Interagency Working Group on Poverty and Economic Security Agenda and Minutes - 03/14/23

Tuesday, March 14, 2022

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Recording

IWGP Statutory Members:

1. Grace Hou - Chairperson, Secretary, Illinois Department of Human Services
2. Paula Basta - Director, Illinois Department on Aging
3. Kristi Jones - Deputy Director, Illinois Department of Agriculture
4. Jason Horwitz - Deputy Director, Office of Policy Development, Planning, and Research, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
5. Jane Flanagan - Acting Director, Illinois Department of Labor
6. Marc Staley - Deputy Director, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
7. Amaal V. Tokars - Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Public Health
8. TBD - Illinois Department of Corrections
9. TBD - Illinois State Board of Education

Invited Members:

1. Liz Kersjes - Assistant Director of Policy and Research, Illinois Housing Development Authority
2. Jenny Aguirre - Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
3. Carrie Thomas - Deputy Director, Business Services Illinois Department of Employment Security

Agenda

1. Welcome Roll Call (5 mins)
   • Discussion, what can be taken from these conclusions to drive where the poverty commission should be focusing its work?
2. Approval of October 27, 2022 Meeting Minutes (5 mins)
   • Roll Call Vote
3. Public Comment - Open (5 mins)
   • Subject to written comment in advance
4. IWGP Housekeeping (10 mins)
   1. Introduction of Kari Branham
   2. Membership Updates
   3. Subcommittee Participation
   4. Accomplishments Update
   5. IWGP Annual Report Out
5. Special Presentation - IL Guaranteed Income Pilot (25 mins)
   • Inclusive Economy Lab - University of Chicago
   1. Emily Metz, Program Director
   2. Adonia Bekele, Portfolio Manager
6. Subcommittee Report, Updates, Next Steps (15 mins)
7. Discussion (20 mins)
   1. Establishing Action Steps Per Pillar
   2. Building Strength of Subcommittees
8. Next Steps and Adjournment (5 mins)

Minutes

Interagency Working Group members in attendance:

1. Paula Basta
2. Jason Horwitz
3. Marc Staley
4. Grace Hou

Interagency Working Group invited members in attendance:

1. Liz Kersjes
2. Carrie Thomas
3. Jenny Aguirre

Administrator: Dana Kelly, IDHS Chief Policy Officer

Guests:

1. Emily Metz, Program Director, Inclusive Economy Lab, University of Chicago
2. Adonia Bekele, Portfolio Manager, Inclusive Economy Lab, University of Chicago
3. Emily Mueller - Assistant Director of Policy and Research, IHDA
4. Caronina Grimble - Director, IDHS-Office of Strategy, Equity and Transformation
5. Dorothy Ingebrigtsen - Budget Analyst, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
6. Kari Branham - Senior Policy Advisor, IDHS
7. Tammy Stone

