Dear Editor,
Having read your latest edition of El Observador I was wondering if you are going to cover the child care aspect of the budget crisis.
If the cuts go into effect as many believe they are then many Latino Families will be affected. Child care is essential to their future.
Cuts of this magnitude would likely make the state's situation worse, and would cause immeasurable harm to innocent dependent Latino children. The negative impact on individual children, communities and the economy if these cuts are adopted would simply be too great from both a human and economic perspective.
The Governor proposes a 10 percent cut to Child Welfare Services and a 10 percent rate reduction for most foster caregivers. He also has proposed to eliminate the CalWORKs program outright. CalWORKs, in its own right, is a remarkably successful program. The number of people receiving assistance has been cut in half since CalWORKs started. Rather than being a burden on the General Fund, the TANF Block Grant has actually contributed more than $11 billion to non-CalWORKs state programs since its inception and has helped tens of thousands of Californians, many of them Latinos,  enter the workforce.
In today's dire recessionary climate, counties are seeing increases in demand for CalWORKs, as devastated families seek help from a safety net that now threatens to drop them in their time of need. Eliminating CalWORKs would suck additional billions of dollars out of the economy, resulting in greater job loss and pushing the state from its current 11 percent unemployment rate to an estimated 11.8 percent.
 I encourage you to take a close look at how the proposed cuts would impact the Latino families, the children and the community.
Gracias.
Mario Del Castillo

Editor's Note: Hilbert Morales, Publisher, EO, is a member of the Mental Health Board, County of Santa Clara which is advisory to the Board of Supervisors and its Department of Mental Health (Nancy Peña, Head). This advisory group has been performing analysis of many program cuts. The ultimate solution will require having a State of California Constitutional Convention which produces an up-dated new constitution. Our elected official must transition from the present "broken system" which cannot be repaired by the use of propositions. The Governor, Senators and members of the State Assembly must go to a "pay as you go system". Presently too many essential items can be blocked by a small number of the Assembly. The two-thirds vote on budget matters needs to become 'a majority vote". Elected officials need to be held to account by the voters. Latinos need to register to vote, learn about the issues and vote for those who will make reasonable decisions when dealing with the people's business. The influence of special interests and lobbyists must become open and available for public review. Also, special interests (i.e., unions and certain corporations) need to have their influence peddling exposed to all for review and comment. We need a more transluscent governing process that works. Since individuals paying income taxes are the source of the greatest volume of revenues, there is a need to know which members of the assembly are overly influenced by special interests and their lobbyists. ∆