KANKAKEE, IL – Illinois communities face the risk of losing vital rape crisis services due to a $9.5 million cut in federal funding beginning in July.
In response, the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA) has called upon the Illinois General Assembly to invest an additional $12 million in General Revenue Funding to maintain services.
“Survivors of sexual violence need the state to step forward and support the essential, life-changing advocacy and counseling rape crisis centers provide in Illinois communities,” ICASA Chief Executive Officer Carrie Ward said.
Such an increase would bring the state’s total investment in rape crisis services to $20 million and enable survivors to receive an average of $900 per survivor, compared to last year’s funding level of $364 per survivor.
Clove Alliance, which serves Kankakee, Iroquois, and Ford Counties, has urged residents to support the increase by contacting legislators and ask them to support a funding increase for rape crisis services.
“Unfortunately, violence against women and children in Kankakee, Iroquois, and Ford Counties has not stopped. Sexual assault survivors deserve this investment, and our communities need these essential services. Clove Alliance’s vital services will be drastically reduced if there’s no increase in funding,” said Executive Director of Clove Alliance Tracey Noe-Slach.
