AGENDA and MINUTES- Interagency Working Group on Poverty Elimination Meeting, March 13, 2024

Interagency Working Group on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Meeting Agenda and Minutes

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

1:00-2:30 PM

Statutory Members:

Name	Title	Organization
Dulce Quintero	Chairperson, Secretary	Illinois Department of Human Services
Paula A. Basta	Director	Illinois Department on Aging
Kristi Jones	Deputy Director	Illinois Department of Agriculture
Jason Horwitz	Deputy Director, Office of Policy Development, Planning, and Research	Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
Jane Flanagan	Acting Director	Illinois Department of Labor
Marc Staley	Deputy Director	Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
Dr. Janice Phillips	Assistant Director	Illinois Department of Public Health
Krish Mohip	Chief Education Officer - Operations	Illinois State Board of Education
TBD	TBD	Illinois Department of Corrections

Invited Members:

Name	Title	Organization
Emily Mueller	AD of Policy and Research	Illinois Housing Development Authority
Carrie Thomas	Deputy Director, Business Services	Illinois Department of Employment Security
Jenny Aguirre	Assistant Director	Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, IDHS-Chief Policy Officer

Guests/Facilitators:

Matthew Rodriguez - Facilitator, Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
Nancy Toure - Facilitator/Researcher, IRRPP
Lauren Wright - Guest; Executive Director, Illinois Partners for Human Services

Agenda:

Welcome - Secretary Quintero
Introductions/Roll Call - Administrator Khatkhate
Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
Approval of Meeting Minutes: December 18, 2023
IWGP Housekeeping
1. Membership updates
2. Subcommittee participation
3. Accomplishments Update - Secretary Quintero/Administrator Khatkhate
4. IWGP Annual Report FY24
Special Presentation
- Human Service Equitable Pay Act HB4912 - Lauren Wright
Subcommittee updates - Matthew Rodriguez
Working Group Statutory Compliance Updates
1. IWGP Report requirement (posting of report on member agencies' websites)
2. GOMB Compliance report requirement
Next Steps
- Next meeting - Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 1:00-2:30 PM (invite already sent)
Adjournment

Minutes:

Statutory Members in Attendance:

Dulce Quintero - Illinois Department of Human Services, Secretary/Chairperson
Selma D'Souza - Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA), Interim Director
Glenda Corbett - IDoA, Special Assistant to the Director on Community Engagement and Equity
Elizabeth Vogt - IDoA, Senior Policy Advisor
Jason Horwitz - Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Deputy Director, Office of Policy Development, Planning, and Research
Tammy Stone - DCEO
Margaret Decker - Illinois Department of Labor, Chief of Staff
Marc Staley - Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget (GOMB), Deputy Director
Janice Phillips - Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), Assistant Director
Denise Blaney - Illinois State Board of Education

IWGP Invited Members in attendance:

Emily Mueller Schwartz - Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), Assistant Director for Policy and Research
Erik Turner - IHDA, Policy and Research Specialist
Carrie Thomas - Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), Deputy Director of Business Services

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, IDHS-Chief Policy Officer

Admin support: Anna Merlinna Conant, IDHS-Office Coordinator

Guests/Facilitators:

Matthew Rodriguez - Facilitator, Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
Nancy Toure - Facilitator/Researcher, IRRPP
Lauren Wright - Guest; Executive Director, Illinois Partners for Human Services
Lyle Gibbs - Daily Egyptian, Photo Editor
Jamilah Lewis - Daily Egyptian

Minutes:

