Sector Strength
Our Policy Statement
United Way of Illinois will support policy initiatives that seek to strengthen the human service sector. We must ensure our public infrastructure includes a well-managed network of nonprofit community services that complement traditional government institutions. In order for communities and families throughout Illinois to succeed and prosper, we must repair and strengthen the essential services that protect public health, improve public safety, revitalize local economies and enhance learning.
Budgeting for Outcomes
For an overview of Budgeting for Outcomes, see Dr. Layla Suleiman Gonzalez's PowerPoint. Suleiman Gonzalez is the Director of Planning and Performance for the Illinois Department of Human Services
Sector-Related Research
The state budget has become the focus of efforts to maintain the strength of the human services sector in recent years. Due to the recession and the state budget's structural deficit, human services programs have been bearing the brunt of budget cuts.
Voices for Illinois Children
Voices urges policymakers to debate not only what to cut from the budget but what to maintain. Programs with proven results must be protected and Voices has several recommendations of how to do so.
Its guiding principles for the policymakers drafting the FY 2012 budget are to:
- Maximize available revenue reasonably
- Allocate resources equitably & responsibly
- Improve budget clarity & transparency
Read the specific recommendations in two Voices policy briefs, "Principles to Guide Sound State Budget Decisions" and "Maximize Reasonable, Existing Revenues to Reduce Harmful Budget Cuts - Without New Taxes."
Center for Budget Tax and Accountability
In its analysis of Gov. Quinn's proposed FY 2012 budget, the center found the state finances are still dire:
- Even after accounting for the $7.25 billion in tax increases that passed in January 2011, the Governor's Office of Management and Budge estimates an operating deficit of $1.05 billion.
- At the time the Budget Book was published, the required pension payment for FY 2012 was pegged at $4.59 billion. In March, the state Auditor General found the pension payment should have been $4.83 billion. This change increases the operating deficit to $1.28 billion.
- The total deficit increases to over $7.3 billion when unpaid bills from FY 2011 are considered.
- FY 2012 human service cuts were not evenly distributed among the three human service agencies. Aggregate appropriations for the Department of Aging will increase by $170 million or 27% from FY 2011 levels, while Department of Children and Family Services receives a 0.8% or $7 million increase. The Department of Human Services, however, is targeted for a 10.6% cut of $389 million.
For more details, read the center's entire analysis.
The Civic Federation
The federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability also released an analysis of Gov. Quinn's FY 2012 budget, which the federation opposes. The proposed budget is unbalanced by $2.4 billion and incorrectly identifies long-term borrowing as the way to relieve the state's backlog of unpaid bills and other obligations.
Despite this year's income tax increase, Quinn's FY 2012 budget recommendation would create a $1.45 billion operating shortfall due to a proposed increase in expenditures. In addition, General Funds revenue estimates are overstated by roughly $971 million because of an inadequate amount of income tax revenues for paying down a backlog of business tax refunds. The actual operating shortfall is about $2.4 billion.
For more details, read the federation's analysis and recommendations.
Heartland Alliance
The Social IMPACT Research Center at Heartland Alliance examined the benefits associated with public investment in human services. Its research identified three specific advantages:
- Human services provide a lifeline for many of the state's most disadvantaged residents, including seniors, the homeless, children and people with disabilities.
- The documented impacts of human services programs include enhanced quality of life and stronger and more economically competitive individuals, families, and communities.
- Human services programs are wise investments because they prevent the much larger immediate and/or future costs of social problems being left unchecked.
For more detail, see the entire report.
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