Thank you to everyone who helped make your voice heard for people with disabilities during this year's State budget cycle. Late Saturday night, the General Assembly passed the FY2026 annual State budget. The Governor's initial proposed budget included a $0.50/hr increase for DSP reimbursement (75% of that increase is for a direct wage passthrough at a cost of $20 million) but also a cut of almost 900,000 DSP support hours (a loss of $32 million). We worked very hard to share the detriment this would cause, including being a huge setback to progress made over the past year. We are excited to share that the hourly increase for DSP wages did go up even more to $0.80/hr, getting us closer to the recommended 150% above minimum wage. However, we are extremely disappointed to share that cuts to hours being reimbursed were still made. While not at the initial amount, 622,000 hours will be removed from the system. This equates to every person served losing 1.5 hours per week. While it doesn't sound like much, this is perpetuating a further deterioration of an already fragile system. EP!C and agencies like EP!C will now be pressured to find alternative funding solutions to offset the cost of hours we will continue to provide with less reimbursement. Illinois is ranked 46th among the states investing in people with disabilities, and it's embarrassing. We will continue to demand the creation of a long-range strategic plan that sets clear goals and objectives that Illinoisans can be proud of and would eliminate the nickel and diming of an already underfunded service system. We appreciate every single advocacy effort on our behalf so far this year. Thank you for being a voice for those with cognitive differences fighting for the support they deserve. We'll continue to meet with and educate our representatives on the importance of these issues. (fb)

We are excited to join the Central Illinois Parents of Special Adults (CIPSA) group as their speaker this month. This month's meeting will be this Wednesday, June 4th from 5:30-7:30 at the Morton Public Library, and we will be talking all things EP!C. CIPSA meets monthly in Morton to share local resources/information. You can reach out to Maureen Groth for further details at maureen.groth@yahoo.com. (fb)