Welcome - Secretary Quintero provided opening remarks and briefly mentioned a few IDHS highlights:
- For FY25, the proposed IDHS budget includes an increased GRF of over $494 million
- The Governor with IDHS and the Department of Agriculture announced last week the $30 million grant for purchasing products from socially disadvantaged farmers. The products will be distributed by providers at no cost to communities which are in most need of access to nutritious food.
Introductions/Roll Call - Administrator Khatkhate led the roll call.
- Out of 9 statutory member agencies, 7 were present
- Out of 3 invited member agencies, 2 were present
- Quorum was declared.
Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance, none received.
Approval of Meeting Minutes: December 18, 2023
- Jason Horwitz moved to approve the December 18, 2023 meeting minutes seconded by Marc Staley.
- By a roll call vote, the group unanimously approved the December 18, 2023 meeting minutes.
IWGP Housekeeping
1. Membership updates
  - Paula Basta has retired as the Director of IDoA. Selma D'Souza is the interim director.
  - IDHS is still working on getting a representative from the Department of Corrections which is a statutory member.
2. Subcommittee participation - Members are still welcome to join any subcommittee if they have not joined yet.
3. Accomplishments Update - Administrator Khatkhate provided a few highlights on the FY25 proposed budget:
  - Smart Start - $400 M for preschool, childcare workers, Early Intervention, and home visiting programs across the State
  - Home Illinois - $250 M toward preventing and ending homelessness in Illinois
  - Medical Debt Relief - $10 M in GRF funds toward purchase of private medical debt, funding a potential $1B in debt relief for 300,000 households
  - Child Tax Credit - $12 M for working families with children under 3
  - TANF expansion - to increase the monthly benefit payment level from 30 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) to 35 percent FPL and updating annually to maintain benefit payment levels at 35 percent FPL
  - Need-based assistance for college - $10 million increase to need-based MAP grants for higher education costs
  - Minimum wage increases since 2020 - Increased to $14.00/hour effective January 1, 2024; will increase to $15/hr on January 1, 2025
Special Presentation
- Human Service Equitable Pay Act HB4912 - Lauren Wright, Executive Director of Illinois Partners for Human Services as well as the subcommittee chair of Pillar 5
- Lauren briefly shared the Pillar 5 goals, of which, HB4912 connects with the third goal
  1. Create an integrated network of trusted community-based providers who serve those experiencing deep poverty
    - A list of organizations was obtained from IDHS and will be cross-referenced with a list from Illinois Partners for Human Services
  2. Continue scheduling meetings, having conversations, and increasing the awareness of key decision-makers to ensure sustained caregiving funding as well as securing COLA to community-based providers to ensure wage increases for frontline human service workers, who serve those experiencing deep poverty.
  3. Support IDHS in beginning to comprehensively assess state contracts and recommend increased equitable funding to community-based organizations serving underrepresented communities
- Illinois Partners is pushing HB 4912 this session
- The bill is sponsored by Representative Lilian Jimenez
- Have begun preliminary conversations with IDHS and hoping to partner with the Commission
- The bill calls for the creation of a Human Service Compensation Task Force that will have representation from all different parts of the sector including different departments such as DPH, Juvenile Justice, DHS, etc. to assess, understand and rectify pay disparities across the human service sector
- Illinois Partners have been working on the bill for a few years and have conducted a number of studies including a living wage study that will be put out next week
- HB 4912 fact sheet
Subcommittee updates - Matthew Rodriguez shared some of the works that have been done by the subcommittees excluding Pillar 5 since it has been previously presented; encouraged members to share names of colleagues who can be invited to the subcommittees; goals that have been established are really based on who are attending and participating in meetings; encouraged members to consider additional goals and areas that might be considered for the next fiscal year
1. Pillar 1
  - Pillar 1 will be supporting Pillar 4 in their work related on early childhood services so as not to duplicate work
  - Working on drafting a letter to outline the status and support to the proposed Child Tax Credit bill to be circulated to the Commission for final approval and send to the appropriate elected officials
  - Chair Sophie Milam is currently drafting a goal for FY25 related to the Breakfast Program
  - A joint letter between the Commission and the Commission to End Hunger was sent to elected officials in support of the WIC program
  - Chair Milam is also working with IDHS-SME Stephanie Bess in crafting a FY25 goal on WIC that is actionable at the state level
2. Pillar 2
  - In the process of reaching out to IHDA key leaders to determine the best avenue of support in relation to the goal "development of at least 300 supportive housing units" which is a 25% increase to IHDA's annual average unit production
  - Dr. Phillips suggested to invite Colleen Mahoney from Home Illinois to join the subcommittee
  - In relation to the goal of researching the impact of rent controls as well as the research on related legislations that limit the impact of credit checks for rental housing, the findings will be presented in the next subcommittee meeting
  - In terms of goal 3, creating a map of housing affordability and availability for 3 prioritized regions, the subcommittee has identified the Affordability Risk Index Map and is going to reach out to the map creator to determine if additional measures can be overlaid around existing maps
3. Pillar 3
  - Also led by Sophie Milam, Chair Milam is working on coming up with an interagency map that links eligibility criteria across benefit options to help inform future work to enhance access to benefits and reduce barriers
  - Pillar 3 will collaborate with IDoR in relation to confirming EITC eligibility in the ABE application
  - Will coordinate with Commission to End Hunger to create and support a dissemination strategy for the Summer EBT program to be implemented this summer
  - The group is reviewing the language of the proposed SB 3462 to determine if all appropriate populations are captured and if it outlines the appropriate components in terms of implementation; anybody in the IWGP is also welcome to provide feedback on the language if they are aware of it and interested to share feedback
4. Pillar 4
  - Pillar 4 is working with IECAM who has already created the IL Early Care and Education Services Map to explore whether additional layers can be added to the map
  - The group is brainstorming creative ways to increase awareness on the Employment Barrier Reduction Program of IDHS and also how to strengthen the implementation
Discussion/Questions
- Dir. Phillips mentioned the Guaranteed Income (GI) Pilot program done by the City of Chicago and asked whether it has been done in the state.
