Progress Illinois

At a March 19 press conference in Springfield, Illinois Hunger Coalition director Diane Doherty described a crisis facing the Department of Human Services (DHS). As unemployment skyrockets and more and more families require help finding work and putting food on the table, an already overwhelmed DHS staff is facing a surge of new cases. So why, at this time of increasing need, are administrators planning to close a possible 18 field offices in central and southern Illinois, "consolidating" them with neighboring locations?

DHS spokesperson Marielle Sainvilus says it's all in the public's interest. By shuttering offices with small numbers of employees (AFSCME created a map of the proposed closings here), she argues that the state can better distribute caseloads, making operations more efficient.  When asked whether the plan is driven by budgetary concerns, she answers, "This is not about the money." While the DHS Division of Human Capital Development budget would be cut by $3 million under Gov. Pat Quinn's budget, the proposal would only save an estimated $800,000.  "We're doing the opposite of closing offices," Sainvilus adds. "By consolidating, our aim is to increase access to integrated services."

But Doherty tells us that "consolidation" is nothing more than a euphemism.

While it's true that some of the offices don't handle many cases, some do assist a large number of Illinoisans. The Vandalia office in Fayette County serves over 3,000 families on food stamps and takes in over $320,000 in federal food stamp dollars per month, according to Doherty. Under the proposed plan, all those clients would have to visit an office in Centralia, 34 miles south. Same goes for the more than 2,300 households that use the Paris field office in Edgar County -- all of those people, along with five employees, would have to drive 41 miles west to the Matoon outpost in Coles County.

The extra travel is a major concern for those facing substantial economic barriers, especially TANF enrollees, which Sainvilus says are the most likely to visit a field office in the first place. Among the expenses: paying extra for gas or finding drivers willing to drive longer distances, extended travel times during work hours, and the possibility of time-consuming lines once at the newly-bulked up offices. Given that food stamps benefits and resources from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program are so measly to begin with, this reorganization seems to diminish the incentives of utilizing those program. "This puts undue hardship on people already strapped," says Doherty. "It just doesn't make sense at this time."

DHS counters that more business is done "over the internet or the phone" now than in the past, reducing the need for office space close by. But Doherty notes that DHS voicemail inboxes are already routinely swamped. She also questions whether tele-communicating with DHS is a realistic option for rural residents requiring the most pressing services, especially seniors. "To assume these people have phones or Internet access and know how to use it is just not real," she says. "Have they ever heard of the digital divide?"

Sainvilus says most of the closings will take place in May or June and workers will be alerted if their office is closed sometime next week. Expect some confrontation -- Paxton residents, notified that their local Family Community Resource Center was on the chopping block, have already expressed outrage. "I can't understand the logic behind this," Paxton Mayor Bill Ingold told the News-Gazette last week. "We've got people out of jobs in two or three places in Paxton and yet they're thinking about consolidating for the very ones they're trying to help? It's causing them to drive farther to receive those services."