Summary
Total cases receiving Public Assistance in Illinois climbed 269,169 cases (419,726 persons) in January 2021 from January 2020. Aided cases numbered 2,036,196 (3,293,672 persons) in January 2021, up 14.60% from year-earlier totals.
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
- Total TANF Benefits: There were 28,841 TANF cases (78,166 persons) in January 2021, up 171 cases and 746 persons from December 2020. The caseload was 30.60% higher than the January 2020 total.
- TANF-Basic: In January 2021, TANF-Basic (primarily single-parent) families increased, from December 2020, by 149 cases (677 persons) for a total of 27,339 cases (71,432 persons).
- Two-Parent Cases: Two-parent cases increased in January 2021 by 22 (69 persons) from December 2020 for a total of 1,502 cases (6,734 persons).
- Approvals: There were 1,320 assistance approvals this month, including 597 new grants (down 153 since December 2020) and 246 reinstatements (down 6 since December 2020). A reinstatement is defined as approval of any case that was active within the previous 24 months.
- TANF Cancelled due to earnings: In January 2021 there were 175 cases cancelled due to earnings from new employer or increased earnings from an existing employer.
- Total Grant amount: $12,678,987 was the total in January 2021. This is $294,486 less than the total in December 2020. January 2021 shows a 39.58% increase from January 2020.
Assistance to the Aged, Blind or Disabled (AABD)
The total number of January 2021 AABD Cash cases was down 163 cases or -0.85% from the number of cases a year earlier.
- AABD Case Details: AABD cash cases decreased by 281 cases in January 2021 from December 2020 for a total of 18,937 cases. This total includes 9,215 persons who qualified for Old Age Assistance; 130 persons who qualified for Blind Assistance; and 9,592 persons who qualified for Disability Assistance. The total grant amount shows a 7.18% decrease from December 2020 ($2,425,998) to January 2021 ($2,251,881).
Medical Assistance - No Grant (MANG)
January 2021 had a program total of 1,867,884 cases (3,032,243 persons). Of the total MANG cases, there were 72,548 cases (124,904 MANG persons) in All Kids, Disabled Workers, Breast and Cervical Cancer, Veteran Care, Medically Fragile Technology Dependent, and Department of Corrections programs. Overall, MANG cases in January 2021 show a 13.59% increase (223,451 cases) since January 2020.
- MANG: MANG recipients represent 91.73% of total cases and 92.06% of total persons in January 2021. In January 2020, MANG recipients represented 93.06% of total cases.
- Family Health Plans: Families increased in January 2021 by 6,391 to 755,822 cases from totals in December 2020. Persons also increased 15,600 in December to 1,884,226 persons.
- ACA Adult: ACA Adult saw an increase of 12,367 cases from December 2020 for a total of 764,945 cases in January. Persons increased by 12,718 for a January 2021 total of 791,215 persons.
- AABD Clients: AABD customers who were categorically qualified for Medical Only increased 1.14% in January 2021 from December 2020 to 347,117 cases.
- Foster Care: Foster Care Assistance totals were not available at the time of this report.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- SNAP Assistance was given to 1,111,197 Illinois households (2,059605 persons) in January 2021. This is an increase of 211,775 households from January 2020 levels.
- A total of 120,534 households (164,326 persons) received SNAP with no other assistance in January 2021. This is an increase of 39,122 households from January 2020 levels.
- The total SNAP assistance amount for January of 2021 was $434,164,929*. This is an increase of $211,712,227 from January of 2020.
FISCAL YEAR 2021 SUMMARY OF CASES AND PERSONS AS OF JANUARY 2021
| Program |
Cases |
Persons |
| TANF |
28,841 |
78,166 |
| AABD Cash |
18,937 |
18,937 |
| Family Health Plans |
755,822 |
1,884,226 |
| AABD MANG |
347,117 |
356,802 |
| ACA |
764,945 |
791,215 |
| SNAP with no other assistance |
120,534 |
164,326 |
| Foster Care |
N/A |
N/A |
| Refugees Cash & Medical |
72 |
72 |
| TOTAL |
2,036,268 |
3,293,744 |
Child Care1
Child Care Services are available to families with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Families must be working or enrolled in approved education or training activities. Families cost-share with co-payments based on income and family size. Services are delivered through a certificate program and a site-administered contract system.
- The Certificate Program eligibility is determined by resource and referral agencies. Parents choose subsidized full or part-time care from any legal care provider that meets their needs. Providers include child-care centers, family homes, group child-care home and in-home and relative care. In December 2020, an estimated 96,023 children were served by certificate.
- The Site-Administered Contract Program serves families through a statewide network of contracted licensed centers and family homes. Families apply for care directly with the contracted providers and eligibility is determined on-site by the provider. In December 2020, an estimated 3,280 children were served by contract.
- The Migrant Head Start Program provides childcare and health and social services for preschool children of migrant and seasonal farm workers. Services are provided by local community-based agencies. In December 2020, there were 158 children enrolled in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start.
Emergency Food, Shelter and Support
Homeless families and individuals receive food, shelter, and support services through local not-for-profit organizations. A "continuum of care" includes emergency and transitional housing and assistance in gaining self-sufficiency and permanent housing.
- The Emergency and Transitional Housing Program served 2,686 households in shelters during October through December 2020. Of those, 523 were households with children.
- The Emergency Food Program served 188,239 households (duplicative) in January 2021.
