Agenda and Minutes - Pillar 5: Support Trusted Community Based Providers to Serve the Needs of Those in Deep Poverty

Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee: Support Trusted Community Based Providers to Serve the Needs of Those in Deep Poverty

February 21, 2023

10:00-11:00 am

Recording

Members

Appointment Name Affiliation
Chair Al Llorens President - Board of Directors, Illinois Education Association
Commission Member Senator Dale Fowler Illinois State Senator
Commission Member Jason Mckinnies Senior Pastor at Southern Illinois Worship Center
Commission Member Dr. Charles A. Montorio Archer President and CEO, One Hope United
Commission Member Juan Calderon Chief Operating Officer, Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Commission Member Senator Kimberly Lightford Illinois State Senator
IWGP Member Jennifer Hebel Special Assistant for Research, Illinois Department on Aging
Public Member Meredith Byers Uniserve Director, Illinois Education Association
Public Member Jennifer Gentile Deputy Director, Bureau of Clinical Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities
Public Member Becky Salazar Egyptian Area Agency on Aging
Public Member Lauren Wright Executive Director, Illinois Partners for Human Services
Public Member Deborah Ward-Mitchell Assistant Director, Infant Care Center District 205, National Education Association
Public Member Johnny Ramos

Desired Outcomes:

  • Introduce subcommittee members and structure
  • Review Pillar 5 strategies
  • Discuss intent to develop action plan goals
  • Review Pillar Detail and Progress
  • Generate Initial Concepts for FY2024 Pillar 5 Action Items
  • Communicate Next Steps to Guide Work Ahead

Agenda:

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call (5 mins)
  2. Public Comment - Open (2 mins)
    • Subject to written comment in advance
  3. Overview of Subcommittee Purpose and Activities (5 mins)
  4. Presentation on Human Service Sector Needs (10 mins)
  5. Overview of Pillar Details/Progress (10 mins)
  6. Generate FY2024 Pillar 5 Action Items (25 mins)
    1. Who is the person on the committee who has the appropriate insight for each benefit program? Or can connect? What are the gaps in our knowledge? Who can fill those gaps?
    2. What are the challenges and what strategies? What strategies are underway?
  7. Next Steps and Adjournment (3 mins)
    • Define work between meetings.

Meeting Minutes

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Albert Llorens - chairperson of Pillar 5 subcommittee
  2. Dr. Charles Montorio-Archer - Poverty Commission member
  3. Dana Hooven - representative from the Office of Senator Dale Fowler of the 59th district of Southern Illinois (Poverty Commission member)
  4. Amy Oxford - representative from the Office of Senator Dale Fowler
  5. Abby Peterson - representative from the Office of Senator Dale Fowler
  6. Jennifer Hebel - subcommittee public member
  7. Becky Salazar - subcommittee public member
  8. Lauren Wright - subcommittee public member

