Call to order - 10:00am Niketa Brar
Attendance-Establish Quorum
Niketa Brar - Co-Chair
Barry Taylor - Member
Robin Jones - Co-Chair
Kathy Carmody - Member
Jae Jin Pak - Member
Maria Doughty - Member
Matt Hillen - DCEO
Benro Oy - Member
Dale Morrissey - Member (Springfield)
Sue Fonsa - HFS (Springfield)
Rene Luna - Member (Phone)
Sharon Slover - Member (Phone)
Daryl Jackson - DD
Katherine Burson - DMH
Onwuameze Nkechi -Board of Higher Education (Phone)
Lisa Jones - DCEO (Phone)
Tere Garate - Member
Lynn Canfield - Public attendee
Joe Croegert - DMH
Lore Baker- DHS
Doug Morton - DRS
Approval of Meeting minutes - Minutes for the following meetings were distributed in advance of the meeting: 9/1/15, 11/19/15, 3/16/16. Motion for approval made by Robin Jones and 2nd by Matt Hillen. Members voted to approve as presented.
Co-Chairperson's Report- Robin Jones provided synopsis of the Strategic Planning meeting held in March. Thanked everyone for their participation.
Update regarding Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Employment First Core State and Vision Quest projects - No update was available.
Work Group Reports -
- Provider Work Group - Kathy Carmody provided an update on the status of the Provider Work Group and discussed how the workgroup was organized and how the work was completed. She reviewed the Key recommendations of the Work Group (See attached PowerPoint Presentation) Next steps are to seek public comment and agency comment with the workgroup meeting to synthesize the comments at a later date.
- Workforce Work Group - Barry Taylor and Doug Morton Reviewed status of the recommendations and feedback. Discussion followed.
- Transition Work Group - Sharon Slover Reviewed status of the recommendations and feedback Discussion followed.
- Employer Work Group - Maria Dowdy Reviewed current status of the Employer Work Group activities (see attached report) Dale Morrissey discussed a program that they have implemented which focuses on employers called the LEAP program (Leaders Employing All People). Dale will share additional information about this program with the Task Force. Discussion followed.
Niketa discussed the "next steps" for moving the Strategic Plan forward. The Task Force Work Groups are on track to complete the work by June 30th. She plans to convene a meeting of the Directors of agencies involved/implicated in the Strategic Plan by August 2016 to review the key points of the Strategic Plan and get their feedback and discuss moving forward to implement.
Niketa was asked about data collection - She reported that the Governor's office is bringing together a "cabinet" level meeting with 16 agencies involved with children and youth up to the age of 25. How data is collected and where it's collected or if it's not collected what is needed to collect it will be part of the discussions.
DRS Update: Doug Morton reported that a letter from Kris Smith, Director of DRS will be sent out to approximately 13,000 individuals who are currently being paid subminimum wage in Illinois. The letter will encourage them to pursue competitive integrated employment and provide them with resources on how to do that and where to go for assistance. The letter will go to the employers and they will be asked to provide it to the employees that work for them who meet this criteria. Discussion followed.
Future Meetings Dates - Reviewed proposed meeting dates for 2016-2017. September 14th date was identified as a potential problem date with other meetings. We will review that date and offer some alternatives for review/discussion.
Coordination with SAMSA Grant - Katherine Burson requested that time be given on the next meeting agenda to discuss how the Task Force can meet some of the requirements of the SAMSA grant.
Adjournment: 1:04pm Matt Hillen moved to adjourn, seconded by Katherine Burson