- The Homeless Prevention Program helps families in existing homes and helps others secure affordable housing. During October - December 2020, 1,081 households were served. Of those, 502 were families (Households with children under age 18).
- The Supportive Housing Program funds governments and agencies which serve families and transitional facility residents. In the October-December 2020 quarter, 808,493 nights of Supportive Housing were provided.
- The Refugee and Immigrant Citizenship Initiative funds the provision of English language, civics and U.S. history instruction as well as application services. This program has served 7,530 clients in January 2021.
- Of the refugees served, 377 received employment services, and 77.9% of the clients entering employment were still employed 90 days later from October 2020 - December 2020.
- The Outreach and Interpretation project assures access to IDHS benefits. This program has served 5,573 in January 2021.
Social Service Block Grants
Service funding is provided through the Federal Title XX Social Services Block Grant to manage and monitor contracts which help customers achieve economic self-support and prevent or remedy abuse and neglect.
- Crisis Nurseries served 198 customers during the October - December 2020 quarter.
- The Estimated Donated Funds Initiative aided 1,288 customers with 21,285 rides provided for Senior's during the October - December 2020 quarter.
Early Intervention (EI)1
The Illinois Early Intervention (EI) program serves infants and toddlers ages birth to 3 years old with developmental delays or disabilities and their family in one or more of the following areas of development: adaptive, cognitive, communication/speech, physical and social emotional. EI is part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part C for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities. Annually, the EI program serves approximately 23,000 children throughout the state and maintains 25 regional intake entities called Child and Family Connections (CFC) offices. CFCs handle referrals, intake and service coordination for infants and toddlers referred to EI and coordinates the eligibility determination process and manages eligible infants and toddlers with Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs)through transition.
Early Intervention services include, but are not limited to developmental evaluations and assessments, communication/speech therapy, developmental therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, service coordination, psychological, and other counseling services, and assistive technology. Evaluations, assessments, service plan development and service coordination are provided to families at no cost. Ongoing EI services are paid for by public insurance (i.e., Medicaid/All Kids), a family's private health insurance, when appropriate, state general revenue and other program funds. Families are assessed a family participation fee based on a sliding scale which considers their ability to pay.
Program Statistics - Early Intervention - December 2020 stats were not available at the time of this report.
| Indicator |
November 2020 |
SFY 2020 Average |
SFY 2019 Average |
| Referrals |
2,095 |
2,813 |
3,333 |
| Active IFSP's |
17,210 |
22,474 |
22,812 |
| 0-3 Participation Rate |
11.90% |
10.41% |
4.88% |
| Under 1 Participation Rate |
.90% |
1.30% |
1.38% |
| % With Medicaid |
50.40% |
51.2% |
52.0% |
| % With Insurance |
39.70% |
38.8% |
39.1% |
| % With Fees |
28.60% |
28.8% |
28.5% |
What's New in EI
The Bureau is finalizing our State Systemic Improvement Plan to improve child outcomes through two coherent improvement strategies of implementing the Child Outcomes Survey practice with fidelity and to have Family Engagement processes developed, measured, and put into practice. This work aligns with evidence-based services utilizing the Division of Early Childhood's Recommended Practices.
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)1
The purpose of WIC is to provide nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding promotion and support, nutritious supplemental foods, and referrals to services for eligible pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children to age five. The program has been housed under the Department of Human Services since 1997. To be eligible, participants must be at 185% of the federal poverty level, be a resident of the State of Illinois, and have a nutrition risk.
Program Statistics - WIC
| Eligibility Category |
Clients in December 2020 |
| Pregnant Women |
13,457 |
| Breastfeeding Women |
2,782 |
| Postpartum Women |
19,997 |
| Infants |
45,858 |
| Children |
73,593 |
| Total |
155,687 |
What's New in WIC
WIC Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) implementation activities are underway and include the creation of a new management information system (MIS) to replace the existing Cornerstone system. USDA has mandated full implementation of EBT by October 1, 2020. The Pilot roll-out of both the EBT and MIS began March 16, 2020 in DHS Region 4. We are currently set to go live in the last DHS Region to be converted, Region 1 - Cook County on Tuesday, September 8.
Family Case Management1
The program target population is low income families (below 200% of the federal poverty level) with a pregnant woman, an infant. The goals of the program are to help women have healthy babies and to reduce the rates of infant mortality and very low birth weight. To achieve these goals the program conducts outreach activities to inform expectant women and new mothers of available services and then assists them with obtaining prenatal and well-childcare. The program works with community agencies to address barriers to accessing medical services, such as childcare, transportation, housing, food, mental health needs and substance abuse services. Services are provided statewide through local Health Departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers and community-based organizations. Home visits by program staff are provided in the first year of life.
Program Statistics - Family Case Management - Active Participant Counts for December 2020
| Location |
Total |
| Cook County |
12,087 |
| Downstate |
19,655 |
| Statewide |
31,742 |
Of the 31,742 Statewide participants, 24,830 were Medicaid participants and 6,912 were Non-Medicaid.
Bureau of Program & Performance Management
1 Current month's Child Care, Early Intervention, Women, Infants, and Children, and Family Case Management data is not released until the end of the following month resulting in a one-month lag for this report.
* Increase due to COVID19 - see Policy Memo - http://intranet.dhs.illinois.gov/oneweb/page.aspx?item=123562
