Feed Editor 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT The NASW-IL Weekly Update provides industry-specific news and information to leaders in the social work profession. Delivered weekly, the publication keeps professionals abreast of topics that impact the industry. http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/nasw-il/update.xml en Gov. Quinn will propose cutting $2.2 billion in spending, borrowing nearly $5 billion and delaying billions of dollars more in unpaid bills in a bleak budget proposal that, for the moment, does not include a tax increase, his aides said. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fcb98ae30a 1 Uncorking a risky election-year gambit, Gov. Quinn proposed a 33 percent increase in the state income tax to avoid "sacrificing the future of a generation of children." Quinn's push to hike the tax on Illinois workers' paychecks from 3 percent to 4 percent came with a promise to devote all of the $2.8 billion in new annual revenues to education, staving off the $1.3 billion in cuts the governor aimed at the state's schoolchildren and university students if the tax hike doesn't materialize. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fcb45ea257 2 Thousands of psychiatric patients are likely to move out of nursing homes and into community-based settings in the next five years under a landmark legal agreement designed to reshape Illinois' troubled long-term care system. The agreement, expected to be filed in federal court in Chicago, lays out a schedule for state officials to offer approximately 4,500 mentally ill nursing home residents the choice to move out of two dozen large facilities known as "institutions for mental diseases," or IMDs, and into smaller settings that experts say are more appropriate and less expensive. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fcbd43545b 3 DuPage County typifies our penchant for caricature: In the collective mind it's white, homogeneous, middle class, well-to-do, Republican. But, as Elmhurst College is revealing with missionary zeal, it's also a case study in the often-hidden poverty around us. S. Alan Ray was clueless about the county and the college before he applied to be president of Elmhurst, a liberal arts institution affiliated with the United Church of Christ. But his due diligence and vision convinced the trustees, and as president at the helm of the battleship that is any college, Ray is trying to steer 3,360-student Elmhurst down a path of service. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fcc4de7d40 4 When a 17-year-old girl was caught stealing $300 worth of clothing at a mall a few weeks ago, she was charged with a misdemeanor in juvenile court. Before Jan. 1, she could have been in even bigger trouble. She would have been charged as an adult, leaving a permanent mark on her record that could complicate her finding work and prohibit her family from living in public housing, among other consequences. Advocates say the change in state law — applying only to 17-year-olds charged with misdemeanors — means they will have better access to mental health services, drug treatment and rehabilitation programs better suited to their age. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fcca556dc4 5 Tuesday is Carlos Coleman's favorite day of the week. "Every Tuesday morning he wakes up: 'SGT today, mom? SGT today?'" mom Debra Coleman said. "I'm not even out of bed." SGT is Special Gifts Theatre, a Northbrook-based program that introduces children with special needs to the world of performing arts. Tuesday is rehearsal day. And Carlos' enthusiasm? Well, that's nothing short of a godsend. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fccdf87bb6 6 After years of conquering the treadmill and bench press, I am now striking poses and performing movements that I had always considered "girly," and the difficulty of it is humbling.The regimen is called "core strength," and it's all the rage in fitness. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fcd2b9a538 7 We may soon know whether Congress will approve some version of President Obama's health care plan. No matter what the outcome, there will be an unacknowledged monster lurking in the room: managed care. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b9fcd7c25f54 8 She could have been a lady who lunched. Natalie Heineman married a talented lawyer who became a successful railroad executive — so successful that Natalie and Ben Heineman donated their $9.5 million art glass collection to the Corning Museum of Glass. But instead of filling her days with tea and petits fours, the University of Chicago-educated social worker became nationally renowned for fighting child abuse and promoting foster care, adoption, better schools and juvenile justice. 17 Mar 2010 07:57:40 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b96931855c56 9