Going back to school for foster kids isn't easy. Sometimes they're transferred to a new school and have to make new friends. More often than not, however, they lack the resources needed to succeed - supplies as simple as pencils and erasers.
 
If you have a little time and money to help out a kid, consider shopping for a Kaleidoscope kid this month. You'll help make their first day at school a little easier by giving them the things they need.

Choose to shop for a primary school kid, junior high or high school teen. They all need your help. You can download and print the flyer to take with you shopping. You could even start a back to school drive where you work or go to school!

And if you don't have time to shop, consider making a donation and designating it to "back to school."

Thank you for helping out a Kaleidoscope student!

Published : Wednesday, 30 Jun 2010, 10:03 PM CDT
By Mike Flannery, FOX Chicago News
 
Chicago - With Gov. Quinn preparing to chop hundreds of millions of dollars from the state budget Thursday morning, mental health care providers said they were already feeling the pain.
 
Fox Chicago News learned that, 48 hours before the governor's public announcement, the state sent contracts for the coming fiscal year that cut some providers by up to 34 percent.
 
Thresholds, Illinois's largest provider of homes for the mentally ill, said it lost $9.2 million in the contract it was told to sign and return by midnight Wednesday. FY2011 begins Thursday and Agency CEO Tony Zipple told us the cuts apparently take effect immediately.
 
Zipple and his colleagues said that, as a result of the cuts, Thresholds would no longer be able to offer housing to anyone without Medicaid or private insurance. They said that means the working poor would no longer be eligible for the program.
 
"For any of us, losing our home is a really terrible thing," said Zipple. "But when you have so little to start with, and when you depend on the services that are embedded in this program to stay straight and sane and sober, and you lose it, it's really the end of the world for you."
 
Forty-four mentally live at the Grais Apartments run by Thresholds. Program director Jane Weller said the state's cuts would force Thresholds to eliminate some psychiatric and other services for residents.
 
She and Zipple feared that several dozen of the 750 mentally ill housed in Thresholds apartments might be forced out of their homes. She said some would likely wind up back on the street, in hospital emergency rooms or even in jail...places where many of the program's residents have been previously.
 
Thresholds and other social service agencies across the state are preparing to layoff hundreds of workers. Some haven't been paid by the deadbeat state of Illinois in months and their banks won't lend them any more cash.
 
Providers like this understand the state is facing a monumental budget, but they argue that cutting social services like the Grais apartments is a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach.
 
"If the people who live here are back on the streets, they will essentially cost the taxpayers more," Thresholds Program Director Jane Weller said.
 
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Dept of Human Services said DHS hopes the grim budget cut numbers "are not final."
 
An advisor to Quinn told Fox Chicago News the governor needs to cut more than $1 billion from the budget so that the state does not run out of cash for its own payroll and other vital operations before November.
 
The significance of that date? It's election month. Some believe the governor might find more support for his proposed income tax increase in the General Assembly after the election.

As we continually explore alternatives for fundraising in support of our mission, we are delighted to announce that Kaleidoscope is now a member of tix4cause.com. Tix4Cause is a ticket exchange website founded on an innovative yet simple concept - ticketholders sell their unwanted tickets and can donate 100% of the proceeds to Kaleidoscope.

Tix4Cause is a novel way to donate, where:

• Ticketholders turn their unwanted seats over to Kaleidoscope, and qualify for a tax deduction.
• Ticket purchasers choose from these great seats, and receive reasonable pricing (tickets are offered at fair market prices).
• 100% of ticket proceeds are given to Kaleidoscope.

 

The success of our partnership with Tix4Cause depends on you. I know many of you have tickets that, for various reasons, cannot be used. To ensure we hit the ground running with this program, I'm requesting your unwanted sporting, theater or music event tickets.

Don't let a single ticket go to waste - insteads, place them for sale on Tix4Cause. We are truly excited about this opportunity and look forward to this great, new way to help support Kaleidoscope's mission.
 

You may remember receiving a letter and/or email from Tom Finnegan about Kaleidoscope's budget for next fiscal year beginning 7/1 and the gap that needs to be filled. All of us at Kaleidoscope - the board, staff, volunteers - remain confident that we can fill the $250,000 gap. 
 
This gap is $70,000 more than we currently raise - that's $191 a day. By "selling" 365 days at $191 each, we WILL meet our goal. So far, 53 generous donors (you know who you are!) have bought a combined 55 days! 
  