Administrator: Dana Kelly, IDHS Chief Policy Officer

  1. Introductions/Welcome/Roll Call - Chair Al Llorens welcomed everybody and asked everybody to introduce themselves.
    1. Dana Kelly - Chief Policy Officer, IDHS
    2. Dana Hooven - Legislative Assistant of Senator Dale Fowler of the 59th district of Southern Illinois
    3. Lauren Wright - Executive Director, Illinois Partners for Human Service
    4. Amy Oxford - staff member to Senator Fowler
    5. Abbey Peterson - staff member to Senator Fowler
    6. Dr. Charles Montorio-Archer - President, One Hope United (had to leave early due to a conference)
    7. Jennifer Hebel - Special Assistant for Research, IL Department of Aging
    8. Becky Salazar - Egyptian Area Agency on Aging
    9. Kari Branham - Special Projects Administrator, IDHS
    10. Anna Conant - admin support for Dana Kelly
  2. Public Comment - Subject to written comment in advance, none received.
  3. Overview of Subcommittee Purpose and Activities - Chair Albert Llorens; Dana Kelly
    • Chair Llorens started by sharing that he saw Cairo thru a virtual tour and he saw the poverty and lack of development in the area. He said there is a need for people to be in the area to operationalize what the Commission wants to do and this could be one of the things that should be discussed within the subcommittee. He also said that members can start thinking of where they see themselves fitting in in terms of roles in the subcommittee.
    • Administrator Kelly then proceeded with the overview and mentioned that the goal of the meeting is to discuss Pillar 5 which is one of the five pillars outlined in the Strategic Plan released by the Poverty Commission in March 2022. The strategic pillars are geared towards reducing deep poverty in Illinois by 50% by 2026 and which the subcommittees will be working on in the next years. The subcommittee is formed around Pillar 5: support trusted community-based providers to serve the needs of those in deep poverty.
    • The subcommittee membership consists of Commission members, members of the Inter-Agency Working Group for the Poverty Commission and members of the public. The subcommittee will work on pillar 5 and report back to the Commission.
  4. Overview of Pillar 5 details/progress - Administrator Kelly
    • The actual tactics under pillar 5 include
      1. support our caregiving workforce specifically by ensuring equitable raises and developing meaningful supports for unpaid caregivers; and
      2. provide community-based providers with consistent and equitable access to state funding that adequately keeps pace with rising costs.
    • Administrator Kelly asked the members to share how the pillar is meaningful to them or how they can contribute to it.
    • Member Lauren Wright shared that her organization, Illinois Partners is a network of community-based providers statewide with about a hundred or so partners in the Southern Illinois. The organization has a lot of research around what is needed to invest in and fortify the human services workforce including research around rates of reimbursement and how those have not kept up with cost of living. Ms. Wright hopes that the data in their research can help the Commission and the subcommittee in its advocacy. She suggested to involve Ms. Sherrie Crabb in the conversation. Ms. Crabb is the CEO of Arrowleaf which recently opened a food pantry in Cairo. Ms. Wright also suggested to involve the Illinois Caregiver Coalition which could contribute on the part of supporting both paid and unpaid caregivers.
    • Jennifer Hebel of IDoA mentioned that she is familiar as well with the Illinois Caregiver Coalition since they are members of it as well. She added that IDoA runs home and community-based services programs and the agency comes in contact with a lot of caregivers but the agency is struggling to get the positions filled due to the salary.
    • Member Becky Salazar shared that her organization serves the lower 13 counties in Illinois which are impoverished and very rural areas. She said that staffing is also one of their main problems particularly in their senior centers and is something that she would be interested in working on and help out in the subcommittee.
    • Chair Llorens asked if the Commission will need Legislation to move some of the strategies/tactics, or are there sufficient legislation in place, or is there a need for additional pieces of legislation and who would make that determination?
    • Administrator Kelly said there are things that the subcommittee can identify right now that might be going to be introduced or moving in the spring session or in the legislative year. In terms of legislation that may not be moving and needs support or extra emphasis, she mentioned increasing the TANF cash allotment as an example. TANF is a public benefit block program but not all of the funding goes to the qualified recipients. Some of it is used for other poverty alleviation purposes. Administrator Kelly worked with the Commission and after two years, some of the funds have been reallocated in the Governor's budget and TANF recipients will now receive more money for their participation in the program. She added that if there is a particular piece of legislation that is absolutely critical and the subcommittee is able to articulate it, they can make a proposal and IDHS can advocate it with the Governor and the General Assembly.
    • Chair Llorens commented that the group should note "little victories" that can be reported as progress.
    • Administrator Kelly then discussed the State actions listed in the presentation saying that they were taken from the FY 2023 budget and thus, they are currently being implemented. Members can also add actions that they think will be implemented under the FY24 budget.
  5. Potential Human Service Sector Needs - Administrator Kelly shared her perspectives on the broad needs according to pillar 5
    1. Funding to sustain pandemic era investments and to keep pace with inflation - Administrator Kelly thinks that the sector has seen quite a bit of infusion of funding because of the American Rescue Plan Act and other COVID-relief areas that is going to expire soon. One thing to figure out is how to sustain successful programming that came through as a result of that extra investment.
    2. Address ongoing workforce challenges - Workforce burnout; Pay; High vacancy rates
    3. Create capacity building mechanisms for small, growing non-profits to access state funding.
    4. Streamline administrative requirements for state funding to reduce provider admin burden.
    5. Research into how challenges at human service agencies impact ability to improve community level outcomes
      • Chair Llorens asked member Jennifer Hebel if there are any support for family members who have to take off from work to take care of a family member that has been transferred from a nursing home to a hospice particularly monetary support and/or home care providers.
