December 16, 2022 Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board Meeting

Audience

Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board Members and Staff. The public is welcome to attend.

Date/Time

  • Friday, December 16, 2022
  • 9:30am to 11:30am

Location

Agenda

  1. Call to order/Roll call/Approval of Minutes
    1. October 21st RIOB Meeting
  2. Department of Human Services Updates
  3. FY23 Program and Expenditures updates
    1. Redeploy Illinois Expenditures, Commitments, & Number Served
    2. FY23 ICOY Expenditures
  4. Planning Grant Updates
    1. Peoria County and Champaign County Planning Grant Phase 1 updates
    2. Cook County Phase 2 Implementation update
  5. Approval of Calendar Year 2023 RIOB Meeting Schedule
  6. RIOB Membership Work Group Update
  7. Redeploy Focus Work Group update/discussion/decision
  8. Redeploy Evaluation discussion/decision
  9. Orbis update
  10. Topics for planning meeting discussion
  11. Adjourn

Upcoming meetings/events (if approved)

  • Executive Committee Meeting (if necessary): Friday, January 20th, 2023
  • Data Work Group Meeting: Tuesday, February 7th, 2023
  • Full Board Meeting: Friday, February 17th, 2023
  • Membership Work Group Meeting
  • Redeploy Focus Work Group Meeting

