Audience
Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board Members and Staff. The public is welcome to attend.
Date/Time
Friday, August 19, 2022
9:30am to 11:30am
Location
Meetings are held via Zoom
Agenda
Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board
Friday August 19th, 9:30 am to 11:30 am Zoom Meeting information
Call in number: (312) 626-6799
Meeting ID: 810 1283 0597
Meeting Passcode: 874632 Meeting Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81012830597?pwd=RTkxUC85Rzk2TGFQVmZ0bDR3ZnVEQT09
- Call to order/Roll call/Approval of Minutes - June 24th RIOB Meeting
- DHS Updates
- Redeploy Illinois FY22 End-of-Year Commitment and Baselines Review
- Redeploy Illinois FY22 End-of-Year Fiscal & Program Review
- RI Site visit summary discussion and review
- Redeploy Illinois Process and Outcome Evaluation discussion/decision
- Planning Grant Update
- Orbis Project Update
- Data Work Group Update
- In-Person Fall Planning/RIOB meeting discussion
- Adjourn
Upcoming meetings/events:
Data Work Group Meeting: Tuesday, September 6th 2022
Executive Committee Meeting (if necessary): Friday, September 16th 2022
Full Board Meeting: Friday, October 21st, 2022
Meeting Minutes
- Call to order/Roll call/ Approval of Minutes - June 24th RIOB meeting
Secretary Grace Hou called the meeting to order at 9:35 am and announced that she would leave the meeting halfway through and that Vice Chair Anne Studzinski would facilitate the remainder of the meeting. Secretary Hou stated that the roll call and approval of the June 24, 2022, RIOB minutes would be called together.
Motion: Secretary Hou called for a motion to approve RIOB minutes on June 24, 2022. Delrice Adams moved approval of the minutes. John Rekowski seconded the motion. Secretary Hou invited Kristen Marshall to call the roll and approval of minutes.
- DHS Updates
Secretary Hou shared that work has continued on the Reimagine Public Safety Act. Two Notice of Funding Opportunities have been released and are posted on the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) website. The State of Illinois is experiencing staffing issues that have impacted services. The state has the greatest amount of resources at this time but cannot increase capacity due to staffing concerns. Secretary Hou stated that DHS has been found in contempt of court and provided an example of DHS not admitting forensic patients to psychiatric hospitals. Lack of staffing support has led to a reduced number of services for psychiatric care and there is a backlog of admissions from jails. DHS is working with community providers to secure additional beds; however, the State remains best equipped to serve medium and maximum-security patients. Secretary Hou opened the floor to questions.
Heidi Meuller shared that staffing concerns have been impacting work at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. Secretary Hou thanked Ms. Mueller for their leadership and discussed leveraging the events occurring in the courts to find ways to address the issues.
- Redeploy Illinois FY22 End-of-Year Commitment and Baselines Review
Secretary Hou asked Erica Hughes to share information on commitment and baseline data. Ms. Hughes directed the Board to handouts with the final commitment numbers for the year. She noted that there was an additional commitment from Lake County that was not shown in the report as the data was received late. Two sites had zero commitments and two other sites committed youth above their baseline. Ms. Hughes will be looking into what occurred and what corrective action can take place. Rick Velasquez asked what had triggered the higher number of youths committed in the 2nd Circuit Redeploy program. Ms. Hughes explained that four youths committed a serious offense at the same time. She noted that gun offenses often trigger a commitment to IDJJ. She added that many sites noticed an increase in gun cases. Ms. Hughes will provide support and oversight to the sites that went over their baselines.
Ms. Studzinski pointed out that sites reducing commitments to zero is a success, but demonstrates the importance of the Board reviewing the baseline and commitment policy for established sites to ensure the policy is not punitive when sites reduce their numbers.
- Redeploy Illinois FY22 End-of-Year Fiscal & Program Review
Secretary Hou invited Ms. Hughes and Ms. Marshall to share an overview of Redeploy site spending in FY22. Ms. Hughes reported that the percentages of spending in established sites were close to 100% of budgeted items. Sites new to the Redeploy program had less spending as they worked on building their programs. There were new areas of spending, such as incentive programs that reward youth for progress, and areas of programming that are new due to the implementation of the service matrix. Ms. Marshall pointed out that the ICOY expenditure report was included in the meeting handouts sent via email.