THANK YOU!

 
The campaign we call "Seize a Day" ensures that Kaleidoscope programs for kids remain solid and stable, meeting the complex needs children recovering from abuse present, providing the services they need to become healthy young adults.

 

This is a good start! 

You can help Kaleidoscope make this goal:

1. renew your gift at the same level as last year, if possible.
2. donate an additional day ($191) or more if you can.
3. ask your friends to donate, volunteer or attend an event.

Kaleidoscope is a community effort that pays back Chicago many times over. As the Kaleidoscope case statement says, "For those of us with means and an eye to the future, there is no excuse, no valid reason, not to help abused children."

Donate and Seize a Day!

 

 

While the Illinois House passed a budget plan in late May, the question still remains regarding what the governor will allocate to various state agencies like DCFS and the impact on Kaleidoscope and other social services.
 
Kaleidoscope is hired by DCFS (Department of Children & Family Services) to care for high-need abused and neglected children who are wards of the state. Contracts generally cover basic human needs as well as necessary therapy or medical coverage, so Kaleidoscope engages in fundraising to complete the array of comprehensive services that give children the best possible chance for recovery and a healthy adulthood.
 
Please remember to stay in touch with your elected officials and let them know that services to children need to stay intact. Should you ever have questions, please contact us! 
 

This summer, Kaleidoscope matched 26 foster youth in college with employers across Chicago to gain experience and build their networks in a 10-week internship program called Find Your Future (findyourfutureprogram.com). Additionally throughout the summer, Kaleidoscope and sponsors host career development workshops preparing youth for the real world of work. 
 
Are you or someone you know knowledgeable about resume writing, job interviewing or personal finance? Would you be comfortable sharing your knowledge with young people in a workshop? Contact Abbie See and donate your time for a great cause!
 

 

 
DCFS Director speaks to interns at May 28th kickoff in Grant Park

Special thanks to DCFS, Northern Trust, Dir. Erwin McEwen, P.J. McGuire, Jonathon Levin, Terry Keating and Michelle Jackson for already giving your precious time, money and talent to Find Your Future 2010!
 

We're currently seeking a few big-hearted people with skills in writing orvideography to help tell the many stories that make up Kaleidoscope. Our goal is to create an ongoing collection for our blog and possibly YouTube.
 
Secondly, we're looking for a few people to help sell 50/50 tickets to friends, family, co-workers...even enemies. The 50/50 raffle takes place July 17 and typically yields a $5000 jackpot split with the winner and Kaleidoscope. 

If you're interested in volunteering for any of the above, contact Craig today!

Friends,

You may recall the brush Kaleidoscope and other child serving organizations had with massive funding cuts less than one year ago.

We undertook the unnerving task of laying off one-third of our staff before funding was ultimately restored to the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS). Though we called back our youth workers and services continued, our children got a real taste of what could have happened.

Over a hundred of our children and youth said goodbye to Kaleidoscope, only to have us return a week later and continue our work. This does not make for a trusting relationship, let alone a therapeutic one for children who have already suffered so much pain. But the alternative would have been disastrous for them.

We cannot let this happen again – we need to urge our state representatives to make the needs of our children a top priority.

Right now, state budget negotiations are in full swing. No one really knows when Illinois will have its fiscal 2011 budget in place, but Illinois still has a $13.4 billion deficit and the governor's proposed budget contains massive cuts to education and human services.

Please be an advocate for children before we’re forced to put a reorganization plan in place. Please, contact your local state reps and senators about the budget in the next 24 hours and leave a very succinct message in their Springfield office: 

“As the fiscal 2011 budget is negotiated, I urge you to assure that the DCFS budget that serves to protect abused and neglected children remains funded and DHS services are restored. We must also find solutions to fund the education budget and assure that cuts to special education intended to serve children with special behavioral and mental health challenges are restored. I urge you to advocate for these services within your caucus and whenever you are asked for your opinion on what is most important for the fiscal 2011 budget. Thank you.”

