On February 24, Donors Forum President and CEO Valerie S. Lies appeared before the Appropriations-Human Services Committee at the Illinois General Assembly. Lies spoke about the State's broken human services system, calling for legislators to “pursue sources of new, stable, fair, and diversified revenue,”  while also pursuing reform measures that would bring integrity, discipline, and accountability to the State’s budgetary process, spending priorities, and fiscal management.

Lies pledged to work with legislators to reform the system and urged them to endorse the practices Donors Forum recently released in its publication Fair and Accountable: Partnership Principles for a Sustainable Human Service System.

“Declining state funding over the past 10 years, lack of coordinated planning across the breadth of the human services system, and wide-ranging and increasing reporting and accountability requirements without the funding to support their implementation, among other challenges, have all weakened individual providers and the system,”  Lies said.

“We need to recognize the magnitude of what is at stake in our current budget crisis. Residents in need will have to go without essential supports. Anchor institutions within our community will be forced to close their doors. And we will lose system-level gains in early childhood education, community-based living for people with developmental disabilities and mental health issues, preventative health, and many other programs. These gains are all the result of investments made over many years by the private sector, government, and philanthropic organizations.”

~ the donors forum team