Agenda and Minutes
December 16, 2021
2:00PM - 3:30PM
Members:
Illinois Department of Human Services- Chairperson, Secretary Grace Hou - Present
Illinois Department of Labor - Director Michael D. Kleinik - Present
Illinois State Board of Education - State Superintendent Carmen Ayala - Present
Illinois Department of Public Health- Assistant Director Amaal V.E. Tokars - Present
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity - Deputy Director Office of Policy Development, Planning & Research Jason Horwitz - Present
Illinois Department of Aging - Director Paula A. Basta - Present
Illinois Department of Corrections - Chief of Women and Family Services Tangenise Porter - Present
Illinois Department of Agriculture - Deputy Director Kristi Jones - Present
Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget - Deputy Director Marc Staley - Present
Invited Members:
Illinois Department of Employment Security - Labor Market Information Director George W. Putnam - Present
Illinois Housing Development Authority - Assistant Director of Policy and Research Megan Spitz - Present
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services - Administrator Strategic Vendor Relationships Jenny Aguirre - Present
Guests in Attendance:
Illinois Department of Human Services - Senior Public Service Administrator, Dana Kelly
Illinois Department of Human Services- Chief of Staff, Ryan Croke
Illinois Department of Human Services- Senior Policy Advisory, Awisi Bustos
Illinois Department of Human Services- Director, Division of Family and Community Services, Tim Verry
Illinois Department of Human Services - COVID Manager for Immigrant and Refugee Services, Ruth Lopez-McCarthy
Illinois Department of Aging - Senior Policy Analyst, Amy Lulich
Illinois Commission to End Hunger- Colleen Burns
Illinois Housing Development Authority- Senior Policy and Planning Officer, Deonna Wheeler
Governor's Office of Management and Budget - Budget Manager, Emily Howerton
Shriver Center on Poverty Law - Director of Economic Justice, Jeremy Noam Rosen
Heartland Alliance - Kimberly Drew, Legislative Advocacy Director
Agenda and Minutes
- Welcome/Roll Call
- Approval of August 25, 2021 Meeting Minutes - Marc Staley moved to approve the minutes seconded by Tangenise Porter. The group unanimously approved the minutes.
- Public Comment - Subject to written comment in advance, none received.
- Poverty Commission Listening Session Report Out - 8 Commission Listening Sessions Findings
- 8 sessions across the state, in different regions via hybrid (in-person and virtual) and virtual.
- Nearly 775 total participants were reached.
- Each of the sessions was led a little differently through a combination of legislative leaders hosting and partner agencies hosting.
- 29 community based organizations helped plan and 15 legislators participated in these sessions.
- Most of the responses (66 responses) centered on lack of economic development investment across in all geographies.
- The top 5 issues were lack of economic development and investment, employment issues, benefit access, education and mental health.
- There was a lot of concern about resources that were coming, like, keep. *Even money that's invested in a community, um, is not staying in the community and resources are taken away. There's not enough investment in communities. Um, uh, gentrification came up a lot. *Um, there was also something within, um, the need for cash assistant or informal channels were documentation requirements. Resident residency requirements are not a factor. *For employment, I think it's really was about how hard it is to get a job that pays enough to afford what it takes to go to work. Um, affordable child care was an issue transportation. Um, and other costs associated with actually going to work. *Um, there were barriers related to background checks and, um, uh, that caused lack of opportunities for certain groups as well as lack of opportunity for you. *Um, and with benefits access, I think there was overall kind of a, um. *Concerned about, you know, making sure that our resources are more accessible and that people actually know about them. Uh, so that was that came up quite a bit. *Education, I think there's was general, um, consensus that certain neighborhoods received more investment than others. *Um, people brought up, um, some specific needs related to universal Pre K and a need for trade schools and then finally with mental health. *Um, really, I think coven shed light on the mental health struggles across these communities, but really there was a lot of focus on, um, the trauma that extreme poverty, um, brings to mental health and the need to address trauma. *Um, and, um, also lack of professionals to treat the need. I think lack of professionals came up everywhere, including child care and other places where, uh, social service um. *But people who work in social service, uh, jobs are have been. *Very hard to come by and those, and there's a lot of staffing stretch in those areas. *In terms of top issues by region, you can see what we saw. *lack of economic development came up a lot and then down down state, *it was education and Northwest, *Southern employment, *affordable housing, *champagne, *mental health and that's, *Consisted of and what I would say is the report that we do do will do a lot more slicing and dicing of what we saw on the regional level. *Top issues for Spanish speaking communities, this also came up we did do some sessions completely in Spanish. So that was, um, where we got a lot of feedback. *I think we're working to engage other, um, communities that, including the Arab community. Um, and other, um. *And other immigrant communities to make sure that we are really getting the, the full range of, um, the immigrant experience across Illinois. *So, as as far as additional stakeholder feedback that we're going to be engaged in, um, I think the secretary alluded to, you know, there's really never a point in which you have, you can stop getting feedback. Uh, we really are turning our attention to writing the plan though right now. *So, um, there are a couple of additional listening sessions smaller. I would call them. They're not I'm I'm not going to call them full blown sessions, but opportunities we want to do again.
- Report
- Additional Stakeholder Engagement
- Agency Survey - Results
- Business Roundtable
- GOMB Engagement
- Introduction of Commission University Partner - Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA)
- Strategic Plan Outline - due March 31st
- Break Out Discussions - Strategic Plan Outline Feedback
- Staff Level Poverty Policy Work Group and Additional Feedback Opportunities
- Announcements: Other Key Initiatives
- Hunger Commission
- Reimagine Public Safety Act
- GATA Equity Initiative
- Illinois Housing Help
- Other
- Next Steps and Adjournment
