As the “Great Recession” drags on, pushing Illinois’ unemployment rate significantly above the national average, and Illinois’ budget crisis strip organizations of funding and delay payments for vital services, there is more need than ever for Illinois leadership to set clear priorities to gets its financial house in order or act to address it.

Fortunately, there are organizations, business leaders, politicians, coalitions, and individuals out there casting their vision for a new way forward.  Donors Forum is co-sponsoring a program on Wednesday, September 22nd with the Responsible Budget Coalition and the Community Media Workshop  that will bring together leaders from human services, health care, government, and business to address the state budget crisis and the need to raise adequate new revenue to fix it.

A Better Illinois: Getting the State Budget Back on Track will feature keynote speaker and prominent economist Dean Baker of the Washington DC-based Center for Economic and Policy Research; a panel including Cook County Assessor James Houlihan, Howard Peters of the Illinois Hospital Association, and others, moderated by Mike Lawrence, former director of the Paul Simon Institute on Public Policy, and a budget overview by Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

Find details of the event and how to register here.

~ Laurel O'Sullivan, Vice President, Public Policy

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhowry/4672310833/ via Creative Commons