      • According to Ms. Hebel, under the Medicaid waiver, there is a flexibility to allow a family member that is not what's called a legally responsible individual, so not a spouse or the parent of a minor child, but a child, a nephew a niece, a granddaughter to serve as a paid family caregiver if they have a contract with one of IDoA's provider agencies.
      • Ms. Hebel also shared that IDoA is looking into expanding respite care in terms of allowing the caregiver to step away from the home and have someone come in and provide care during that time so that they are able to get an emotional break and have the chance to take care of their own things and avoid getting burned out as a caregiver. Further, they may be eligible for services under a Medicaid waiver or the Older Americans Act or the Community Care Program depending on their financial eligibility or what IDoA calls their DON score.
      • Chair Llorens followed up with a question about who can give the family that information because it is not generally known to everyone.
      • Member Becky Salazar said that their Case Coordination Unit and Case Coordinators provide the information to the caregivers.
      • Ms. Hebel added that if the caregivers are already in contact with the Aging Network, their main way of finding services will be thru their Care Coordinator as Ms. Salazar mentioned. IDoA also has a senior helpline that people can call and get connect to one of IDoA's staff members who would be able to explain what services they may be eligible for and/or set them up for a referral. Ms. Hebel also shared that they are working with hospitals to make doctors aware of these services; they try to advertise in the communities; they work with Senators and representatives to get included in their events in their districts; they do different outreach events as much as they can. But if a person is already receiving care, their Care Coordinator will be the person to help them find services that they qualify for.
      • Chair Llorens said the group will have to highlight the availability of all these things across all of these programs and shine a light on them for people who do not know. Ms. Hebel agreed.
      • Ms. Wright shared that Illinois Partners will be producing a research report that specifically talks about how Human Service agencies are or are not able to meet the demand for services in their communities and what kind of workforce investment it would take for them to be able to provide the services as they are being demanded for. The details in the report will be very useful for the subcommittee.
      • In terms of immediate action item, Ms. Wright said that they would really have to understand where Cost of Living Adjustment or COLA is evident or not evident in the Governor's budget proposal because at a bare minimum, COLA should be included in contracts across the board for trusted community-based providers which are the key demographic in pillar 5.
      • On the other hand, Ms. Wright also thinks that GATA should cover the administrative costs of engaging in a State contract. She mentioned that they are working with IDHS on a legislation around this issue and shared a description of their GATA bill- "it is an amendment to GATA that ensures grants do not restrict administrative costs to less than 20% and it also eliminates caps on fringe benefits and state contracts which include things like family leave, sick leave and employee insurance policies".
      • With regards to workforce burnout, Ms. Wright shared Illinois Partners' research results which can be found here More essential than ever (illinoispartners.org). They have a bill on contracts that reflect fair pay for a comparable work and reducing administrative burden and funding that keeps pace with the costs of doing business which is aligned with their GATA bill. They have another bill on Human Service Professional Loan Repayment Program that they are hoping to get appropriations for.
      • Administrator Kelly shared that the Commission is supportive of increasing the minimum wage but said that it should be coupled with support for employers so that they will be able to provide the wage increase.
  6. Generate FY2024 Pillar 2 Action Items - Administrator Kelly presented the recommended action items under each tactic for Pillar 5.
    1. Tactic 1
      1. For paid workers, support and invest in minimum wage increases, paid leave, benefits, and training that links to advancement opportunities.
      2. For unpaid caregivers, explore flexibility to allow family caregivers to be paid.
      3. Further bolster the Illinois Family Caregiver Support Program. As a partnership between the Illinois Department on Aging, Illinois Department of Human Services, Area Agencies on Aging, and local community-service providers, this program provides information and assistance to gain access to caregiving services; support and training for caregivers; connections to respite care: and access to other supplemental benefits and services as needed.
      4. Expand access and eligibility for respite care services, which provides short-term relief for primary caregivers.
    2. Tactic 2
      1. Provide a cohesive, consistent, and equitable funding methodology for the human services sector that keeps pace with the cost of living and doing business among private and non-profit competitors.
      2. Where federal and statutory flexibility allow, work to reduce the rigidity and complexity of administrative requirements that serve to exclude small and minority-led organizations. Specifically, continue to strengthen efforts to increase the number of organizations eligible to respond successfully to competitive State funding solicitations by helping organizations navigate Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) requirements.
      3. Reduce the frequency, redundancy, and complexity of reporting requirements that necessitate significant manpower and infrastructure to manage.
      4. Support the goals of the current GATA Equity Initiative led by Illinois Department of Human Services, including:
        1. Identify emerging and diverse community organizations that want to navigate and comply with GATA
        2. Improve internal systems and policies that serve as unnecessary barriers to GATA compliance
        3. Develop simplified, easy-to-use, web-based resources to train on grants compliance requirements
        4. Incorporate an equity lens into grantmaking processes and decision-making; and
        5. Actively reach out to organizations and connect them to resources.
  7. Next Steps and Adjournment
    • Administrator Kelly proposed that the group work as a team to come up with a list of action items that can be narrowed down in the next meeting. The action items will have to be finalized before the end of fiscal year which is in July 2023. Chair Llorens agreed. Administrator Kelly will send out an email to members in the week of February 27th asking them for suggestions and she will compile the list of action items that will be discussed in the next meeting.
    • Administrator Kelly will send out the slide deck to members.
    • Chair Llorens and Senator Fowler extended their appreciation to all the members.
    • The meeting was adjourned at 11am.