Jul 2, 2009 6:13 pm US/Central
Logan Square Day Care May Lose State Funding
Mothers And Day Care Workers Marched To Protest Layoffs
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Mothers, day care workers and children marched to a protest rally in Logan Square.
CBS
Protests are popping up all over Illinois. Thousands facing layoffs because of the state budget stalemate in Springfield are on the march. Working parents and day care workers demonstrated in Logan Square Thursday.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that some complain that the state is breaking its end of an historic bargain. Those people have a point. Welfare reform a decade ago required millions to get off the dole and find jobs. As a tradeoff, low-income working parents got subsidized child care. The state may now be cancelling that deal.
Half of the nearly 200 children at Diversey Day Care may soon lose the state funding that pays their fees. Fifteen of the 30 workers may be laid off. Mothers and day care workers marched the youngsters down Kedzie Avenue to a protest rally in Logan Square.
Juanita Pedroza, mother of three, said that if 5-year old son Andre loses his day care slot, she'd be unable to continue as a teacher's aide at McAuliffe school.
"I have to stop working. I'm gonna lose my job 'cause I don't have nobody to take care of my kid," Pedroza said.
Focusing on child care, these protesters complain that the state is violating a deal that dates back to the 1990s, back to the days when welfare as we know it was eliminated. The deal was that the state would help to provide for child care for young mothers who were forced to take jobs.
When asked if the state is honoring the deal, Diversey Day Care Owner Alberta Varda said, "I think it's breaking the deal. First, you've given these parents hope that they can go back to work while they will take care of the children. And now they're telling them that they no longer will provide for their child."
"The state is changing the game," said Welfare Reform Expert Clarence Wood. "They're breaking the deal."
"They need to do something. This is our children. This is not a game," said Nanette Alvarez of Logan Square Neighborhood Association. "These are poor, innocent children. They need us."
Twenty-seven female members of the General Assembly met with Gov. Quinn at the Thompson Center Thursday afternoon.
A spokesman for the governor claimed there was "great progress," though there's
no sign Quinn has yet rounded up enough votes to pass the income tax increase he's pushing.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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