Take Action Tuesday, June 27 – Demand of State Legislators a Full Budget with New Revenue
Illinois is in its final days of the special session and fiscal year. The state is currently poised to enter our third year without a full budget, increasing the damage to our communities, schools, human service and healthcare sectors. Lawmakers are in a special session through June 30th. There is no guarantee that the Governor and […]
Children’s Mental Health: Championing a System of Care
Over 43,000 children in Winnebago County alone rely on medical assistance programs, including Medicaid[1], to provide for their physical and mental health needs. In addition, children in foster care receive Medicaid benefits regardless of the income of their families. With substantial cuts to Medicaid pending at the federal level, providers are concerned about the state’s […]
From Help to Hope
After emerging from a series of physically and emotionally abusive relationships, 37-year-old Stacey found her five children, ages 3 to 17, struggling to cope. Stacey’s two oldest children often fought with each other, sometimes violently, and both lacked motivation to work or do well in school. Stacey’s middle daughter faced anger issues and was quick […]
Employment Opportunities for At-risk Youth
When Louis Blake found himself homeless at age 15, he made his way to a shelter that works with homeless teens, which in turn referred him to Children’s Home + Aid. Louis was initially served by the Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services (CCBYS) program, which provided support for teens who are homeless. Sadly, the program that […]
Funding for Healthy Families Illinois
Last week, Jaime Russell, Program Manager of Children’s Home + Aid’s Family Support Services in the Central Region, testified at a Senate Appropriations I Committee hearing. Jaime spoke in support of funding the Healthy Families Illinois and Parents Too Soon home visiting programs in the Illinois Department of Human Services’ budget at the $16.9 million level […]
Ready by 21 National Meeting
Children’s Home + Aid Policy Manager Stefanie Polacheck and The Federation for Community Schools Director Melissa Mitchell joined hundreds of youth advocates from around the country at the 6th Annual Ready by 21 National Meeting held in Austin last week. Each year, the Ready by 21 National Meeting brings together hundreds of leaders from around the country […]
Opportunity Youth
Children’s Home + Aid’s Director of Youth Services, Jimi Orange, Youth Mentor Avery Sterling, and client Lewis Blake spoke with Chicago Tonight recently to discuss the City of Chicago’s efforts to reengage youth ages 16 to 24 who are neither in school nor currently working. The Chicago Tonight story is a follow up from the Thrive Chicago Opportunity […]
Trauma Informed Care for Children and Families Act
On Sunday, March 19, Children’s Home + Aid Policy Manager Stefanie Polacheck joined U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Representative Danny Davis at a news conference at the University of Chicago Medical Center to announce the introduction of the Trauma Informed Care for Children and Families Act. The proposed legislation addresses the lack of identification, referral, and […]
How are we investing our public funding so youth thrive by 25?
On March 1, we attended the Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY) Advocacy Day in Springfield in order to present to both legislators and advocates, for the first time ever, a complete analysis or “fiscal scan” of the state’s investments in older youth. This scan takes a new approach to the state budget, organizing it by […]
State of the Budget at Stake: Take Action Today
Many of you may have seen the Responsible Budget Coalition’s call to contact legislators today to pass a budget that fully funds human services. The RBC action alert can be seen here. Our own call to action is at the bottom of this post. Today at 2 p.m., the Senate Appropriations I Committee will hear […]
