This week, Rockford public radio station WNIJ aired a commentary from Pam Wiseman, executive director of Safe Passage, a domestic violence shelter in DeKalb.  In the three-minute clip, she describes the ongoing uncertainty about FY 2010 state funding levels, which has plagued social service providers across the state.  At the conclusion, she notes that she can no longer afford to wait and must "start to pull the plug":

WISEMAN: I thought the game was over.  It isn't.  I don't know more now than I knew a month ago. And today, I have to start to pull the plug.  I can't hold on -- all because of some political game.  And we're having some fun now.

Listen to the whole commentary here.

Here at Progress Illinois, we're also waiting for Gov. Quinn to make clear how much he intends to cut from these providers. Since the General Assembly passed the stop-gap budget last week, we've suspended any new updates to our budget tracking project.  But that doesn't mean the fallout has ceased.  For instance, we received an email yesterday from Matt Jackson, CEO of the Occupational Development Center (ODC) in Normal, which provides services to the developmentally disabled.  He wrote to let us know that effective August 1, the center will be closing its doors and ceasing all programs.  Here's his explanation:

The failure of the State to pay their bills in a timely manner ultimately put too much of a financial burden on the agency and we could no longer afford to loan the State money to continue our operation. The approach the legislators and Governor took with the budget process this year forced ODC to make the managerial decision to dissolve the agency.

If you have similar stories to share, please send them to contact@progressillinois.com.  We'll likely be relaunching the tracking project next week.