Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI), the largest statewide provider of social services, today announced program closures and staff cuts throughout Illinois due to the state’s inability to pass a budget for the past seven months.
Mark A. Stutrud, LSSI President and CEO, says the state’s budget deadlock has severely challenged LSSI’s ability to provide services to those in need.
Over the past months, LSSI has relied on a bank line of credit and available resources from our foundation to compensate for the state’s inability to pay its bills. Currently, they are owed more than $6 million by the state for services delivered. And after seven months, they can no longer provide services for which they aren’t being paid.
The seven-month-long-and-counting budget impasse forced the organization to cut back programs and restructure services as LSSI seeks to bolster resources for the 149-year-old faith-based nonprofit’s continued viability.
In all, over 30 programs are closing, and more than 750 positions are being eliminated, or 43 percent of LSSI’s total employees. As a result of these closures, approximately 4,700 people will no longer be receiving services from LSSI.
The programs that saw the largest cuts were those helping seniors, including home care. Programs eliminated were case management for seniors, adult protective services, and LSSI’s Adult Day Care Center in Moline.
Although LSSI is receiving some payment through Medicaid, the organization has been accruing several hundred thousand dollars a month in unpaid bills for home care services since July 2015, when the state’s budget cycle normally would have begun.
Stutrud says LSSI is committed to continuing services that include: mental health, alcohol and drug treatment; Head Start; services for at-risk families; residential programs for adults with developmental disabilities, foster care, affordable senior housing; home care, and programs that help children maintain connections to their incarcerated parent.
Stutrud said the decisions were the result of a thorough and painful process, and they know this will impact clients, their families, the employees, and communities throughout Illinois.