Illinois Governor Rauner ordered the suspension of $26 million worth of state grants through June 30, 2015, effective immediately

Governor Rauner's office released a list of targeted programs late last Friday that included funding to pay for the funerals and burials of public-assistance recipients, smoking cessation, teen programs, Autism, and HIV and AIDS programs, among other things.

Please continue contacting your State Legislators of your concerns. Reach out to social service agencies in your part of the state to find out what else you can do to.

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES

 -Funeral & Burial, $6.9 million
-Immigrant Integration Services, $3.4 million
-Welcoming Centers, $191,300
-ARC Lifespan, $118,100
-Best Buddies, $250,000
-Autism, $1 million
 -Group Home Loans, $20,000
-Compulsive Gambling, $406,000
-Westside Health, $94,200
-Addiction Prevention, $1.6 million
-Assistance for Homeless, $300,000
-Community Services, $2 million
-Teen REACH, $3.1 million
-Coalition F/Tech Assist-Child, $250,000
-For Children's Health Program, $231,600
 -Outreach to Individuals to Engage in Services, $380,700
-Regions Special Consumer Support, $277,700
-SMRF Training, $420,100
-Transportation, $43,900
-DD Latino Outreach, $87,500
-Microboard Development and Outreach, $47,500
-Epilepsy, $514,700
 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

 -Brothers and Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS, $789,800
-Increasing Access to Health Care-Wellness on Wheels,  $180,000
-Wellness on Wheels - Mobile Administration 2015,  $135,000
-Illinois Tobacco Quitline, $3.1 million
 -Project Safe Sleep Education and Outreach, $250,000
-MidAmerica Regional Public Health Leadership Institute, $75,000

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Associated Press | April 4, 2015

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner suspended $26 million in social services and public health grants as part of his push to whittle away at a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current state budget.

The Republican's office released a list of targeted programs late Friday that included funding to pay for the funerals and burials of public-assistance recipients, smoking cessation, teen programs, autism, and HIV and AIDS programs, among other things.

Rauner also froze $3.4 million in funding for immigrant integration assistance as part of ongoing efforts to keep the state rolling through the June 30 end of the fiscal year.

Rauner's office said the check-writing halt — he also interrupted $180 million in parkland grants in March — is necessary because the expenditures were based on the assumption a temporary income tax would be extended past January, but it wasn't after Rauner won the election.

"Part of the solution to solving the inherited $1.6 billion budget hole without raising taxes or increasing borrowing is to continue to evaluate the current fiscal year's budget," Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said. "The governor's office worked with agencies to see which grants could be suspended and prioritized essential services."

The cuts will save the state $21.8 million in Department of Human Services Grants and $4.5 million in unexpended funding through the Department of Public Health. The suspensions only affect this year's funding, Kelly said.

But there's always another price — this one paid for by constituents who, as soon as Monday morning, will be told through closed doors there's no more money to help them.

Breandan Magee, senior director of programs for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said dozens of organizations assisted 102,000 legal immigrants in 2014 with applications for citizenship, English as a Second Language classes and health and nutrition programs for low-income immigrants.

"There are 299 jobs across 60 different immigrant-services agencies at risk" with funding ceasing, Magee said Saturday. "There are workshops scheduled for citizenship, applications for citizenship pending, ESL classes hallway through."

Immigrant integration programs — which Rauner proposed eliminating entirely in the 2016 budget — will forfeit nearly half of their $6.7 million budget, according to figures provided by the governor's office. Magee said he hopes the state will cover expenses he's already incurred.

A copy of Friday's letter from Human Services, obtained by The Associated Press, notifies the recipient to "immediately cease incurring additional obligations, costs or spending any further grant funds." Agencies must submit records of all spending for the year.

Jimi Orange of Children's Home and Aid faces the unenviable task of telling up to 25 of the 100 children in Chicago's impoverished West Englewood neighborhood they can't come to Earle Elementary School for after-class tutoring and cultural activities because the state has recalled the remaining $3.1 million of Teen REACH money for kids ages 7 to 17.

"The staff's concern is how to tell the families? What to tell the kids? How to tell the kids?" Orange said. "These are kids who already have abandonment issues, trust issues."

Parkland-related grants Rauner has suspended this year include $90 million for park facility construction, $56 million for local governments to purchase open space for future parkland, and $30 million for museum capital-construction grants.

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