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March 25, 2009 The Honorable Pat Quinn Governor State of Illinois 207 State House Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Quinn:

On behalf of tens of thousands of Illinoisans affected by HIV/AIDS, I am writing to thank you for proposing structural budgetary reform to stabilize the state’s budget. The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) is deeply concerned that without reform, programs assisting people with HIV/AIDS and other chronic health conditions will be severely cut.

We wish to work with you as the budget process unfolds to protect programs benefiting people living with HIV and other vulnerable populations. AFC realizes that budgetary reform is urgently needed. AFC strongly supports your proposal to protect low-income people from tax increases, and will work with your office and the legislature to further expand programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Our support for structural reform notwithstanding, AFC is deeply concerned about several areas of the proposed budget:

Three percent funding cut for HIV prevention and care programs: AFC is deeply concerned that the FY10 budget proposes a $630,000 reduction in HIV prevention and care funds in two Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) line items:

• $18.4 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), HIV prevention and other care services, a reduction of $570,000 (3%) over FY09. • $1.94 million for HIV correctional services, a reduction of $60,000 (3%)

These two budget lines fund vital programs for people living with HIV, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (assistance for low-income people with HIV to obtain lifesaving HIV medications), housing, re-entry services for HIV-positive former prison and jail inmates, and other important HIV care and prevention services. With over 44,000 people living with HIV in Illinois, and an estimated 3,000 new HIV infections occurring every year, Illinois cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against the disease. AFC strongly opposes these proposed budget cuts and asks for your assistance to reverse them.

Abstinence-only program funding increase: AFC opposes the $1 million in new funding proposed for abstinence-only sex education programs. All evidence shows that these programs are a failure. At a time when Illinois faces an $11.5 billion deficit, the state cannot afford to squander $1 million on programs that Congressional

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investigations show are medically inaccurate, stigmatize gay and lesbian youth, and result in increases in risky sexual behavior. AFC urges you to instead allocate this funding to comprehensive, age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education programs, which have been shown effective in persuading young people to delay sexual debut and use protections once they become sexually active.

Supportive housing: While AFC thanks you for maintaining current supportive housing funding, we ask that you also support a much-needed increase of $3 million to provide housing for over 600 individuals and families. This new funding will leverage over $27 million in federal funding that agencies across the state, including AFC, have raised to pay for rents and services. AFC is proud to have secured a new $2.1 million U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant to provide housing to 135 homeless people with chronic diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and serious mental illness or substance abuse. The federal grant requires matching funds to provide support services, including case management. Providing housing and support services for extremely hard-to- serve, vulnerable populations saves the state millions every year in unreimbursed emergency care, Medicaid, and nursing home spending. Comprehensive research shows that providing housing with support services is cost-effective, and saves the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid and other health costs since homeless individuals who receive permanent supportive housing avoid unnecessary hospitalizations, emergency-room visits, and nursing-home stays.

As the budget process unfolds, we would like to continue to discuss budget solutions. AFC is committed to working with state leaders to support revenue increases aimed at assisting low-income people and providing health and human services.

AFC thanks you for your incredible leadership in a time of difficult choices. We would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues in more detail. You can reach me or John Peller, Director of Government Relations, at 312-922-2322 or [email protected] .

Sincerely,

Mark Ishaug President/CEO

cc: State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz State Sen. Heather Steans Jerry Stermer, Chief of Staff Ginger Ostro, GOMB Dr. Damon Arnold, IDPH Jessica Pickens, IDPH Gary Robinson, IDPH Alan Biggerstaff, IDPH Mildred Williamson, IDPH

Mike McRaith, IDFPR