AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 5 Subcommittee Meeting March 21, 2025

Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee on Pillar 5: Support Trusted Community Based Providers to Serve the Needs of those In Deep Poverty

Meeting Agenda and Minutes

Friday, March 21, 2025, 1:30-2:30 PM

Recording

AGENDA

  1. Welcome/Roll Call
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: November 14, 2024
  4. Review of draft outline for listening session with providers in April - Chair Wright
  5. Special Presentation
    1. Policy Brief: Human Equitable Pay Act - Chair Wright
    2. TBD
  6. Next Steps
    1. Schedule of Meetings
      1. Friday, June 20, 2025, 2-3 PM
      2. Friday, September 19, 2025, 2-3 PM
      3. Friday, December 19, 2025, 2-3 PM
  7. Adjournment

Minutes

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Lauren Wright - Chairperson
  2. Juan Calderon - Commission member
  3. Rev. Dwight Ford - Commission member
  4. Amy Brennan - public member
  5. Becky Salazar - public member
  6. Lesley Schwartz - IDHS SME/public member

Subcommittee members absent:

  1. Al Llorens - Commission member
  2. Senator Kimberly Lightford - Commission member
  3. Janice Phillips - IDPH, IWGP member
  4. Jennifer Hebel - public member
  5. Meredith Byers - public member
  6. Courtney Hedderman - public member
  7. Deborah Ward-Mitchell - public member
  8. Letitia Doe - IDHS-SME
  9. Phillis Johnson-Haywood - IDHS SME

Guests:

  1. Cynthia Foreman - Illinois Union of the Homeless
  2. Bruce Parry - Illinois Union of the Homeless

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, IDHS-Chief Policy Officer

Facilitators:

1. Kaitlin Devaney - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)

Agenda:

Welcome Roll Call - led by Administrator Khatkhate; six members were present, nine were absent; quorum was not reached.

Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.

  1. Welcome Roll Call - led by Administrator Khatkhate; six members were present, nine were absent; quorum was not reached.
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
    • Mr. Parry stated that they are interested in learning about the Commission and its pillars and so they are trying to attend as many meetings as they possibly can.
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: November 14, 2024 - postponed due to lack of quorum.
    • Review of draft outline for listening session with providers in April - Chair Wright
    • Targeting providers serving people in deep poverty
    • Maybe end of April or May, 1 hour
    • All subcommittee members should attend to listen and be informed how to move towards the goals in the coming year.
    • Chair Wright's organization can host the listening session through their zoom platform
    • Administrator Khatkhate can suggest who from IDHS should be invited and which community-based providers operating in deep poverty regions.
    • Other Commission members and members of the other subcommittees can be invited.
    • Draft agenda:
    • Attendees introduce themselves
    • Share the purpose and context of the meeting, Commission goals; Introduce the Pillar 5 subcommittee members and goals; may describe, as well, what the meeting is NOT for
    • Potential discussions:
      1. Threats to programs and funding at the federal level impacting providers' ability to provide services.
      2. Challenges encountered by people accessing services.
      3. Organization support needed by providers to better meet the needs of people in deep poverty.
    • Potential poll - to get very specific feedback
    • Q&A/Closing
      1. Provider participants could be identified either by cross-referencing the deep poverty regions identified by the Commission with that of the IDHS list of grantees or by using the list from Illinois Partners for Human Services and identify priority regions.
      2. A follow up listening session with municipalities can be done to share the inputs from the providers.
      3. The topics for discussion can be sent to the providers beforehand so they can prepare.
      4. End of April or May would work for the listening session, gives time to synthesize output and present to the Commission which will meet in July; will also consider holding it Wednesday or Thursday; the subcommittee can debrief during its regular quarterly meeting in June.
      5. Administrator Khatkhate will consult DHS Legal Team with regards to recording/not recording the listening session; if it will be considered as one of subcommittee meetings, then it will be considered an open meeting and thus, will need to be recorded.
      6. The listening session could be a project of Illinois Partners supported by Pillar 5. DHS will provide a list of counties or regions of deep poverty and Illinois Partners can cross-reference it with their list to identify providers working on those areas.
      7. IRRPP can also get the list of areas of deep poverty and if Chair Wright sends the questions ahead of time and there are people who can't make it, Kaitlin can collect the written form for their responses and she can keep the responses anonymous if people preferred it that way.
  4. Special Presentation
    1. Policy Brief update: Human Equitable Pay Act - Chair Wright
      • The Bill did not move out of the Committee this week. Illinois Partners want to make sure that the study will show what would impact pay disparities across the human service sector and how it can happen. More update can be given by Chair Wright in the next subcommittee meeting.
      • Illinois partners also launched the Living Wages Thriving Communities Campaign in support of funding for human services and frontline human service workers #LIVINGWAGEIL - Home.
    2. Illinois Family Caregiver Act
      • The Illinois Association of Area Agencies on Aging introduced two appropriation bills this year, HB 4014 and SB 2617. The hope is to get them incorporated into the budget. The budget that came out in February kept the funding flat ($5.2 million) and the hope is to get it up to $6 million which will match the federal funding.
      • AARP introduced a tax credit, a $500 tax credit a couple of years ago and it's gone further this year thru HB 1369.
      • For the first time, a Caregiving Caucus was created. The Illinois Family Caregiver Coalition is teaming up with AARP to co-lead the caucus in Springfield.
  5. Discussion
    • Rev. Ford shared local events
      1. Rooting Out Poverty 25 | Powered By GiveSmart
      2. Hundred Day Rule Challenge wherein they spend a hundred days looking for unhoused people located in barns, ravines, etc. People are welcome to do their own campaign in their area and Rev. Ford can provide technical assistance.
      3. Housing Summit - August
  6. Next Steps
    1. Schedule of Meetings
      1. Friday, June 20, 2025, 2-3 PM
      2. Friday, September 19, 2025, 2-3 PM
      3. Friday, December 19, 2025, 2-3 PM
  7. Adjournment - Chair Wright moved to adjourn the meeting seconded by Rev. Ford. The group unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at 2:54 PM.