June 10, 2020 – Gov. J.B. Pritzker visited the Boys & Girls Club of Decatur to highlight the importance of child care facilities.
Boys & Girls Clubs and similar facilities in Illinois that were shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic have reopened under guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The Boys and Girls Club was able to re-open it’s doors on Monday with new health guidelines.
State Sen. Andy Manar said including facilities like the Boys & Girls Club in the recently passed state budget was important.
“We are able to reopen child care providers and community-based providers because prioritized that funding in the budget this year,” he said. “We chose not to ‘slash and burn’ programs that impact youth.”
Boys & Girls Clubs around the state and programs like TeenREACH were left in limbo during the budget impasse of 2015.
State Rep. Sue Sherer also spoke of the importance of keeping the facilities funded.
“I just want to say how critically important it is in these times that we offer the programs and services for Boys & Girls Clubs because these our children, these are the most neediest, these are the ones we need to tuck under our wing and take care of,” she said.
The Illinois Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs is comprised of 27 organizations, serving over 60,000 youth each year at more than 90 sites.
