Youth Leadership Committee
It has been a great honor to be a part of our Youth Leadership Committee Program this fall. Funded with a grant from the Allstate Corporation, the program provides young people (age 13-22) with the opportunity to learn the communication and advocacy skills to become effective spokespeople for their communities. We trained more than 100 young people from Chicago’s Austin neighborhood to East St. Louis in youth advocacy this fall. Students had the chance to make one-on-one presentations to a range of elected officials that included Illinois Deputy Governor Sol Flores, East St. Louis Mayor Robert Eastern III, Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, two members of the Chicago City Council, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, a representative of the Chicago Public School system, and a number of Illinois state senators and representatives. Our thanks to everyone who participated and to all of the encouragement provided by our elected officials. Our state is in good hands with these excellent young people who ably and effectively expressed the needs of their communities.
Richard Mandel
Voices recognizes the passing of Richard Mandel in September. Richard was a founding board member of Voices. Among his many efforts on behalf of children, Richard worked on the state’s adoption laws and served as chairman of the Illinois Commission on Children. Voices will always be grateful to Richard’s dedication and support of our organization.
Please Donate to Voices
As difficult as 2020 has been, 2021 will also have its challenges. As noted above, many Illinois children and their parents now face immediate needs for housing and food. For many young people learning remotely, this has been a difficult year academically. Isolation and fear of COVID-19 has increased the mental health needs of children and adults. We will vigorously continue our efforts to meet the short- and long-term needs of our state’s children and their parents. We ask for your support to provide the resources to continue our work. Please go to our website today and make a year-end donation. As always, our thanks to our current supporters. | 
