Minutes of the Meeting with IDHS-OFVP and Rock Island, November 30, 2022

Wednesday, November 30, 2022 3:00-4:00pm

Webex recording

Attendees

1. Nicole Sodawasser - Center for Youth and Family Solutions
2. Chief Richard Landi - Martin Luther King Center
3. Laura Fontaine - LAC Member
4. Adriana Blanco - Martin Luther King Center
5. Dave Hodge - LAC Lead
6. Bonnie Ballard - LAC Member
7. Jana Haskins - City of Rock Island
8. Bruce Mayer - Center for Youth and Family Solutions
9. Johnathon Lynch - Center for Youth and Family Solutions
10. Tony Riordan - Center for Youth and Family Solutions
11. Crawford Braxton - Martin Luther King Center
12. Chris Patterson - IDHS-OFVP Assistant Secretary
13. Awisi Bustos - IDHS Senior Policy Advisor

Minutes

1. Opening
   • Assistant Secretary Christopher Patterson welcomed and thanked everybody for attending the meeting. He started with giving a recap of how the Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA) was created last year thru the Illinois General Assembly and mentioned that 250 million dollars was allocated thru Governor Pritzker and paved the way in the creation of the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP). With this historic commitment, they want to deepen the investment towards youth development, youth intervention services and street outreach components. Assistant Secretary added that they also want to make sure that those resources are being funneled and utilized in the right direction and the right way towards the people including folks in Rock Island.
   • Out of the 250 Million dollars, Assistant Secretary said a little bit over 65 million dollars have already been committed for fiscal years 22, 23 and 24 many of which are for work that has been happening in Chicago and Youth Development statewide. He shared that one of the things that OFVP is excited about is the advancement of technical assistance to providers statewide and the various grants and NOFOs that IDHS will be offering. He shared that the OFVP received approximately seven million dollars of amendment requests from current grantees to provide additional services. Seventeen grants will be potentially amended. There are also 19 applications under review for Greater Illinois Violence Prevention which was closed on September 16th, 28 applications under review for Greater Illinois Youth Intervention Services and 18 applications under review for Greater Illinois Trauma Informed Behavioral Health. Assistant Secretary is hoping that Rock Island will be presented in one of the applications and in the next round of applications.
2. The Local Advisory Council Process
   • One of the things that RPSA called for was the creation of the Local Advisory Councils (LACs) that will give recommendations to OFVP on how to fund municipalities such as Rock Island. Assistant Secretary emphasized that the OFVP did not want to tell other municipalities that because there are already comprehensive plans in other places, these would work for others as well. And so OFVP wanted to listen to each LAC and take their recommendations on what they thought would be best for each municipality.
   • Each LAC submitted recommendations which OFVP has summarized. The links to the recommendations and findings were shared in the chat by Ms. Awisi Bustos.
3. Recommendations Primary Findings
   • One of the primary findings from the recommendations given by over 150 members of all the LACs across the State was the need to support individuals who are trapped in the cycle of violence by implementing comprehensive violence prevention services that would include street outreach, victim services and case management. Assistant Secretary said that this is geared more towards people who are at risk of either being shot or shooting someone.
   • There is also a need for a flexible source of youth intervention funding. Assistant Secretary mentioned that IDHS has historically provided youth development services with 80 million dollars fund a year. OFVP wanted to hear from the LACs instead of giving a prescriptive youth program to make sure that they are working with the right young people in the right areas and at the same time, ensuring that OFVP is infusing trauma informed care approaches.
   • The next primary finding was the need for additional trauma informed behavioral health support. Assistant Secretary shared that there was a previous discussion about getting people jobs to keep them safe and keep them out of trouble. OFVP however, realized that although job is an important component, without the mental health supports or behavioral supports, it won't necessarily get the job done to the degree in which they are looking to get it done.
   • There was also the recommendation to continue investment on traditional models of youth development. Assistant Secretary said that while they are saying that there's a new model of youth development, they don't want to throw away the old model because it produced a lot of great work across the State. OFVP wanted to let everybody know that they are not throwing away the old model but they are coming out with a new model at the same time.
   • Other finding includes the need for resources to address racism and historical disinvestment in communities of color, financial stability, mobility and family violence. Assistant Secretary said that when dealing with firearm violence which is typically seen on a day-to-day basis, one will see other issues arising such as mental health and financial instability which are some of the root causes of firearm violence. Violence, he added doesn't always makes sense and can start from almost anything. Another finding is the need for technical assistance and capacity building resources. In this case, Assistant Secretary shared that most municipalities that they are going to be working with across the State have not done a traditional street outreach model and so OFVP wants to make sure that the best practices are shared and also learnings from other places and entities that are doing the same thing. Assistant Secretary added that they want to make sure that they are engaging smaller organizations while still continuing to engage large organizations that have been doing violence prevention work for a long time. In order to do that, OFVP will provide capacity building programs and technical assistance to organizations who need it. Finally, OFVP will support the collaborative components including schools, law enforcement police, healthcare institutions, parks, and nonprofit advocates and others.