Minutes

  1. Call to order/Roll call/Approval of Minutes
    Anne Studzinski, filling in for Secretary Grace Hou, called the meeting to order at 9:33 am and stated that the roll call and approval of the October 21, 2022 Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board (RIOB) meeting minutes would be called together.
    Motion: Paula Wolff made a motion for roll call and approval of minutes from the October meeting. Delrice Adams seconded the motion and Ms. Studzinski called on Kristen Marshall to take the roll and vote on approval of the minutes.
    Staff: Garien Gatewood, Erica Hughes, Kelsey Kleidon, Kristen Marshall, Omar Jamil, Karrie Rueter, Susie Schoenrock, Judge Colleen Sheehan
    Guests: Andrea Lubelfeld
    Approval of Minutes: No opposition. Motion carried.
    Announcements: Janet Ahern announced her retirement. A replacement from the Department of Children and Family Services will be appointed to the position. Ms. Ahern expressed her appreciation for being on the board and enjoyment of the work and people she has met as a result.
    Peter Perry announced his retirement and introduced Andrea Lubelfeld, Chief of Juvenile Justice for Cook County Office of Public Defender, who will take over his role on the board. He explained that Ms. Lubelfeld's expertise and knowledge of Cook County will be crucial in the implementation of their Redeploy program and expressed his thanks for her stepping into the role.
    Ms. Studzinski invited attendees to leave comments of congratulations, special thanks, and personal messages for Ms. Ahern and Mr. Perry in the meeting chat.
  2. Department of Human Services Updates
    Kristen Marshall announced that the Redeploy annual report was published before Thanksgiving and sent to DHS partners, posted on the DHS website, and sent to the Office of the General Counsel, the Governor's Office, and the General Assembly. New members of the General Assembly will receive upon their swearing-in next month.
  3. FY23 Program and Expenditures updates
    1. Redeploy Illinois Expenditures, Commitments, & Number Served
      Erica Hughes referenced handouts reflecting figures including site expenditures, number of youth served, and total commitments. She pointed out that as of October 30, 2022, 311 youth are being served. Since July 1, 2022, 23 youth have been committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice, though Class X and parole violators who are not eligible for the Redeploy program have not yet been excluded from this data. Sites are spending much closer to their anticipated allocation than in past years. Two newer sites, Lake and Sangamon County, are outliers because they are new programs. Once all site visits are complete, summaries will be shared with the RIOB. Both entities are hitting target referral numbers and are looking to expand and provide more services.
      Ms. Hughes continued by saying that feedback regarding the clarity of handouts will be taken to the Data Workgroup, who will assess and make recommendations for more efficient and easily understandable sharing of this data in the future.
      Paula Wolff asked the Data Workgroup to explore ways to collect positive outcomes from the design of the service. Ms. Hughes said Sangamon County had suggested positive data should be collected. Going forward, every site will include at least one success story which illustrates how the Redeploy service matrix is being implemented until more specific data from the Orbis system is available. Ms. Studzinski indicated that the Data Work Group Committee will also seek to have a success story for each RIOB meeting.
      In response to a question posed in the meeting chat, Ms. Hughes further elaborated on the improvement in estimated versus actual spending as an indication that sites are getting better at implementing the service matrix beginning in 2020. Additionally, this year, the number of youth referrals has been increasing, and the use of flex money is having an impact on budgets.
      Ms. Studzinski asked Heidi Mueller how many youth are in the IDJJ facilities. Ms. Mueller responded that 159 are present in the IDJJ facilities as of today and 250 are being supervised in their communities on aftercare. The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) is conducting its annual review of every individual youth with a target release date through March and allowing some to go home for the holidays, creating lower numbers over the next few weeks.
      Avik Das asked to confirm aftercare number of 250 provided is statewide and if this is considered relatively low in Ms. Mueller's opinion. Ms. Mueller confirmed the number at 250 and indicated that the number of secure custody population remained low and contributed to this figure. Ms. Mueller continued by saying that in 2022 with a lower population, the average length of stay for adjudicated youth was 3.7 months. In addition, IDJJ has achieved the lowest recidivism rate in its history. Ms. Mueller stated she had recently made a presentation at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention conference. She told the audience that, not only is it possible to keep youth safely in their communities but that IDJJ serves as proof that outcomes will be better as well.
      Ms. Wolff asked what the recidivism rate is. Ms. Mueller shared that the overall rate is 31%, including youth going to IDJJ and the Department of Corrections. If corrected to include only youth reincarcerated for committing a new offense within 3 years, the rate is 20.1%. Further, looking only at those who committed a violent offense within 3 years, the rate is 6.7%. Ms. Studzinski asked that Ms. Hughes notify IDJJ when individuals return to Redeploy for services.
  4. Planning Grant Updates
    1. Peoria County and Champaign County Planning Grant Phase 1 updates
      Erica Hughes stated that Peoria County is collecting final figures from potential subcontractors and would like to provide as close to an actual budget as possible. The Peoria funding request will come before the RIOB at the February RIOB 2023 meeting. Champaign County is diligently working on their planning grant and will also present at the February 2023 meeting.