1. Welcome/Roll Call/Introductions - Administrator Kelly
   • Administrator Kelly informed the group that the meeting will be recorded in accordance to the Open Meetings Act
     1. Dana Kelly - IDHS Chief Policy Officer, liaison to the Poverty Commission
     2. Jason Horwitz - Deputy Director, Office of Policy Development, Planning, and Research Jason Horwitz
     3. Marc Staley - Deputy Director, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
     4. Jenny Aguirre - Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Health Care and Family Services
     5. Paula Basta - Director, Illinois Department on Aging
     6. Carrie Thomas - Deputy Director for Business Services, Illinois Department of Employment Security
     7. Dorothy Ingebrigtsen - Budget Analyst, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
     8. Emily Mueller - Assistant Director of Policy Research, Illinois Housing Development Authority
     9. Liz Kersjes - Research and policy specialist at the Illinois Housing Development
     10. Tammy Stone
     11. Kari Branham - Special Projects Administrator, IDHS; will take over the Poverty Commission once Dana goes to maternity leave
     12. Caronina Grimble - Director, IDHS-Office of Strategy, Equity and Transformation
     13. Adonia Bekele, Portfolio Manager, Inclusive Economy Lab, University of Chicago
2. Approval of Previous Minutes - October 27, 2022
   • Director Basta moved to approve, and Deputy Director Staley seconded.
   • Roll call for approval:
     1. Grace Hou - approved
     2. Paula Basta - approved
     3. Kirsti Jones - absent
     4. Jason Horwitz - approved
     5. Marc Staley - approved
     6. Jane Flanagan - absent
     7. Amaal Tokars - absent
     8. Liz Kersjes - approved
     9. Jenny Aguirre - approved
     10. Carrie Thomas - approved
3. Public Comment - Subject to written comment in advance, none received.
4. IWGP Housekeeping - Administrator Kelly
   1. Introduction of Kari Branham
      • Administrator Kelly will be on maternity leave soon and Kari Branham will be taking over as liaison to the Poverty Commission and IWGP until the former comes back in August.
   2. Membership Updates
      • Two positions are needing replacement, one for Department of Corrections and one for the State Board of Education. Any ideas or contacts for the replacements or any changes on the membership can be forwarded to Administrator Kelly or Ms. Branham or Len Conant, admin support for Poverty Commission.
      • Dir. Basta said to include Ms. Liz Vogt, Senior Policy Advisor from IDoA as backup staff for her and as a member for Pillar 2.
   3. Subcommittee Participation
      • Five subcommittees, one for each pillar, have been convened in the past month.
      • Commission and IWGP members were asked to join at least one subcommittee. Public stakeholders were also invited to join. Additional members can still be added, names can be sent to Len Conant.
      • Len will send the full list of subcommittee members to IWGP members.
      • Secretary said that a lot of DHS staff should be a part of all the subcommittees. Dana will do a shout out during the Daily CV Check-in meeting to get DHS staff to join. Kari and Len will also work on it.
   4. Accomplishments Update - Secretary
      1. Smart Start Illinois
         • Partnership between DHS and ISBE
         • Increases for the Early Intervention Program
         • Expanding support for home visiting
         • Continuing of investments made with ARPA funds to support the provider community
         • ISBE is trying to expand preschool access in areas with low opportunities and access; they are targeting 80% of preschoolers to be able to access preschool in their communities
      2. Home Illinois
         • Led by Chief Homelessness Officer, Christine Haley
         • Significant investments in rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing and capital infrastructure in partnership with IHDA
         • Support for asylum seekers being brought from Texas to Chicago
         • Emergency rental assistance to individuals to prevent increase in unhoused population
      3. TANF Cash Increase
         • Increased amount of cash assistance from 30 to 40% FPL translated to $120 more for the average family
      4. Guaranteed Income Pilot
         • Administrator Kelly and Chief Haley working together for the unhoused population
      5. Others
         1. GOMB - Minimum wage increase went to $13/hour on January 1, 2023, will increase to $14 in January 2024
         2. DCEO - $20 million investment for a program on groceries and food deserts; new or existing groceries and areas that are food deserts are identified and provided a suite of services such as start-up loans, technical assistance, business support services, etc.
            • Workforce development programs and support for contractors that are focused on participants residing in environmental justice communities, previous participants of foster care systems, returning residents and others
            • Expansion of SSPCI program that provides low interest loans and loan guarantees for financial partners to provide loans to small businesses that are having trouble accessing credit elsewhere.
            • Administrator Kelly will reach out to Deputy Director Horwitz for more information
            • Digital equity program under the Office of Broadband that not just provide connectivity but also digital skills needed in the labor market as people are increasingly required to apply online for jobs.
         3. Secretary suggested to look at the work of the Workforce Commission and other task forces and commissions that might intersect with the work of the Poverty Commission.
   5. IWGP Annual Report Out - Administrator Kelly
      • Ms. Branham and team are working on the IWGP Annual Report which is based on some of the accomplishments as committed for FY23 and will include some information about the planned FY24 budget commitments. They will reach out to IWGP members for contents.
5. Special Presentation - IL Guaranteed Income Pilot, Adonia Bekele, Portfolio Manager, Inclusive Economy Lab, University of Chicago
