November 8, 2021 Planning and Grants Committee Meeting

This meeting was rescheduled from October 6, 2021.  

Audience

Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission Planning and Grants Members and Staff. The public is welcome to attend.

Date/Time

November 8, 2021, 9:00am to 10:30am

Location

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83115726421?pwd=QldPcGhJSEJpY3JTQmpuMmorZkE4dz09

Agenda

1. Welcome & Roll Call
2. Approval of June 16th P&G Committee Meeting Minutes
3. 2021 Title II NOFO Review Process Discussion
   1. Debrief
   2. Next Steps
4. Grantee Oversight
   1. Site Visits
   2. Overall oversight
5. Public Comment
6. Adjourn

Minutes

1. Welcome & Roll Call
   Vice Chair Lisa Jacobs called the meeting to order at 9:55 a.m. Andrea Hall called roll.
   Roll Call: Julie Biehl, Shelley Davis, Savannah Felix, Lisa Jacobs, Keyria Rogers
   Staff: Katy Culleeny, Maribel Gonzalez, Andrea Hall, Peg Robertson, Esther Kaplan
2. Approval of June 16 P&G Committee Meeting Minutes
   Lisa Jacobs called for a motion to approve the minutes from June. Savannah Felix moved approval. Julie Biehl seconded the motion. No abstentions. No opposition. Motion carried.
3. 2021 Title II NOFO Review Process Discussion
   1. Debrief
      Julie Biehl led a discussion about potential adjustments to the NOFO review process. Lisa Jacobs clarified the three issues at hand; the grants being awarded are too small, resulting in a lower impact, engagement from the Commission as a whole is low, and the infrastructure in place to monitor and support grantees needs improvement. Lisa Jacobs asked that committee members consider the most efficient ways to allocate money which will advance the kind of policy work that the Commission wants to see. Savannah Felix noted that in this past year's round of grants, there was a noticeable disparity in the quality of applicants, but all of the grantees were awarded the same amount of money. Committee members want to explore the possibility of finding flexibility in the budget, which would allow grant amounts to vary depending on application quality.
      In response to a question from Shelley Davis, Andrea Hall explained that the Commission generally has the ability to shrink the amount of grants or concentrate on specific types of programs across the state. Lisa Jacobs added that the committee could be specific about types of programs they want to support if they use the procurement process that is laid out by the state. Title II is set up with funding direct services in mind, but money spent does not have to restricted to programs and services. If Illinois is deemed out of compliance by OJJDP, there will be reductions and mandated reallocations to overall funding.
      In response to questions from Peg Robertson and Julie Biehl, Andrea Hall clarified that the grant application cannot be made simpler but there is likely an option to build in grant renewal options. Specificity regarding the number of awards that will be granted and the range of award amounts must be included in the NOFO.
   2. Next Steps
      The Commission needs to decide on its funding strategy and what they aim to achieve with these grants. Grantees need to be given this information as soon as possible, since many of them rely on this funding for staff. The committee needs to confirm if grant renewal can be built into the NOFO. Finally, the committee must ensure that any adjustments made to the NOFO review process are aligned with the strategic planning work that has been done.
4. Grantee Oversight
   1. Site Visits
      Andrea Hall shared that there will be seventeen site visits with nineteen programs. Visits are moving back to in-person, but the Commission will have a hybrid approach this year. Length of visits will vary by site and there must be robust write-ups for each one. Rick Velasquez has requested that visits be more informal, avoiding pre-populated questions. Andrea Hall asked for the committee to share what they want to see out of the site visits.
      Committee members agreed that programmatic and fiscal monitoring should include the basics of DHS' monitoring questions in addition to fiscal reporting and spending, and performance measures. Topics to cover with grantees at site visits should include their work's impact on racial disparities or inequities, opportunities for improvement and challenges experienced. The value of site visits lies in the conversations.
      Committee members discussed the requirement of Commission member participation at site visits. The logistics of scheduling this may be complicated and ICOY will assist in coordination. Planning and Grants committee members agreed to communicate the importance of Commission member participation to the larger group.
   2. Overall oversight
      The committee wants to improve the process for receiving and digesting site visit reports so they can help communicate insight from visits back to the full Commission.
5. Public Comment
   There was no public comments. 
6. Adjourn
   Lisa Jacobs called for a motion to adjourn at 11:27 a.m. Julie Biehl moved to adjourn. Shelley Davis seconded the motion. No abstentions. No opposition. Motion carried.