First Reactions to Gov. Quinn's budget

Governor Quinn’s new budget website does not yet show his full proposal. So far, it is not a very user-friendly website, unless you are a budget expert. But at least it has a simple way to post your opinion on the budget.

It appears Gov. Quinn is going to propose cuts across all areas of state spending including education, human services, economic development and public safety. It is not yet clear what he is going to propose about state employee pensions, retiree benefits or state income taxes.

The Civic Federation released a very informative state budget proposal this week. The Federation is a non-partisan and fiscally cautious group that analyzes the Illinois budget.

The Federation recommends expense reductions, including a reform of state employee pensions. They also support an income tax increase from 3% to 5%, but only if its expense reduction initiatives are enacted first.

Click here to see a summary of the Civic Federation’s recommendations. It is very informative and shows there are constructive solutions to our problems, but they will be painful.

State Budget - a critical year ahead

Governor Quinn launched a new website today on the State Budget.

The site includes a lot of detail about the State’s expenses and revenues. It is a lot of data to sort through. Over the coming weeks, Chicago Commons will post information here, at our Blog, about what the numbers mean to our neighborhoods and the families that we serve.

Most important: The Governor’s website has a COMMENTS section where the public can register their ideas on the budget. The Governor is going to analyze the comments to help inform his official budget to be released and debated in March.

It is the first time any Governor of Illinois has solicited public comments on the budget in this way.

Please log your comments with the Governor over the coming weeks.

We will post our commentary here, so please come read it and use it to inform your comments. And remember, you could submit more than one comment to the Governor (they are counting up responses).

2010 Census

The 2010 Census is rapidly approaching in April 2010. Chicago Commons is teaming up with two other neighborhood organizations -- La Casa Norte, and Humboldt Park Social Services – to increase response rates in the 2010 census in neighborhoods where the response was very low in the year 2000. Our work is supported by a “Count Me In” grant through the Illinois Census Funders Initiative.


Through aggressive neighborhood outreach, we are going to reach people BEFORE they get their census form so they understand its importance.


Here are some of the answers to the kinds of questions we often hear about the Census:


Will the 2010 Census be the same as before?
No, there are some important changes:
• 2010 Census will be short form only—just 10 easy questions.
• the long form is now part of the annual American Community Survey.
• handheld computers with Global Positioning System (GPS) will be used to check the address list in 2009.

How is Census data used?
The federal government uses population data to allocate congressional seats along with funds to your community in a number of areas:

• Head Start programs
  


• Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (food grants)
  


• Public transportation
  


• Programs for the elderly
  


• Emergency food and shelter
  


• The data help the private sector as well as state and federal governments determine where jobs and job programs are needed.
  


• Corporations use population data for market research to determine locations for commercial enterprises, such as food stores, pharmacies, and other essential services.
  


• It is NOT used to identify specific households, all household information is confidential for 75 years.
  
  What you can do to make sure your community is counted:
  
  Identify organizations in the community that can provide space for Questionnaire Assistance Centers and will serve as a Be Counted site.
  
  Hold a meeting with leaders of the organizations and solicit their help in creating a census awareness campaign targeted for community residents.
  
  Distribute/post fliers announcing the delivery of the census questionnaire at busy locations in the community.
  
  Encourage residents to complete and mail back their census questionnaires.
  
  Plan a Census Day event to motivate community response.
  
  Remind residents if they don’t mail back their questionnaire a census worker may come to their home. Encourage residents to cooperate with census workers.

H1N1 Response

Many people have asked how H1N1 virus affected Chicago Commons. There were less than 10 cases among our 700 pre-school children and all have recovered fine.

Commons staff were great about taking it seriously and raising awareness with parents. One key resource was a special H1N1 newsletter that went to all parents. Click here to see it. It was written and designed by two family service workers that have joined our staff for one year through AVODAH, the Jewish Service Corps, a wonderful connection for Commons.

Our Kind of Research

Through our neighborhood partnerships (in this case Humboldt Park Community of Wellness), we learned the Urban Institute is researching the problem of maternal depression in low-income communities. As part of the study, Commons' Nia Center hosted a mothers focus group, giving our parents a voice in national policy and $35 for an hour of their precious time! Commons appreciates this kind of policy research... research that incorporates the ideas and opinions of our neighborhood residents -- it is absolutely consistent with our Settlement House roots.

Holiday Cheer

200 children from Chicago Commons pre-schools visited Macy's on State Street this morning for the 2nd annual Operation Happy Children event. Children and their teachers were treated to breakfast in the Walnut Room and a visit with Santa. Thank you to Macy's for choosing Chicago Commons as their partner for this special event!

Slow Road to Peace

The Chicago Police and Park District organized a stop the violence forum in Back of the Yards on Saturday, Nov. 21st. It was organized fairly last minute, but youth from Nuevos Exitos attended and brought the finished Peace Quilt (see past blog post). You can see the quilt in the photo, hanging behind Police Commissioner Weis and Alderman Cardenas. Cassandra Cortes, Chicago Commons Youth Specialist, is speaking.

The forum gave several parents a chance to voice their specific frustrations to the Police Department which will probably result in some targeted follow up for them. But, last minute forums like this one probably do little to stem the tide of violence. Commissioner Weis acknowledge this, stating that the police can only be as aggressive combating violence as the neighborhood will allow. To that end, Commons must seek more ways to engage with the police, parents and others in an ongoing way. Ongoing communication within the neighborhood is the only true solution, and much harder than it sounds.