Voices for Illinois Children Celebrates 30th Anniversary, Continues Fight For Young People
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The advocacy group "Voices for Illinois Children" is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this week, but officials agree they are also in the middle of a crisis for young people.
Tasha Green Cruzat has been President of Voices for Illinois Children since March of last year. The non-partisan group does research and analysis, and pushes hard for policies and programs that help young people. The state didn't have a budget when she took the helm at Voices, so she didn't have a honeymoon period. WBBM's Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports.
"I mean we are really in a state of emergency, right, and so my honeymoon was very quick because I had to sort of get to work because there is so much work to do, especially when you think about the number of children in Illinois who are in poverty and we have about 19 percent of our children that are in poverty, that's about half-million children," Green Cruzat said.
So the work has never been harder. But the group, on Thursday, will mark 30 years with a benefit and give thanks to those who have helped along the journey.