    2. Cook County Phase 2 Implementation Update
      Kristen Marshall reminded the members that a Juvenile Redeploy Grant for Cook County was approved at October 2022 meeting. She announced that the Cook County Board of Commissioners had voted to accept the grant, effective December 1, 2022, at its meeting on November 17, 2022. Cook County is now in the process of completing the technical work to begin implementation while the contract goes through the state side with an anticipated program start date of January 1, 2023.
      Peter Perry asked what Cook County's target baseline will be and shared that their average from the four courtrooms for 2017 through 2019 was 39 commitments making for the target baseline 29 annually as an aggregate for 4 courtrooms.
      Ms. Studzinski asked for clarification from Karrie Rueter if RIOB is looking at aggregate numbers or each courtroom individually. Staff responded that Cook County decided they will be looking at aggregate numbers, adding that DJJ data is not broken out by calendar, so this data set will have all of Cook County. Ms. Hughes added that the monthly DJJ data provided is what is used to confirm commitment data submitted by the sites. Mr. Perry suggested that Mark Werner and his team could report the monthly DJJ commitments from the four courtrooms. Ms.
      Studzinski encouraged that these conversations should be happening now rather than in June. Ms. Wolff asked if Mark Werner was the point person for the implementation of the Cook County Redeploy program. Mr. Perry confirmed that this will be his main role in Cook County.
      Ms. Wolff continued that at an external meeting with Timothy Evans, Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, she and Avik Das had raised the possibility that Redeploy funds might be used to move certain populations out of the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center. She continued that Toni Preckwinkle, President of the Cook County Board, had made it clear that the county would provide resources to help remove adjudicated minors out of the detention center. Mr. Das corroborated the request as Ms. Wolff stated. Mr. Perry indicated that he would have a conversation with Mr. Werner about this topic. The conversation has been had that perhaps, years from now, if Redeploy is successful, then pre-adjudication cases may be considered. At this point, the program will focus on youth post-adjudication.
      Ms. Wolff asked if any of the Board members could confirm that Judge Michael Toomin, the Presiding Judge of the Cook County Delinquency Court, was retiring and whether a replacement had been selected. Ms. Ahern confirmed that Judge Toomin was retiring. She indicated that Chief Judge Evans has shared that the person he had in mind as a replacement has declined the position. Mr. Perry agreed with Ms. Ahern's statement and continued that an interim placement would begin on January 1st. Mr. Das shared that he had been trying all channels to reach Chief Judge Evans to arrange a meeting with advocates to discuss the kinds of qualities, characteristics, and values he may be looking for in candidates for the position but had not received a response. Ms. Wolff indicated that she too had followed up to request further discussion with no response. She said that she had concluded that a decision may be made with no external input.
      Ms. Studzinski expressed her appreciation for Ms. Wolff's advocacy on behalf of the board and the Redeploy program in Cook County.
  5. Approval of Calendar Year 2023 RIOB Meeting Schedule
    Ms. Studzinski asked for a motion to accept the proposed meeting calendar for 2023.
    Erica Hughes noted that the schedule had been reviewed and that none of the proposed dates conflicted with holidays.
    Motion:  Heidi Mueller moved to accept the proposed full board meeting and Executive Committee meeting calendars. Ms. Wolff seconded the motion.
    Kristen Marshall conducted a roll call vote:
    The motion carried unanimously.
    Ms. Studzinski indicated that Susie Schoenrock will send meeting invites to the board to add to their calendars.
  6. RIOB Membership Work Group Update
    In the absence of Rick Velasquez, Ms. Hughes reported for the Membership Committee. She began that at the October board meeting, the Committee identified regular activities for the maintenance of Board membership, including recruitment, onboarding, and continuing education. Following discussion, it was determined that the RIOB Membership Work Group would continue to focus on these activities. To that end, DHS staff have compiled a guidebook and webinar for new members to orient them to their role on the board and get to know board members. The Membership Committee is asking for RIOB members to volunteer to mentor new members to acquaint them with people and processes. RIOB members were asked to email Ms. Marshall if interested.
    Ms. Marshall announced that the committee's next meeting would take place on Tuesday, January 17. Topics to be covered include review and approval of the guidebook and establishing a regular meeting schedule for the group.
    A list of vacancies and categories will be emailed.
    Paula Wolff noted it is especially important that the Board recruit people of color for these roles.
    Erica Hughes added that at the February meeting, a contact information form is shared out. RIOB members were asked to confirm contact information.
  7. Redeploy Focus Work Group update/discussion/decision
    Ms. Studzinski referred the members to a handout shared as part of board meeting materials and encouraged RIOB to begin thinking of Redeploy as three groups:
    1. Sites - Established and new site
    2. Eligible Counties - Eligible for Focus, but have yet not come in; (Rock Island)
    3. Focus Group - Counties that send kids to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) but not in such great numbers that they are eligible to be a site. She said that this group falls into two categories:
      • Approximately 12-18 counties that regularly send less than ten youth to DJJ
      • Counties that seldom send youth to DJJ
        She reported that the Redeploy Focus Work Group was presenting a set of ten recommendations to re-establish the Focus program.
        1. Continue to set funds aside in the Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY) contract for the Focus program. She reminded the members that it is crucial that counties receive funding for Focus cases in a matter of days or weeks. ICOY has demonstrated an ability to do so
        2. The County Committee, called for in the Focus statute, should continue in its role as clinical reviewers. This would re-engage with some of our partner state agencies, including the Department of Child and Family Services, DJJ, Illinois Department of Human Services Mental Health, and the Governor's Office of Management and Budget. The county committee should also be involved in developing a new, simple format for the request for funds
        3. Appoint, or reappoint, a group of three RIOB members to approve Focus funding requests
        4. Focus requests should be for the same activities as regular Redeploy sites
        5. Flex funds would be available as part of a full plan to serve a youth and family, even after services have begun. However, the time to turn around a contract takes too long for flex funds alone to benefit a youth/family in the Focus program
        6. In the past, no data was collected on Focus clients. Orbis should include Focus participants in its data collection design
        7. The Focus program supports one youth at a time. ICOY staff and Redeploy staff should work closely with local probation departments in developing case plans that include many parts of the matrix. However, Focus funding requests will not be expected to address all elements of the Redeploy matrix, only those which are relevant to the youth for whom the request is developed
        8. Established Redeploy sites should be encouraged to expand their service areas to include nearby Focus counties
        9. Some messages have been identified that will be critical in re-establishing the Focus program. First, every minor at risk of going to DJJ deserves the opportunity to stay in their community. Additionally, Focus works with one minor at a time, so counties do not have the same obligation to reduce the number of youth committed to DJJ that Redeploy sites have. Therefore, Focus counties will not be expected to develop a broad range of service options. Because funding requests are not competitive, probation officers in Focus counties can reach out to Susie Schoenrock and Judge Colleen Sheehan for technical assistance whenever they feel they have a candidate for Focus. Ms. Schoenrock and Judge Sheehan will be the points of contact for the program.
        10. Making the changes to re-establish the Focus program will require that new material be developed ranging from a new funding request, new content describing the program, and a process for requesting funds, to updating the Focus page on the ICOY website.
          Ms. Studzinski stated that $10,000 is currently available for Focus funding. She continued that ICOY will use the winter to get things in place, consulting with the committee and others when needed. She pointed out that Dan Hunt had described how the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC) approaches probation departments when it rolls out new programs. The committee and staff agreed that the same process should be used for re-establishing Focus. She emphasized that all the necessary processes and materials must be in place before presenting the program to probation and court services departments. She said that the hope is that by the April RIOB meeting, Focus will be re-established. She asked for resources to be shared with the board as they are developed to help easily, quickly, and accurately promote Redeploy externally.
          Mr. Hunt pointed out that in the last five years, there has been over a 30% turnover in probation directors across the state. He continued that the figure jumps to almost 50% in the last 10 years. He noted that the re-rollout is significant because half of the probation directors are not aware of the program as an option.
          John Johnson said that he has spoken with Winnebago County about serving youth in Boone County and asked for guidance on moving forward with serving Boone County. Ms. Studzinski responded that it may be as simple as carefully expanding the current Winnebago site into Boone County. Ms. Marshall and Ms. Hughes will follow up to provide further information. Mr. Johnson continued that they have started providing Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services (CCBYS) to youth in Boone County and are eager to continue the momentum to include Redeploy.
          Garien Gatewood indicated that the probation leadership turnover numbers shared by Mr. Hunt are surprising and asked if this has anything to do with the creation of the Office of Pretrial Services which has recently hired staff from probation departments. Mr. Hunt responded that the Office of Pretrial Services has done their hiring in just the last year.
          This is more about the expansion of probation in the 1980s and those people now transitioning or retiring. There has been lots of internal promotion but those promoted would not have had exposure to connectivity to detailed information about previous rollouts. This is a unique opportunity to establish and change the culture.
          Ms. Mueller mentioned that she had had a conversation with a researcher from Colorado studying the scaling of reform efforts, specifically regarding Redeploy and an incentive- based structure as opposed to punitive action. The researcher is interested in looking at Redeploy and with the re-launch of Focus, there is a unique opportunity to get a baseline measure that could be very useful. Ms. Mueller asked who should connect with the researcher if RIOB is open to working with him. Ms. Studzinski replied that Ms. Marshall or Karrie Reuter would be the best contacts. Ms. Hughes also suggested sharing the annual report and new redeploy website as a starting point. She thanked Mr. Hunt, Judge George Timberlake, and both Redeploy and ICOY staff for their work thus far.
