Today the Going Home Coalition and The Arc are renewing our efforts to close antiquated state institutions.
At a press conference in the Capitol, we called for the closing of six of the seven state institutions in Illinois by the year 2020.
There are now 1,662 individuals in the 7 state institutions. It costs Illinois taxpayers $429 million to operate those 7 fully operational state institutions.
In this year alone, costs of confining individuals to state institutions have risen by $10,000 per person. The annual cost of institutionalization here in Illinois has sky rocketed to $258,000 per year per person! That is over $700 per day and growing!
We know that people live safer and healthier lives in community settings. It is time to close state institutions in Illinois because community integration makes sense.
FACT SHEET on COMMUNITY INTEGRATION
Tony Paulauski
Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
815-464-1832 (CELL)
Tony@thearcofil.org