- Priya shared that the GI program is actually on its 2nd round and a 3rd round will start later this year. The target populations are different for each round and the 3rd round will focus on families identified through school systems.
Working Group Statutory Compliance Updates - Dir. Staley gave a recap of what has been previously discussed on the items that were required to include in the annual budget book as well as the group's agreement that more refinement is needed as the items required are not really specific and there is difficulty to obtain hard data on a limited time. It was also agreed that the group will want to explore statutory changes on the piece of the legislation requiring these items. Thus, Dir. Staley crafted 2 options for the group to choose from.
1. Items required:
  - An accounting of the savings to the State from any increased efficiencies in the delivery of services;
  - Any savings realized from reducing the number of individuals living in poverty and reducing the demand for need-based services and benefits;
  - A projection of any increase in revenue collections due to any increase in the number of individuals who become employed and pay taxes into the State treasury; and
  - Any other information related to the proposed annual budget that the Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget believes furthers the goals and objectives of the strategic plan
2. Two options (items that are struck are items that would be removed).
  1. Sec. 95-504. Duties of the Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget. The Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget shall include in the materials submitted to the General Assembly outlining the Governor's proposed annual budget a description of any budget proposals or other activities, ongoing projects, and plans of the executive branch designed to meet the goals and objectives of the strategic plan. The information shall include the following:
    1. An accounting of the savings to the State from any increased efficiencies in the delivery of services.
    2. Any savings realized from reducing the number of individuals living in poverty and reducing the demand for need-based services and benefits.
    3. A projection of any increase in revenue collections due to any increase in the number of individuals who become employed and pay taxes into the State treasury.
    4. Any other information related to the proposed annual budget that the Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget believes furthers the goals and objectives of the strategic plan.
  2. Sec. 95-504. Duties of the Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget. The Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget shall include in the materials submitted to the General Assembly outlining the Governor's proposed annual budget a description of any budget proposals or other activities, ongoing projects, and plans of the executive branch designed to meet the goals and objectives of the strategic plan and any other information related to the proposed annual budget that the Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget believes furthers the goals and objectives of the strategic plan. The information shall include the following:
    1. An accounting of the savings to the State from any increased efficiencies in the delivery of services.
    2. Any savings realized from reducing the number of individuals living in poverty and reducing the demand for need-based services and benefits.
    3. A projection of any increase in revenue collections due to any increase in the number of individuals who become employed and pay taxes into the State treasury.
    4. ny other information related to the proposed annual budget that the Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget believes furthers the goals and objectives of the strategic plan.
Discussion
- Per Dir. Staley, he hesitated to put any measurable items such as TANF caseloads, number of tax filers, etc. as it may be more appropriate for the Commission to include those kinds of items in the annual report. And that, what's being done budget-wise to address poverty, such as a new funding or a continuation of programs that are already in place, may be more appropriate to include in the budget book. He also added that he is leaning on option 2 as the better option.
- Liz Vogt supports option 2 as well as it shows that reporting will still be done, just on something workable that the group can actually report on.
- Carrie Thomas also supports option 2 but unsure if the intended language change would capture quantifications of reduced poverty or savings that are being asked in the original items and the author might come back to ask for those things.
- Dir. Staley intends that if the group agrees to move forward with the change, he will try and get it introduced with the budge implementation bill so it can be addressed in the spring. Assuming it gets approved, passed and goes into effect on July 1, 2024, the responsibility of GOMB for the FY26 budget book will be to point out what's going on to address poverty, what are the things in the budget or ongoing activities that help towards the poverty goals and objectives but leaving out the very specific things that are very difficult to measure.
- Priya asked whether there have been any means of quantifying savings that have been done elsewhere that showed the value or poverty reduction or if there are creative ways to get those numbers to show the value of the work.
- The targets would have to be refined if that is the intent, according to Dir. Staley. The first item, for example, on the accounting of savings from any efficiencies in the delivery of service, is very vague. As an example, if we move to a more electronic processing, that would create efficiency but savings from that would not be poverty-related.
- Also, current data is not readily available. For example, looking at how many Illinoisans had applied for and received the EITC, this can be obtained from DoR but there is a 2-year lag. The 2021 returns are available but the current year data is not. Although this is measurable, there are things to consider such as, the total number of people claiming EITC, if decreasing could be an indicator of things are getting better; if increasing could mean that the changes made in terms of eligibility have made positive impacts.
- Measuring TANF caseloads, number of Medicaid recipients, etc. can be a measure of individuals who are in poverty which would be appropriately reported in the Commission's annual report.
- As there were no more comments or questions, Dir. Staley moved to propose option 2 as statutory changes and try to get it done in the budget implementation bill. Carrie Thomas seconded.
- Yay votes - Carrie Thomas (IDES), Jason Horwitz (DCEO), Margaret Decker (DOL), Denise Blane (ISBE), Erik Turner (IHDA), Glenda Corbett (DoA), Marc Staley (GOMB), Tammy Stone (DCEO). Nay votes - none.
- The group unanimously approved to propose option 2 as statutory changes to the budget implementation bill.
Next Steps
- Next meeting - Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 1:00-2:30 PM (invite already sent)
Adjournment - Dir. Staley moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Jason Horwitz. The group unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at 2:05 PM.