The Governor, the General Assembly and Illinois Taxpayers owe Seguin and hundreds of other charities in Illinois a DEBT of gratitude.  According to the latest Illinois Office of Comptroller’s List, hundreds of nonprofit businesses are lending over $490 million dollars to the State at 0% interest in order to balance the State’s horrendous financial conditions.  To see the names of these organizations and how much each is owed, go to www.illinoispartners.org/node/128 — you will see some familiar names on the list.  Not only are these organizations providing loans at no cost, but many are also delivering residential care to those unable to live alone, at less than 50% of the cost of State institutional care.   These organizations employ thousands of individuals who provide the care needed to maintain services.  In fact, 400,000 people in Illinois or one of every six individuals works in a nonprofit charity (from “The Size of the Illinois Human Service Workforce”, by the Social IMPACT Research Center and the Chicago Community Trust, March 2010).  This is striking considering most of these employees are paid low wages with no pension.

The Governor, the General Assembly and Illinois Taxpayers should send a monthly thank you letter to these organizations for helping Illinois balance its bottom line.  Our leaders should take a reasonable, nonpartisan, business approach, utilizing a three point plan to resolve this mess: reduce costs, increase revenues, and borrow prudently.  We urge elected officials to publicly present their lists in these categories before the November election, and to courageously meet the challenge to get the State back on a stable financial track.

Joseph Pedersen, Ed. D.

Seguin Services, Inc.

President of Board of Directors