   • The State of Illinois made a commitment of $3 million for FY23 for a guaranteed income pilot program that will provide guaranteed income for people experiencing homelessness in Illinois. An additional $3.5 million was committed for FY24.
   • Joint effort between the Homelessness Task Force and the Poverty Commission, Inclusive Economy Lab as the Evaluation Partner
   • Pilot sites: East St. Louis, Peoria, Chicago and Suburban Cook County
   • FY23: one-time payments for families living in shelters; 350 families (treatment group) will receive a substantive cash transfer (between $7000-$10,000 depending on the number of enrollees); another 350 families (control group) will receive $500 for participating to encourage them to participate in the survey
   • Potential outcomes to be evaluated include resolving emergency shelter need and children's educational outcomes
   • Vendor AidKit will disperse applications, payments and survey; payments will be made thru bank accounts and payroll cards
   • Eligible families include those who are accessing emergency shelter services while experiencing HUD literal homelessness at the time of application; families should not have an active offer of Rapid Rehousing or other permanent housing subsidy; Household should have at least one guardian and one child under 18
   • Program will be launched on April 24th, around 700 families are targeted to be enrolled to the program by end of June
   • Although the target number of families is 700, total number of participants still depend on the number of families who will actually apply. The maximum number of families that can be accommodated in each group is 381.
   • For FY24, there is no decision yet on how to do the payments but it was suggested early on to do monthly payments.
   • The survey is currently being designed and some of the metrics include employment, experience, what are they planning to do with the money, etc.
   • Deputy Director Thomas shared why she asked the employment metric question. IDES is piloting a project on administrative data match between HMS data and employment, unemployment data and the Guaranteed Income Pilot may provide helpful data for this project.
6. Subcommittee Reports, Updates, Next Steps
   1. Regional Convening, Cairo, IL - Kari Branham
      • People want to see progress and accomplishments from the Commission
      • Issues that came up are different from what Northern counties encounter everyday
   2. Pillar 1 - Administrator Kelly
      • Currently lacking a chairperson, Administrator Kelly is working with the Commission to identify a chair
      • Needs a representative from the IDHS Division of Early Childhood, WIC
      • The Hunger Commission provided a lot of information on their work on free and reduced school meals
      • Still working on action items for FY24
   3. Pillar 2 - Administrator Kelly
      • Chaired by Senator Dale Fowler
      • Todd Fuller from the Homelessness Task Force made a presentation on housing initiatives on behalf of Chief Christine Haley
      • Some of the potential issues identified were how to give more awareness on housing support resources; how to address decriminalization of people with mental health issues
   4. Pillar 3 - Administrator Kelly
      • Chaired by Commission member Kate Maehr of the Greater Chicago Food Depository
      • The group looked at a study done by the Urban Institute about the benefit uptake of the State of Illinois which showed that the State is really under enrolled
      • The big goal of this subcommittee is to reduce the gap in benefit enrollment and figure out the barriers faced by eligible individuals and how they can overcome these
      • Some of the strategies that came up are the work related to the Guaranteed Income Pilot and TANF cash increase
      • Exploring to partner with Pillar 1 to look at strategies in increasing WIC uptake
      • Looking at different awareness campaigns that can be utilized to advertise different benefit programs
   5. Pillar 4 - Administrator Kelly
      • Chaired by Commission member Jennifer Groce or the Northern Illinois University
      • Need to bring in experts on transportation issues and legal issues
      • IWGP member Jason Horwitz shared efforts being done by DCEO such as the broadband initiatives, barrier reduction programs
      • Chair Groce raised the idea of private partnership, partnering with large corporations to help improve employment regionally
   6. Pillar 5 - Administrator Kelly
      • Chaired by Commission member Al Lorens from the Illinois Education Association
      • Strategies that were highlighted include addressing ongoing workforce challenges, creating capacity building mechanisms for small growing non-profits to access State funding, streamlining administrative burdens for accessing funding, research into how challenges to Human Service agencies can impact the ability to improve community level outcomes
   7. Next Steps - a list of recommendations will be shared to the respective subcommittees along with the pillar briefs; members will add or mark recommendations that they think should be part of the action items
7. Discussion
   • Need Commission insight to help build the Commission Action Plan items, ideas by pillar
   • How can we further build the strength of our subcommittees?
   • Deputy Director Thomas echoed what Secretary previously mentioned about capturing the works of related poverty and anti-poverty task forces and commissions and make sure that works are not being duplicated.
8. Next Steps and Adjournment
   • Len to send out a complete list of subcommittee membership to IWGP members. IWGP members can send names of staff who they want to be added.
   • Subcommittee members will be receiving emails on generating action items by pillar. The goal is to complete the FY24 Action Plan by June 2023.
   • Subcommittees will meet again to finalize action items probably in May.
   • Dana and Kari may reach out for more information on the IWGP annual report which hopefully will be done by the end of April
   • Secretary moved to adjourn and Deputy Director Staley seconded.
   • The meeting was adjourned at 11:25am.