4. NOFO Services and Offerings
   • Assistant Secretary discussed the grants that were provided under RPSA. It includes the Youth Development Greater Illinois NOFO which provides youth engaged in school with safe environments and caring adults to guide them toward educational success. The next one is the Violence Prevention Greater Illinois NOFO that includes street intervention, victim services and case management which was previously mentioned particularly about those that are directly impacted or involved. The third NOFO is the Youth Intervention Greater Illinois which provide services for young people who have been incarcerated or may have a family member that has been incarcerated. Finally, the Trauma Informed Behavioral Services Greater Illinois NOFO that includes mental and behavioral health interventions that address trauma recovery and other mental health improvements.
   • Assistant Secretary also mentioned the NOFO on Technical Assistance, Training and Capability Building. He stated that all of the NOFOs are already closed and the reason why IDHS-OFVP put deadlines on it was to press the need for applications, however, the NOFOs will be reissued and reopened in the following weeks. Another NOFO that Assistant Secretary mentioned is the Continued Support for Local Advisory Councils Convening which is aimed to keep the LACs going thru the creation of a coordinator position. The coordinator would essentially be the entity that keeps all the RPSA-funded organizations together; recruits community members; recruits other funded providers, law enforcement, and others.
   • IDHS is also providing assistance in navigating IDHS services to ensure that municipalities have access to resources that address the root causes of community violence including economic opportunity, racial discrimination, housing, family violence and food insecurity.
5. Funding Strategy and Approach
   • The first part of the funding strategy was built off from the LAC inputs. The next part is the provider capacity. Assistant Secretary said OFVP wants organizations already working with young people to keep doing so and keeping the dynamics between and among other organizations doing violence prevention work. He commented that the municipality of Rock Island is unique in some respect due to its tighter knit group that he has seen. The last part is the area need wherein OFVP looked at the collective effort in all related sectors and determined the gaps.
   • Ms. Awisi Bustos added that there is a total of 100 million dollars that will be given out to Greater Illinois. The first round of strategy has been centered around assessment capacity and getting organizations who can apply to do so. The OFVP wants to identify where the gaps are so that it can build capacity in areas with needs.
   • With regards to capacity, Ms. Bustos said that OFVP is building up capacity while soliciting for applications to the grants. The OFVP enlisted the assistance of Ernst and Young firm to help in the capacity building of organizations that lack the capacity to apply. The office also conducts its own technical assistance and training as well as community organizing.
   • Ms. Bustos said that OFVP is pursuing a two-phased funding strategy that responds to both capacity and need while keeping in mind the overall percentage allocations for each community that was based on incident volume. The first round of funding was built on aligning LAC recommendations, assessing capacity and building capacity in the areas of high need. There will be more opportunities as OFVP opens the second round where funding will be escalated in areas of high need while ensuring that the funding allocation recommendations provided by the LACs are met.
   • Assistant Secretary added that OFVP is a listening office and that as a group, they want to assess the office's effectiveness and they want honest assessment. He posed the questions "Are we moving the needle on the violence dropping in the community that we're talking about? And if it's not, what needs to be done, where do we tweak?". He said that this is the purpose of the second round, to figure out where the gaps are if there are any.
   • Ms. Bustos shared the marketing initiatives of IDHS in promoting the RPSA grants and asked the everybody to share the word as well. She also mentioned a new initiative which is the Grant Applicant Training on Thursday, December, 15th, 2022 from 1:00pm to 2:00pm and invited everybody to attend and also share the information to any organizations interested in applying for RPSA funds. The training is also open for any organizations who just wants to know how to navigate application for State funds.
6. Next Steps
   • Ms. Bustos then laid out the next steps starting with spreading the word about the RPSA grant opportunities, encourage all eligible organizations to apply, for the LAC to ramp up capacity building efforts by taking advantage of some of the technical assistance programming that IDHS have; and ensure that organizations have the resources they need. OFVP is also encouraging the LAC to revise and or complete the community asset mapping and be ready to give a report when asked. Also, it is encouraged to identify and encourage larger organizations in the community to explore primary and sub recipient relationships with smaller organizations and for the LAC to continue holding meetings and keep OFVP abreast of any pressing issues or needs that arise.
   • Assistant Secretary added that he is open to going to the community and meet with different organizations and talk about violence prevention programs and initiatives. He told the Rock Island folks that they can invite him to any event related to violence prevention especially if they need someone to answer  questions about RPSA.