- RI Site visit summary discussion and review
Secretary Hou called on Ms. Marshall to share updates on Redeploy site visits. Intensive site visits were completed in FY21, and program site visits were completed in FY22. These site visits demonstrate the growth programs have made over two years in moving to implement the matrix. Ms. Marshall asked Ms. Hughes to provide an overview of the site visit findings.
Ms. Hughes shared that trends across the program indicate that probation caseloads are decreasing, and that youth seem to have greater needs. Many Redeploy sites have implemented a level system that encourages youth to reach short-term goals as they work toward longer-term goals. The implementation of this system demonstrates how sites learn and implement programming from each other. Redeploy sites and stakeholders continue to be receptive to Redeploy Service Matrix. Ms. Hughes opened the floor to questions.
Elizabeth Clarke asked if human rights training could be provided to the youth and emphasized that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has not been ratified in the United States and that youth should be taught these rights. Paula Wolff noted that the intensive site visits included board members and asked how FY22 site visits were different. Ms. Marshall explained that annual site visits were required for all DHS programs beginning in FY22. Intensive site visits, with the participation of RIOB members, are an integral part of the Redeploy program and are conducted every three years. She noted that board members are always welcome to participate in the annual DHS site visits.
Mr. Velasquez and Ms. Studzinski emphasized the importance of serving youth in phases and celebrated the sites for their ability to identify achievable goals in case plans that will motivate youth.
Secretary Hou asked if the sites' use of Medicaid had increased. Ms. Hughes stated that sites could use technical assistance in Medicaid and that many sites contract with outside sources to avoid Medicaid waitlists. Secretary Hou offered to provide support around Medicaid and will discuss it with Ms. Hughes.
Ms. Clarke asked if there was progress on providing Multisystemic Therapy (MST) statewide or following regional models of care. Mr. Velasquez stated it is not possible to implement MST statewide on a purchase-of-service model. To do so might require that it be led by universities and such an association wood need to be created in Illinois. Ms. Studzinski pointed out that many sites had stopped using MST as it is costly and difficult to implement on a site-by-site basis. Mr. Velasquez added that there are many staffing requirements to maintain licenses. Ms. Muller confirmed that IDJJ is working with Youth Outreach Services to implement MST and a major barrier they face is staffing requirements.
Ms. Hughes noted that Lake County did not receive a site visit in FY22 as their program was new. Lake county will receive a site visit in the fall of 2022.
- Redeploy Illinois Process and Outcome Evaluation discussion/decision
Secretary Hou turned the discussion over to Ms. Wollf to lead the group in planning an evaluation of the Redeploy program. Ms. Wollf opened the floor to questions on what the Board would be interested in learning from an evaluation.
Ms. Mueller stated that in addition to investigating positive youth outcomes, information on race and gender-based differences in programming, referrals, and outcomes would be beneficial. Ms. Studzinski asked for information on whether the shift to the service matrix made a difference in terms of the range of services and quality of service youth received and if the youth got better. She also stated that it would be important to know if the new screening tool created by Orbis is useful. Ms. Studzinski defined useful as the data collected is able to be used to develop case plans that can be implemented by caseworkers.
Mr. Velasquez stated an interest in learning what factors make sites successful. He suggested organizational dynamics including leadership, staff, organizational perspective, and longevity are factors that should be evaluated.
Dan Hunt noted that it is important to know what other factors impact success beyond criminogenic factors. He shared that it would be beneficial to learn what other areas of life can be impacted and how positive factors can be built upon.
John Johnson pointed out that it is challenging to explain the purpose of services for youth with high-level offenses to law enforcement. Providers work to impact a variety of factors that impact safety and help youth progress, and they need to be able to explain how these service work and lead to success. Ms. Wolf suggested that an evaluation could include qualitative-style vignettes demonstrating how youth progress.
Delrice Adams noted that trends of violence and crime nationally present an opportunity to understand how COVID has affected exposure to trauma, exposure to violence, and social media usage. Ms. Adams stated that these factors can be related to increases in firearms usage, and it is necessary to understand the causes of behavior and not only focus on the crimes committed. Ms. Wolf summarized that an evaluation could assess if Redeploy sites understand and treat traumatic experiences, what types of services are offered, and if restorative justice principles are embedded within programming.
Garien Gatewood emphasized the importance of social media and stated that there has not been enough focus on generational communication and social media and best practices to communicate effectively with youth. He offered that it may be beneficial to start a conversation with social media consultants to address how to approach this work and how to measure how youth communicate with each other.
