Minutes of the Meeting between IDHS-OFVP and Springfield, December 20, 2022

Tuesday, December 20, 2022, 3:00-3:30 pm

Attendees

  1. Jordan Phillips
  2. Kent Holsopple
  3. Chris Patterson
  4. Awisi Bustos

Minutes

  1. Opening/RPSA Overview and Progress Updates
    • Assistant Secretary Christopher Patterson welcomed everybody and mentioned that the meeting will be recorded and be sent out so that people can share to anybody interested. He gave an overview on the Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA) which was passed last year by the Illinois General Assembly and on which Governor Pritzker allocated $250 million towards the initiative. Out of the $250 million, $100 million is allocated to Greater Illinois in which Springfield is part of.
    • Assistant Secretary said that the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP) wants to use the RPSA resources to deepen relationships and an understanding around youth development, youth intervention programming in addition to violence prevention programming.
    • Out of the $250 million, a little bit over $60 million has been committed for fiscal years 23 and 24. Assistant Secretary shared that they are are expecting a lot of applications and funding opportunities across the State of Illinois particularly around Springfield. He mentioned that there were 19 applications received for violence prevention, which closed on the 19th. He said that all of the applications are being reviewed and graded. There are more than 20 applications under youth intervention services; Assistant Secretary shared that this would use a new model of youth intervention because it was found out that the old Teen Reach model does not capture all the individuals involved. With the new model, they are asking the providers for their own youth intervention programs that are specific to their own communities and will not be prescribing IDHS' own programs. Meanwhile, there were 18 applications received for trauma informed behavior health NOFO which will address mental health issues and trauma.
  2. Local Advisory Council Process
    • In accordance to RPSA, Ms. Bustos said the OFVP convened 16 Local Advisory Councils (LACs) across the State with over 150 members. The LACs provided recommendations on how to best allocate violence prevention resources and outlined activities most needed to reduce firearm violence in their communities. The results of the recommendations and OFVP's corresponding funding strategy can be found at the IDHS website. Ms. Bustos provided the links in the chat.
  3. Recommendations Primary Findings - The most salient points from the LAC recommendations according to Ms. Bustos, include:
    1. The need for violence prevention services that included street outreach, victim services and case management;
    2. The need for a flexible source of youth intervention funding that would target a broad age range of youth most at risk of being involved in community violence;
    3. The need for additional trauma informed behavioral health supports that specifically target those individuals (primarily youth) most at risk of being involved in community violence; and
    4. Continued investment in traditional models of youth development that focus on engaging school involved youth and optimizing personal and educational outcomes.
  4. Recommendations - Other Findings - Ms. Bustos also shared the other findings from the LAC recommendations which included -
    1. Need for resources to address racism and historical disinvestment in communities of color, financial stability and mobility, and family violence.
    2. Need for technical assistance and capacity building resources that will allow small organizations to succeed in the violence prevention space.
    3. Support for community collaboration inclusive of schools, police, healthcare institutions, park districts, cultural partners, and non-profit advocates.
  5. NOFO Service Offerings - Analyzing the recommendations, OFVP's first priority was to build offerings that reflected the LAC recommendations. Ms. Bustos outlined the NOFO direct service offerings that were previously offered to Greater Illinois under RPSA:
    1. Youth Development Greater Illinois - closed September 8
    2. Violence Prevention Greater Illinois - closed September 16; Ms. Bustos mentioned there were 20 applications received so far
    3. Youth Intervention Greater Illinois - closed September 19
    4. Greater Illinois Trauma Informed Behavioral Health Services - closed October 14
    5. Assistant Secretary mentioned that NOFOs or RFPs typically have a start and end date. What they did with the RPSA NOFOs is they made it on a rolling basis. They are keeping the NOFOs open so that participants or providers can apply. However, they found that if there is no due date, applications don't come in. And thus, the purpose of the due date was to get applications. Once the applications are reviewed and scored, the NOFOs will be reopened hopefully in January.
    6. Ms. Bustos also shared the other funding opportunities that were recently released by OFVP -
    7. The Technical Assistance, Training, and Capacity Building NOFO that was issued September 30, 2022 to assist grantees with implementing violence prevention services and other related services in Greater Illinois. The application was closed November 2, 2022.
