Sequester Could Fall on Illinois Families

PEORIA- In four days, $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts kick in.

It's called the sequester, and Illinois families will bear some of the burden.

Education, health, and day care are just a few of the things at stake.

More than 1,000 kids could lose access to child care if Congress doesn't make a move by March 1st.

"Those cuts impact every sector in a community," says Ginny Everett.

Ginny Everett with SAL Child Care connection works with disadvantaged parents every day.
She helps them get the financial assistance they need to send their kids to daycare, while they work to better their lives.

"These are not people who are just sitting at home collecting money for their children, these are working families, sometimes working two to three jobs in order to have sustained income for their families."

SAL Child Care Connection pays more than $2 million every month to child care providers in the Peoria area to subsidize what parents can't pay.
The sequestration means parents will pay more for child care and spend less everywhere else.

"How do you sustain a family, how do you keep a family going when you're hit from ever yside," Everett asks.

Greg Chance at the Peoria City County Health Department says that's exactly what's going to happen.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars could be cut from vaccination funding in the state. Chance says that could trickle down to Peoria.
Around 5,200 fewer Illinois kids will get shots if the cuts set in, translating into more health care troubles in the future.

"Realistically, yes, some kids are gonna be impacted, some families will be affected by these cuts," says Chance.

It's still to be seen just how many that will mean for Peoria.
Chance says it shouldn't be happening at all.

Chance asks, "Why should any family be at risk of getting immunized?"

These cuts could also impact local schools
Peoria's District 150 could lose Title 1 funding.
That's money that goes to instructional support, like tutors, and after school programs, for low income students.

When all of this extra stress is put on families, health experts say it can lead to an uptick in violence.
But even those programs aimed to protect aren't safe from the cuts.

The Center for Prevention of Abuse in Peoria could lose funding through the Violence Against Women Act.
The program provides outreach to women in Tazewell and Woodford counties and gives more attention to serious cases of domestic violence in Peoria County.
It also works toward violence prevention in local schools, but all of that is in jeopardy.
The STOP violence against women program could lose nearly $300,000.

"We're already as tight as we can be," explains Martha Herm, Executive Director of the Center of Prevention of Abuse. "I think, as a society, we need to decide what's really important. Are we gonna make sure women and children and men are safe in their own homes?"

Herm says more help will be needed from the community if the cuts kick in, across the board.