          Motion: Ms. Wolff moved acceptance of the ten recommendations for re-establishing the Focused program. Janet Ahern seconded the motion. Kristen Marshall conducted a roll call vote: The motion carried unanimously.
  8. Redeploy Evaluation discussion/decision
    Delrice Adams recused herself from the discussion. Garien Gatewood disclosed that he is a member of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) Board.
    At prior meetings, the Board had decided to fund an evaluation of the Redeploy program, commensurate with the full implementation of the matrix and updated/upgraded YASI tool, Orbis stuff.
    Karrie Rueter reminded the group that ICJIA had conducted the most recent evaluation of Redeploy, with positive results. She added that at that time, the RIOB had requested a Grants Accountability Transparency Act (GATA) exception to avoid having to go through a competitive bidding process. She reported that the exception remains in place should RIOB decide to fund ICJIA to conduct further research.
    Ms. Wolff reminded the members of the Board's desire to gather information on positive outcomes for youth in Redeploy programs. She questioned whether data about the implementation of the matrix is currently being collected through Orbis and if that data would be available. Mr. Gatewood expanded by saying that we want to start digging in on information around employment, civic engagement, and education, and challenge evaluators to expand the horizons of what consider. He noted that the data collection system is still being built so there is time to specify the data to be collected.
    Elizabeth Clarke noted that there had been a lengthy discussion with an Orbis partner at the all-sites meeting. Ms. Clarke expressed her concern that the emphasis on positive youth outcomes could pressure a child to improve rather than measuring the resources available to help them improve. She gave the example that a child that is homeless cannot be concerned with metrics like community involvement and so forth. She said that making sure the evaluation focus is not on the child but on identifying core barriers in the community is important. Ms. Wolff responded that at the time the matrix was created, the emphasis was placed on sites and providers being responsible for positive youth outcomes. Heidi Mueller added that data collection about services should also capture who is delivering the services or considered a provider, citing that 40% of any behavior change is attributable to the relationship between an individual service provider and the person receiving services.
    Ms. Wolff suggested the Board authorize the creation of an ad hoc work group on evaluation that would work with both Orbis and ICJIA to assure the necessary data is collected and available to evaluators. Ms. Clarke, Ms. Mueller, Mr. Gatewood, and Ms. Wolff volunteered to participate in the work group if approved. Staff was asked to organize the group to meet and notify Secretary Hou.
    Motion:  Ms. Wolff moved to invite a proposal for funding the evaluation from ICJIA to create an ad hoc work group on evaluation comprised of members of RIOB that would develop a strategy to work with ICJIA to design and fund evaluation. Elizabeth Clarke seconded the motion.
    Kristen Marshall conducted a roll call vote: The motion carried unanimously.
  9. Orbis update
    Ms. Marshall reported that Orbis had a project planning meeting with staff to identify priority tasks to continue the YASI re-design process. She said that plans include a consulting session with key Redeploy service providers to provide input on addressing assessment issues for racial bias and cultural sensitivity. This session will take place early in the new year. Orbis did a short demonstration of the software, Caseworks 2.0, highlighting existing features like assessment case planning and fiscal reporting and identifying areas that will be adapted to better serve. This tool is on track for deployment for testing in the spring. Erica Hughes added that presuming successful testing in the spring, it would be possible to implement for Fiscal Year 2024, beginning July 1, 2023.
    Ms. Studzinski asked Ms. Mueller for feedback on the Caseworks software. Ms. Mueller responded that her staff liked it. She said that the reality of case planning in DJJ is that there are many staff with little case planning background. The full software package builds the case plan. She added that the purchase of the full license was intentional because case managers were primarily security staff who were promoted. The aftercare team uses Smart Aftercare developed by VERO and does a much more robust process. She reiterated that, in the facilities, staff like Caseworks, and it is working well in holding staff accountable, as well as making youth aware of their YASI goals. She added that youth are earning Targeted Release Date reductions based on meeting their YASI goals. For a system, it's working.
    Individualized, it's not working but there are other things in place. DJJ aftercare is embracing the change and leading the charge.
    Ms. Marshall said that DHS staff continues to participate in bi-weekly meetings with Orbis.
  10. Topics for planning meeting discussion
    Ms. Marshall reviewed topics shared during the October 2022 board meeting including the zero commitment baseline requirements, youth and guns, and training opportunities were also mentioned. DHS Staff and ICOY will poll the board on topics with the most interest after the new year to determine the next steps for planning meetings and trainings.
    Ms. Studzinski encouraged the RIOB to add suggestions, especially considering the discussion related to the implementation of the service matrix.
  11. Adjourn
    Ms. Wolff moved to adjourn. Mr. Parry seconded the motion. Motion carried by voice vote.
    Meeting adjourned at 10:59.