| | | Dear Fred,
Many of you have heard that DHS has submitted their proposed FY 10 budget to the Governor's office, based on the reductions imposed by SB 1197. This budget, if enacted, will completely eliminate addiction prevention, treatment and recovery services! This action will destroy the addiction healthcare system; putting the lives of thousands of youth and adults at risk. It also will cost the state of Illinois BILLIONS in related costs - such as criminal justice and public safety, child welfare, traffic accidents and fatalities, hospital emergency department expenditures, lost wages and worker productivity, and domestic violence. We must act now to stop this budget from becoming a reality! Below is updated information on IADDA's advocacy and media strategy. Please carefully review this information and incorporate IADDA's strategy into your own local advocacy efforts. Additionally, I have included a very short survey that we will use to determine the magnitude of these proposed cuts. This survey will take no more than 5 minutes of your time, but is critical to our efforts, so please respond as soon as possible. | | ADVOCACY STRATEGY | | - Based on the results from the member survey with this email, IADDA will send a formal letter to all legislators detailing the scope and breadth of the proposed elimination of the addiction healthcare system. This letter will be sent as soon as the survey results are compiled, so please respond today so we may send this letter out ASAP.
- Click here to take the survey on budget impacts.
- Set up face to face meetings with your state representative and state senator. Explain to them, using real numbers and real people, what the proposed elimination of addiction prevention, treatment and recovery services will do to their constituents and their communities. The significance of this must be made real to them and they must be able to see the human impact that will result from this budget. Urge them to support an income tax increase. Ask them to explain how they can vote for a multi-billion dollar capital plan, which was developed to create jobs and 'put people back to work', yet turn their back on thousands of Illinois residents who will, no doubt, lose their jobs if this devastating budget is enacted, either as staff within the system, or as people who need these services to maintain their employment. It is time to hold our public officials accountable for their actions!!
- Engage your staff, clients and your clients' family members and friends in this effort. What will happen if a client loses treatment services? What will happen if prevention services are completely eliminated in our schools and communities? Where will a recovering person turn if there are no extended care services available to them? These are tough questions and the answers are even tougher to hear. Your legislators must hear from you, from your clients, from their families, friends and neighbors TODAY! Start flooding the district offices with phone calls. The message is simple:
We urge you to vote for an income tax increase! Save our clients, our communities, and our programs. -
For a client/family member, make this request personal. Tell them how their vote will save your life, the life of your son/daughter, etc. We must always put a human face on our services. -
If you are speaking with a member of the Illinois House, urge them to contact Speaker Madigan (Democrats) or Leader Cross (Republicans) ASAP to advocate that the House return to Springfield to vote on HB 174. Urge them to vote YES on HB 174. -
There are numerous rallies and community forums being organized by coalitions around the State. IADDA has received several requests for member attendance at these events. To ensure our members have the opportunity to attend, IADDA will be compiling and continually updating a list of area events. A link to this list will be located on our homepage. We are working on that now and expect to have it available in the next couple of days. Please check our website frequently for updated information. -
Finally, we are adding a new page to our site. Under the Training & Resources link, there is a now a page titled 'FY 10 Budget Advocacy'. All sample letters, fact sheets, press releases and events will be listed here. This page is available to the public. You can direct clients, families, colleagues and our fellow travelers to this page so that we all may work together to positively impact the budget crisis. | | MEDIA EFFORTS | | As we previewed last week, IADDA has drafted sample letters to the editor for your use. They are located on our Budget Advocacy web page. There is a client/family version as well as an agency version. Please customize these letters and send them to your local newspapers. If you are not sure about the contact information for your local paper, go to our website - under the 'Government Affairs' page, you will find a 'Media Guide' link. Click on that link and scroll down to see a listing of all media outlets in Illinois, each outlet has detailed contact information.
Don't forget to work with your local coalitions, fellow human service organizations and healthcare entities to request a meeting with the editorial board of your local paper. Urge the paper to support an income tax increase. This tax increase will save thousands of lives and jobs across the State! | | | As always, IADDA is here to support your efforts. To quote the great Yogi Berra, yes, this really is 'Déjà vu all over again!' We have been here before and we have prevailed! This year, we are joined by our colleagues in other human services organizations. While this helps add voices to the effort, it also makes our task to showcase the importance of addiction healthcare services all the more difficult. When talking with legislators or the media, remind them of what happened last year-women and children thrown out of facilities, services unavailable for thousands. This is not a dress rehearsal! We have been down this road and did not work! Eliminating addiction healthcare services will COST the state money; it will INCREASE crime and violence in our communities; it will INCREASE traffic fatalities and drunk/drugged driving incidents; it will INCREASE the number of people waiting to be seen in our Emergency Departments. IT WILL NOT SAVE LIVES - IT WILL DESTROY THEM!!
IADDA will continue to update you as we navigate this advocacy effort. Please also be sure to check the IADDA website daily for updates to the resources page.
THANK YOU for your efforts.
Sara M. Howe CEO Illinois Alcoholism & Drug Dependence Association | | |
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