    8. The Greater Illinois Violence Prevention Council Coordinator NOFO released on October 7, 2022 to select one lead agency per community that can continue convening the LACs and expand the body to include additional violence prevention expertise. The application closed on November 9, 2022.
    9. IDHS is also curating resources internally and with partner agencies to provide technical assistance to communities and help connect them to all existing resources that address these social determinants of health.
  6. Translating Recommendations to Funding: Layered Strategy
    • Ms. Bustos said that there is a total of $100 million to give out to Greater Illinois. The first round of funding strategy has been centered around assessing capacity and to get the organizations who can apply now to apply right away. OFVP wants to gage where the gaps are so that they can build capacity to fill in the areas of need. She reiterated what Assistant Secretary said that this is the reason why OFVP will be re-issuing and reopening NOFOs - to be able to provide more of opportunities to fill in the gaps in the communities.
    • Ms. Bustos shared that OFVP is also working on building a capacity while soliciting applications. The office is working with organizations that lack current capacity to apply to build capacity through different avenues like enlisting Ernst and Young, which is a financial consulting firm helping with capacity building and providing technical assistance and training opportunities and community organizing.
    • The OFPV is also working to ensure that all funding is aligned with how great the need is. Ms. Bustos said the OFVP will be releasing more opportunities in the coming weeks previously mentioned and so that more providers can participate.
  7. Spread the Word
    • Ms. Bustos shared the marketing strategies that OFVP has employed in advertising the grant opportunities. The marketing tool kit will be shared whenever the NOFOs will be renewed and so that partners can share the word about the opportunities.
  8. Next Steps - Ms. Bustos enumerated the steps that OFVP would like the community to do particularly the LAC:
    • Help spread the word about all the funding opportunities available and encourage all eligible organizations to apply.
    • Ramp up your capacity building efforts to ensure that your organizations are well equipped to successfully apply and secure these grants.
    • Revise and complete your community asset mapping if you have not already done so and be prepared to submit a report on your findings if requested.
    • Identify and encourage larger organizations in your communities to explore primary and sub recipient relationships with smaller organizations.
    • Continue to hold LAC meetings and keep OFVP abreast of any pressing issued or needs that arise.
    • Assistant Secretary added that he can also be invited to any related violence prevention events or meetings that will be happening in Springfield. He shared the visit he made to Rockford municipality where he met with new providers and talked about RPSA and OFVP's plan of recruiting more providers. He reiterated that he can be invited to any discussion to explain RPSA and how to help smaller organizations in applying. He emphasized that his intention is to recruit as many youth development and violence prevention organizations as he can so that they can take advantage of the RPSA funding and be successful in their initiatives.
  9. Question and Answer
    • Mr. Kent Holsopple, Director of Sangamon County Court Services asked who are some of the providers that are currently participating in RPSA.
    • Assistant Secretary directed Dir. Holsopple to the IDHS website where the providers are listed. He added that what OFVP is doing for all the communities is making sure that all providers are made public. He also said that across the State however, there are very few smaller organizations that are actually applying possibly because they are intimidated about the process. To remedy this, OFVP is constantly providing technical assistance and enlisting the help of training entities such as Ernst and Young who is supporting providers by understanding the reporting requirements and fiscal responsibilities. He reiterated that for Springfield, he also wants to talk with smaller organizations to tell them about the available funding.
    • Dir. Holsopple said he will reach out with Mr. Dan Wright, the State Attorney to see if they can put up together a meeting, invite Assistant Secretary and start some conversations.
    • Ms. Jordan Phillips of the Illinois Coalition of Community Services if Assistant Secretary has a preferred way of being contacted by individuals who might be interested in applying.
    • Assistant Secretary put his own email address in the chat, as well as the IDHS-OFVP website. He said he might not be able to communicate with them individually but he can point them in the right direction, to the staff who will be able to help them. He also put his own cellphone number in the chat.
    • Ms. Bustos added that if it is a question about the grant of application, they can send an email to the Violence Prevention email address. Assistant Secretary said that the office that handles the questions is very responsive but if they don't get any response, they can reach out to him and Ms. Bustos to make sure that they get the response that they need.
  10. Since there were no other questions, Assistant Secretary reiterated all his intentions of getting to Springfield, talking with providers, share the information and that he can be reached anytime. He adjourned the meeting at 3:30pm.