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Putting human faces on line item numbers

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* From a reader…

Hi Rich,

My nephew works at residential home for the mentally ill here in Chicago. With the help of his cousin they put together this video of clients being interviewed and the home they live in. The purpose of course is to show how our state money is being spent and on who.

I think it is well done and powerful. If you have any thoughts on how to better share this, please pass them on.

Thanks

* The video was posted to YouTube yesterday and it already has more than 4,000 views. Watch it…

Truly powerful stuff.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 10:28 am

Comments

Thank you Rich for posting that. I know the story, but the visuals always bring me tears and hope.

Comment by Not quite a majority Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 10:47 am
Thank you for posting this. As our elected officials debate the budget, all I ask is that they consider what kind of society do we wish to have? Many of the people shown would end up in prison or worse if it were not for facilities like this. We will still be paying for it, too.

Comment by Nicholas Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 10:54 am
I am familiar with this facility. I had not heard that ALL funding for this level of facility was going to be cut, proposed by Rauner.

Folks have to be willing to accept placement in such a facility. Guardians can not legally consent to forced placement in these facilities. Hospitals can, in certain circumstances, but to do so involves much time and resources that hospitals have in limited supply and frequently don’t pursue that option. That leaves many mentally ill folks to their own devices.

Some do come to a realization that residential care will provide a safe environment and, if they are lucky, will get into a good one. They are few and far between.

Comment by dupage dan Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:01 am
If these guys can do just as powerful 30 and 60 second ads (and I suspect they can), the unions should hire them as part of their public relations team.

Comment by RNUG Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:06 am
Kind of makes all those obtuse Randian and Laffer talking points seem rather small and silly.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:06 am
Well, when you put it that way…

Comment by Westward Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:26 am
So if we take everything off the table, how DO we balance the budget? I care about people too, but something’s got to give before the state goes bankrupt. What will the legislators say to the people in need then? “Hey, I always voted to keep your program, but sorry that it got shut down completely when the money ran out and the state went bankrupt. Please know that I NEVER wanted that to happen and I DO still care about you!” I’m just saying we’re at the point of making tough decisions, and by definition, tough decision ARE going to be difficult to make. So quit whining that someone is going to be effected. That’s a given. Instead, put that energy toward coming up with a real long-term solution that extends past the next election cycle.

Comment by weary Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:34 am
weary, you whined without evidence about nobody wanting to cut anything, demanded they come up with a solution without any suggestions and then complain about whiners?

Unhelpful, to say the least.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:46 am
Facilities like Clayton are much cheaper (and effective) than the alternatives. The elimination of funding for supportive housing will cost the state a whole lot more in the long run.

Comment by quicknote Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:49 am
Weary: When it comes to human services, it often is a case of deciding where the state spends the money. In this case, the state either determines to be pro-active and provide care at the community level keeping people out of jails and large state (expensive) facilities, or they will spend those same dollars keeping people in prisons.

This is not a choice of whether to spend the money, make no mistake about it, Illinois will spend money to treat this population and the will do it as policy or they will do it as a result of a consent decree, but they will treat this population.

Comment by Give Me A Break Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 11:49 am
A very powerful story. There is so much good work done in places like this, often on a shoestring. What they do certainly benefits everyone, not just the residents.

Comment by Stay Tuned Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 12:22 pm
Thank you for sharing. As I watched, I wished the Governor included these folks when he makes reference to being more “compassionate”. Unfortunately, there are only handful of commenters on this - ought to have hundreds. This video reminded me of the earlier video that was posted on Sheriff Dart and his take on mental health programs and its impact to the correctional system. Need more awareness and compassion for mental health programs. Not enough charitable organization can adequately address the problem. Need more state support.

Comment by Just Saying ... Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 12:29 pm
+1 RNUG - the unions need to do a better job on the PR front.

Comment by Anon Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 12:34 pm
If you want a solution, what’s wrong with cutting all programs by the same percentage until a balanced budget is reached? Versus trying to pick and choose? We could have the budget done in an hour. Because the picking and choosing won’t work, and it certainly wouldn’t be fair if some groups are able to make more powerful videos than others. And my intent with the word whine wasn’t to tick people off, but instead to make the point that complaining that it’s going to hurt doesn’t help figure out how to fix the problem.