7. Question and Answer
   • Chief Richard Landi shared that he was unaware of the whole RPSA initiatives although their organization is doing crime victims assistance in partnership with Family Resources. He shared that their program includes investigation supervisors sitting down with Family Resources and providing them information on cases so they can follow up and meet with the victims and get them resources that they need. Chief Landi also mentioned they are looking at the initiatives at Davenport where they reach out to individuals that are either going to be victims of violence or perpetrating violence to try to get ahead of it and make contact with them and divert them from that. He said it is something they are really interested in starting in the Illinois side through Family Resources which already obtained funding for it. He said he is intrigued with RPSA and that it might be something that can be available to them and so they can get something organized in their community and start doing the same thing.
   • Assistant Secretary said OFVP is funding similar initiatives and if Rock Island can identify a provider in the community who has the skill set to do it, OFVP will work with them and help them in the application process. He also said he can come over to Rock Island to meet personally and talk about the community.
   • Chief Landi asked to be kept in the loop with regards to the RPSA funding and when Assistant Secretary comes to Rock Island so he can meet him. Assistant Secretary provided his email address and cellphone number in the chat.
   • Dave Hodge asked how they will know or find out when the NOFOs reopen and so they can get the word out to people. At the same time, Mr. Hodge apologized to Chief Landi for not reaching out and said they have been doing work but not as a group, they are starting a group and he would love to meet with Chief and Assistant Secretary before all the NOFOs reopen. He also shared that he will be moving over to a new organization in Rock Island called Narratives which is just starting and new to the area working with at-risk and adults doing mentoring, counseling and life coaching, working with young guys struggling in the area. He said it's been his passion for the last 20 years and he would love to continue having some further conversations before the NOFOs reopen. He also added that he is not aware of any other organizations in the area aside from the King Center, he knows they got funding through the Teen Reach program and so his other questions is what other organizations have received funding and how can they get funding in Rock Island.
   • Assistant Secretary said that OFVP is currently reviewing and scoring applications from across the State and he is not able to say right now which organizations have received funding. He said they are anticipating approvals to go out in December and the NOFOs will be reopened afterwards. He added that there is a total of 100 million dollars to be given out to Greater Illinois and they will keep the application rolling and open. The list of organizations who will be approved will be posted in the IDHS website.
   • Laura Fontaine agreed with Mr. Hodge and said that it would be beneficial for their group to meet in person with Assistant Secretary and Chief Landi to discuss ways of how to move forward and what's beneficial for their community.
   • Everybody agreed to meet early December at the Narrative's office in Rock Island.
   • Jana Haskins of Rock Island County Juvenile Probation said they are also very interested in being part of the initiative and helping develop whatever resource in the community to tackle the issue. She shared that they are dealing with young people on a daily basis and so they very much want to be a part of the initiative.
   • Nicole Sodawasser also said the Center for Youth and Family Solution would love to be involve as much as possible as their program works with juvenile. She shared that she attended the first LAC meeting in May but had not really heard any of the follow up which is why she is happy to attend the meeting today and said that she would like to be kept included. She added that they have a partnership with the police department which she invited into today's meeting.
   • Bruce Mayer of Center for Youth and Family Solutions asked if the NOFOs that will reopen be specific to Rock Island and not to the county. He also asked if there will be any flexibility moving forward. Laura Fontaine also said she was under the impression that the funding is for the entire county and not only the city.
   • Assistant Secretary did not want to answer the question right away and said he will get back to Mr. Mayer and Ms. Fontaine.
   • Bonnie Ballard said it is a great opportunity and she would like to be involved as well.
   • Nicole Sodawasser asked if Jerry Jones was also invited to the meeting or is Adrianna the lucky designee from the MLK Center. Adrianna said she was invited by Bonnie Howard but other MLK Center staff also attended the meeting. Mr. Hodge said he invited Mr. Jones. Ms. Bustos did as well.
   • Tony Riordan said Mr. Jones' participation will be critical to the initiative because he has decades of relationships with every stakeholder in the call and the community and the target population and the police department and the whole system, particularly in Rock Island, where obviously the statistics are indicating a higher incidence of issues. He added that Mr. Jones will be a great convener at a minimum, to help pull together the various formal and informal and grassroots agencies and plus they have the resources through the grant writing and they're already involved in a lot of projects with this.
   • So all right, well, folks, we will be, um, touch, um, through boosters to schedule a time to come out and, you know, I know you're gonna meet as a group and identify a time and a date. And I look forward to meeting you all in person.
8. Since there were no more questions, Assistant Secretary said anybody can reach out to him anytime if they have any question and closed the meeting.