Area child care providers are speaking out against looming funding cuts. It was part of a state-wide effort to protest a $300 million shortfall in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program. Gloria Artis is a licensed child care provider in Peoria. She says the governor and lawmakers both need to secure a long-term fix:
“If they cut the funding for child care most parents have to struggle or stop working, and then if they leave their children, they’re going to leave them with an unsafe environment.”
The state-wide event was organized by the Service Employees International Union with rallies in Chicago, Springfield and East Saint Louis.