Click here to find your Illinois officials

As of today, there is a potpourri of options being considered to fund and plug some of the holes in the budget I received from the Child Care Association of Illinois:

• The Emergency Budget Act would give the governor power to cut the budget without the general assembly’s approval. All programs would be “subject to appropriations” so that potentially any program, including entitlement programs, could be cut or reduced. He could also hold back funding from state agencies and could adjust service and reimbursement rates as he sees fit.
• The Tax Amnesty program would raise potentially $250M that could go towards the education deficit of $1.3B.
• A $1 per pack cigarette tax increase would plug about $300M of the deficit.
• Liquidating future revenue from the tobacco settlement.
• A $1B funds sweep.
• Additional borrowing of $3.7B in order to cover the state’s pension payment or increases in bonding to cover expenses of last year’s capital budget and for $1B in new capital spending.
• The governor’s proposed “education surcharge.”
• Temporary one-year “business taxes.”
• Lengthening of the lapse spending period.
• Additional federal relief for education funding from Washington.
• A new idea that just emerged late yesterday, in which Illinois would receive $500M cash from ComEd and Exelon in exchange for freezing rates at higher-than-market levels for 4 years and a complete overhaul of the electricity regulatory system. 

Children count on you and indeed each of Kaleidoscope’s supporters to keep legislators accountable to the needs of children, especially those in the state’s care. I will keep you posted on new developments. Always feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Thank you,

Tom Finnegan
tfinnegan@kaleidoscope4kids.org
773-278-7200 x4050

Just because you’re here, reading this on our website, we consider you a friend of Kaleidoscope and a champion for kids. Champions are people who have seen Kaleidoscope’s shared vision and think, “Yes, every child deserves a chance at life, and I want to help build the bright future our children can give the world!”

Through the Seize a Day campaign, we are asking champions like you to buy just one day of Kaleidoscope’s future - the future of the kids we serve every day. Kaleidoscope is donor-dependent. It thrives and survives because champions like you are willing to invest in its mission and vision.

Next fiscal year beginning this July 1, one day at Kaleidoscope will cost $191 more than we are currently raising.

Every day that Kaleidoscope operates… providing 24/7 therapy, links to neighborhood resources, after-school programs and summer camps, bilingual services, teaching youth how to live independently, supporting foster parents who take in troubled children recovering from severe abuse, neglect and the medical and emotional problems, or throws one of its memorable events… will require an extra $191 in philanthropy… every day.

Here’s the future you’ll help guarantee by buying a day:

·         A generation of young people with the will and know-how to be successful in their own right.

·         A community of people who realize the importance of caring for their neighbors.

·         The virtues an independent, productive, healthy and happy grown person can bring.

In short, you can help build a community that recognizes the importance of our collective future and gives our children the resources to create it.

A tall order? Perhaps. But it’s being nurtured and grown at Kaleidoscope every single day.

Within reach? Yes! But only if you’ll help by buying a day of Kaleidoscope’s future.

By giving a day to Kaleidoscope, you will join with those who help shape better futures for kids by helping us take in children with the most complex needs and connecting them with loving families who can care for them. You’ll help nurture children as believers in their own ability to become independent and goal-oriented young adults. You’ll save lives and change lives by supporting Kaleidoscope programs and cultivating hope in even our youngest children.

Kaleidoscope is an organization that cannot afford to fail. The consequences are too great.

We’ve never done anything quite like this, but we are committed to doing so with Kaleidoscope’s high standard of honesty and transparency. I want you to know that we’ve already done as much as we can do internally to operate leanly while preserving the interests of the children entrusted to our care. Part of this involves our staff. We all keep our wages at 2006 levels, stall new hires as long as possible and contribute what we can of our own resources.

You see, we do our best to be champions for kids too.

Tall orders demand true champions…champions like you. It’s no less than $2 per child per day total to get kids the chance they need and deserve to achieve their full potential – we’re almost there.

So please consider helping us raise the additional $70,000 to close the gap this year.

You can buy as many days as you’d like. Buy a day in honor of someone you love. Ask for a Kaleidoscope day instead of a birthday gift. Or go in with your friends and buy a week.

We’re counting on you – and every single one of our donors – as a champion to help us reach this goal. I hope that you’ll consider how much one day – $191 – can mean to our kids. 
 
Seize a day!!!
 

Donors who gave an accumulated $100 or more in 2009 are listed in the Kaleidoscope Circle of Care. Major donors ($500 or more in a year) become members of the Kaleidoscope Circle of Care Leadership Council. 
 
Click the following link to view these donors as well as those outstanding volunteers who went above-and-beyond in 2009 to shape better lives for kids.

2009 Donor List - Circle of Care