by Iya Bakare
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s FY09 budget proposes to eliminate funding for Illinois’ Red Tape Cutters Program, which affects programs, services and benefits for more than 100,000 senior citizens in the state.
“The program is being cut because the state feels we’ve gotten our fair share,” said Elizabeth Lough, Red Tape Cutter specialist. “We stick out like a sore thumb because we are only in the suburban Cook County area, and the program is not in the rest of the state.”
Lough said the program, is to help senior citizens apply for benefits they’re eligible for and to assist them with filling out applications, gathering documents for those applications and taking them to the public aid office. The program, which covers Cook County and surrounding suburban cities, costs $855,292.
Lough said the program, formerly known as Best Kept Secret, originated in 1992 and evolved to the current Red Tape Cutters in 1994. Funding for the program came from grants and the state legislature in the past, Lough said.
Heather Treadway, director of public information and resource development of AgeOptions, said the cut accounts for an immediate loss of $251,000 starting July 1 for the programs and services for seniors in suburban Cook County and a loss of approximately $24 million in leveraged benefits in Illinois. The agency, which advocates for pharmaceutical benefits, health promotions, elderly rights, caregiver support and home and community-based services for senior citizens, is currently funded at $251,700.
Specifically, Red Tape Cutters assists with energy assistance, transportation services, food stamps, Social Security income, property tax assistance and other programs for seniors. Treadway also said the county will be under funded by the Department on Aging as it divides $2 million and sending shares to other parts of Illinois, which include counties of seniors who make up less than 3 percent of its population.
In addition to the loss of benefits for seniors, 14 staff members for the program would lose their jobs.
Lough said the agency fights to keep funding through grassroots efforts. Red Tape Cutters distributed postcards to its senior citizens to write to their representatives. Seniors citizens also made phone calls to state lawmakers. Local agencies are reaching out to local legislators and the agency itself, in addition to its clients, are contacting local and state legislators. AgeOptions also hired a lobbyist for their behalf to garner support in Springfield.
“It makes no sense to me as to why it was taken out of the budget, and my desire is to put it back in the final package,” said Illinois Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Worth), chairman of the Aging Committee. “There’s an insignificant amount of money for the amount of people it serves.”
Sarah Saenz, assistant director of the Berwyn-Cicero Council on Aging, said state Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez (D-Cicero) is one of the legislators seniors and agencies contacted for support on the Red Tape Cutter program.
Joyce said the Red Tape Cutters program is doing a great job at advocating for support. “They provide a great and timely service to seniors in our community,” Joyce said.
Saenz said her agency attends training twice a year on assisting seniors fill out applications because the applications themselves are difficult to understand.
“I feel devastated about the cut of the program,” Saenz said. “On one hand, we offer free bus rides for senior citizens, but then we say ‘good luck’ with filling out applications for Medicaid, Medicare and social security, in addition to receiving funding.”
“Without the Red Tape Cutters program, seniors will be forced to independently navigate and overcome barriers to complex benefits and service systems,” Treadway said.
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