Peter Parry added that it will be important to get counties to think that youth with Class X offenses are the target demographic for Redeploy and not the exception. Ms. Hughes spoke of accountability and referenced cases where youth who are present during the commission of a crime are charged with the same offense as the person who actually committed the crime.
Ms. Wolff thanked the members for their feedback and shared that the approach envisioned would begin with the outcomes and work backward toward the process, as opposed to process evaluation. Kerrie Rueter stated that she appreciated the planned approach. Ms. Studzinski invited Ms. Hughes and Ms. Marshal to ask Redeploy sites at the All-Sites Meeting what they would be interested in learning from an evaluation.
- Planning Grant Update
Ms. Studzinski asked Ms. Marshal to update the members on planning sites. Ms. Marshall invited Mr. Parry to provide updates for Cook County. He said that Cook County is nearing completion of their application and plans to submit the application after Labor Day so that it is ready for the Board to consider at the October meeting. Four judges presiding over the courtrooms took the lead in developing the program model. Cook County has finalized two service providers and selected Chapin Hall as their research partner. In response to a question from Mr. Gatewood, Mr. Parry announced that the service providers are National Youth Advocate Program and Youth Outreach Services.
Ms. Studzinski asked Ms. Hughes and Ms. Marshall to share updates on Peoria County and Champaign County. Ms. Hughes stated that Peoria County has partnered with a professor at Illinois State University to conduct an evaluation. Peoria County has determined that they will be targeting 20 youths per year. Champaign County does not have experience with Redeploy Illinois, and it has taken them longer to complete their planning grant. Champaign County has partnered with a professor in the School of Social Work and is working to engage courtroom stakeholders. Judge Sheehan will be assisting Champaign County with discussions with probation and courtroom stakeholders to ensure they understand the Redeploy program. Final reports are expected in December.
- Orbis Project Update
Ms. Studzinski asked Ms. Marshal to share updates on the Orbis project. DHS staff have continued to meet with Orbis on a bi-weekly basis. Orbis has consulted with Dr. Gina Vincent, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Department of Psychiatry and the Director of National Youth Screening and Assessment Partners, on the positive youth development model.
They have also conducted a literature review on potential biases for race and ethnicity. Orbis is analyzing YASI data to pull out the most useful data elements. In response to a question on the timeline for testing from Ms. Studzinski, Ms. Marshall stated that Orbis plans to begin testing in December.
- Data Work Group Update
Ms. Studzinski reported that the Data Work Group had discussed the relevance of collecting legal history data in the new matrix. They determined that the entire court file, including legal history, is not necessary as a data point. Sites have processes to share relevant information about youth's interaction with the courts without sharing the entire court file. The group concluded that the legal history should not be part of the score youth receive in the new data system.
- In-Person Fall Planning/RIOB meeting discussion
Ms. Studzinski asked Ms. Marshall to discuss in-person meetings and topics for a planning meeting. The Board was surveyed to gauge interest in an in-person planning meeting in the fall, however, a quorum was not met to hold an in-person meeting. Ms. Marshall asked the Board to consider if they would like to hold an in-person planning meeting in the spring or keep the meeting virtual. Mr. Velasquez stated that he prefers the flexibility of virtual meetings.
Ms. Marshall shared possible topics for a planning meeting including the Redeploy Illinois Focused program, use of firearms, and detention. Ms. Marshall opened the floor to questions and suggestions for other topics.
Ms. Hughes stated that a discussion was needed on sites with zero commitments and commitment baseline requirements. Ms. Studzinski asked Ms. Hughes to communicate to sites that the Board is aware of the concern around zero commitments and is discussing the concern.
Ms. Studzinski volunteered Redeploy Focused Board members to investigate the number of Focused eligible countries and report back to the Board at a future meeting.
Ms. Studzinski asked Ms. Hughes and Ms. Marshall to discuss topics for a planning meeting and to come to the October or December meeting with information on what topics Board members would like to take up in a planning meeting.
- Adjourn
Motion: At 11:31 am Ms. Studzinski called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Velasquez moved adjournment. Ms. Adams seconded the motion. Motion carried.
- Upcoming meetings/events:
- Data Work Group Meeting: Tuesday, September 6th, 2022
- Executive Committee Meeting (if necessary): Friday, September 16th 2022
- Full Board Meeting: Friday, October 21st, 2022
