To: The Illinois State House, The Illinois State Senate, and Governor J.B. Pritzker
FUND LIHEAP-CEDA TODAY
Victory! The creator of this petition declared the campaign a success. You can still sign the petition to show support.
20 years ago, a deadly heat wave gripped Chicago, killing more than 730 people. It was the deadliest natural disaster in Chicago's history. We cannot allow this to ever happen again, if we can prevent it. Do not cut funding for emergency heating and cooling services for low-income clients.
Why is this important?
Due to the veto of the budget by Governor Rauner, federally funded programs, such as what the Community & Economic Development Association of Cook County (CEDA) offers cannot continue to offer services to our communities, including the LIHEAP program. The LIHEAP program provides emergency assistance to low-income clients who need help cooling or heating their homes. CEDA provides services to over 500,000 clients throughout all of Cook County Illinois. Collectively, community action agencies such as CEDA serve more than one million individuals in Illinois every year. In addition, community action agencies in the state of Illinois have had to lay off more than 2,500 staff due to this blockage of funding.
The State needs authorization from the General Assembly to spend these federal funds, which is normally accomplished through an appropriation in the budget. These federal funds have nothing to do with balancing the state budget, nor can the state of Illinois use these funds for any other purpose, which is why the federally funded programs cannot be allowed to continue receiving these funds. Many not-for-profit agencies across the state do not have non-grant resources to keep their doors open to continue to provide services during this budget impasse.
Legislative action on this matter is required NOW , while the final state budget is being debated.
We should be deeply concerned that our families who are in need of these services will fall deeper into poverty because of the interruption in services.
Please take action and sign and pass this petition to restore the flow of these federal funds, so that we can protect and provide the much needed services to our low income communities state-wide.
Additional negative impact of suspended State and Federal funds:
Over 43,000 households in Cook County will not be served if State funds are suspended
Over 28,000 households that were enrolled in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) program will lose their benefits
Clients on the PIPP program will have utility arrearages placed back on their utility bills
Another 20,000 households will not be serviced by the interruption of Federal funds for WIC, Weatherization and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) programs.
Please sign the petition and urge your family and friends to do the same.
The State needs authorization from the General Assembly to spend these federal funds, which is normally accomplished through an appropriation in the budget. These federal funds have nothing to do with balancing the state budget, nor can the state of Illinois use these funds for any other purpose, which is why the federally funded programs cannot be allowed to continue receiving these funds. Many not-for-profit agencies across the state do not have non-grant resources to keep their doors open to continue to provide services during this budget impasse.
Legislative action on this matter is required NOW , while the final state budget is being debated.
We should be deeply concerned that our families who are in need of these services will fall deeper into poverty because of the interruption in services.
Please take action and sign and pass this petition to restore the flow of these federal funds, so that we can protect and provide the much needed services to our low income communities state-wide.
Additional negative impact of suspended State and Federal funds:
Over 43,000 households in Cook County will not be served if State funds are suspended
Over 28,000 households that were enrolled in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) program will lose their benefits
Clients on the PIPP program will have utility arrearages placed back on their utility bills
Another 20,000 households will not be serviced by the interruption of Federal funds for WIC, Weatherization and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) programs.
Please sign the petition and urge your family and friends to do the same.