To Give Me A Break… I totally agree with you. Illinois WILL spend the money one way or another, and being pro-active is always preferred. But when the money runs out, what will we do then?

Seriously folks, I wasn’t trying to be a troll and stir the pot. I’ve lived in Illinois most of my life and love this state. I WANT us to figure out a solution as much as anyone. But accusing conservatives of not caring and accusing liberals of reckless spending is really getting old.

Comment by weary Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 12:48 pm
Nice video, very well done. Unfortunately the state is broke. We have pensions to pay.

Comment by Tone Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 12:50 pm
Weary is correct. We really should start with a freeze in spending at every state agency maybe even a 5-10% cut in budgets. Including layoffs of the expensive workforces is also of utmost importance.

Comment by Tone Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 12:54 pm
Weary, I understand where you are coming from

The difficulty is that in the last ten years, mental health programs and services for people with disabilities have been cut several times. I run a program for individuals with developmental disabilities. The rate of funding is so low that I just meet the federally mandated requirements for a staff to program participant ratio. Any lower and we’re out of compliance and can be shut down, to say nothing of how it endangers the people in the program.

My staff went without raises since 2008. I can’t compete with the starting salary at McDonalds and at McDonalds, you don’t have to feed the customers and change their diapers.

Agencies like mine are barely holding on. Further cuts will result in shutting down agencies. Then, where will these folks go. It looks really bad when you make those nice guys with Downs Syndrome in the group home around the corner go homeless.

There is nothing left to cut. In my 36 year career, I have watched the gains we made in the eighties disappear. We are at the bottom of the barrel in the United States.

Comment by Aldyth Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 12:58 pm
Tone, most of the services provided to individuals with various disabilities are provided by agencies. The state saves money by contracting the services out to agencies at a much lower cost than paying state employees and covering another pension.

The Department of Human Services is operating with a skeleton crew. Every single state employee that I know who was eligible for retirement has retired. They are not refilling positions. There is literally nothing left to cut. And those fabulous salaries? When you contract almost all direct services to the community agencies, they aren’t paying a whole lot to those employees.

Please let me know where I can get my fabulous salary, because I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen a raise in seven years, nor did my employees.

Comment by Aldyth Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 1:04 pm
It is very sad Aldyth, I completely agree. But there is no money. The state is losing people now, it will be much worse with all the taxes needed to pay pensions and maintain services. Something has to give, and according to our Supreme Court, it will be state services giving. A lot.

Comment by Tone Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 1:58 pm
**Something has to give, and according to our Supreme Court, it will be state services giving. A lot.**

No. It doesn’t have to be services. It can be increased revenue. Don’t pretend that there is only one option.

Comment by AlabamaShake Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 2:25 pm
I wanted to thank you for sharing my video and giving the time to comment.

Comment by Chicagosmhrf Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 2:29 pm
This is really important, to help everyone remember the human cost, as well as to reinforce the idea that if money wasn’t spend to treat these people in group homes, they would very likely wind up in prisons, which would cost even more. People like this need help, and I am a believer in giving it to them.

Comment by Gabe Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 3:55 pm
Tone, what this “we” stuff you keep referring to?

Arent you the dude from JPMorganChase in NYC?

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 4:28 pm
Thank you posting. It is so sad to see how the State encouraged all these private agencies to provide these services…then cut funding year over over so staff cant even get a raise and can maintain and competitiveness with other places of employment like McDonalds. Salaries need to be high enough to attract patient and caring talent to these types of positions.

Comment by Johnnie F. Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 4:41 pm
Yes -Thank you for posting. I have a friend whose brother is a resident of this facility and it has been a godsend. I’m contacting my legislators.

Comment by Bootleg Carhartt Designer Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 5:15 pm
== we are at the point of making tough decisions ==

Better to impose touch decisions upon the least of these rather than upon those with the greatest ability to pay. That’s the conservative brand of compassion nowadays. No surcharge on millionaires, better to hammer the helpless.

Comment by nona Thursday, May 21, 15 @ 8:09 pm