About 75 people attended last night’s Illinois Issues forum on the state budget at the I-Hotel in Champaign. The event was hosted by Illinois Public Media and NPR Illinois, and sponsored by AARP. The panel discussion included former Illinois governor Jim Edgar, University of Illinois president Tim Killeen, Director of the U of I Institute of Government & Public Affairs Chris Mooney, and President of Illinois AARP Rosanna Marquez.
The panel took questions from audience members for about 90 minutes, and heard from two Champaign-Urbana social service providers who have been affected by the nearly two-year budget impasse. Courage Connection Executive Director Isak Griffiths spoke about the impact on her agency, the only service provider to domestic violence victims in Champaign-Urbana.
The state of Illinois owes Courage Connection more than $300,000 dollars, and they’re trying to raise funds to help make up the shortfall. You can find more information at courageconnection.org.
The entire forum audio is available for download here as an MP3 audio file.