Agenda and Minutes - Pillar 3 subcommittee meeting May 15, 2023

Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee: Pillar 5 Support Trusted Community Based Providers to Serve the Needs of those In Deep Poverty

Second Quarter Meeting

Monday, May 15, 2023, 9:30-10:30 AM

Recording

Members:

Appointment Member Affiliation
Chair Kate Maehr Executive Director and CEO Greater Chicago Food Depository
Commission Member Dr. Charles A. Montorio-Archer President and CEO, One Hope United
Commission Member Senator Dale Fowler Illinois State Senator
Commission Member Senator Kimberly Lightford Illinois State Senator
Commission Member Audra Wilson President and CEO Shriver Center on Poverty Law
IWGP Member Marc Staley Deputy Director, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
IWGP Member Jenny Aguirre Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
Public Member Erion Malasi Director of Policy & Advocacy, Economic Security for Illinois
Public Member Meredith Byers UniServ Director, Illinois Education Association
Public Member Misuzu Schexnider Program Director, Inclusive Economy Lab
Public Member Niya Kelly Director of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Public Member Meegan Durgan Adell Fellow, New America Chicago
Public Member Elizabeth Ojeda-Jimenez NEA Director, Illinois Education Association
Public Member Jeremy Rosen Director of Economic Justice, Shriver Center on Poverty Law
IDHS SMEs Leslie Cully Associate Director, Office of FCRCs, IDHS-FCS

Administrator: Kari Branham, IDHS Special Projects Administrator

IDHS SMEs: Leslie Cully, FCS Associate Director, Office of FCRCs

Agenda:

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: February 9, 2023
  4. Group Development of Specific Action Goals
  5. Next Steps and Adjournment

Meeting Minutes

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Audra Wilson - Acting Chair; Poverty Commission member
  2. Kim Tate - representative from the Office of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Poverty Commission member
  3. Carrie Thomas - IWGP member
  4. Jenny Aguirre - IWGP member
  5. Marc Staley - IWGP member
  6. Erion Malasi - subcommittee public member
  7. Misuzu Schexnider - subcommittee public member
  8. Meegan Dugan Adell - subcommittee public member
  9. Jeremy Rosen - subcommittee public member
  10. Sophie Milam - representative of Chair Kate Maehr, Poverty Commission member

Administrator: Kari Branham, IDHS Special Projects Administrator

Guest: Matthew Rodriguez - facilitator, Equity Imperative

Chair Audra Wilson called the meeting to order at 9:34 AM.

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call - Chair Wilson led the roll call and introductions.
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: February 9, 2023 - Member Jeremy Rosen made a motion to approve seconded by Member Erion Malasi. The group unanimously approved the February 9th meeting minutes.
  4. Group Development of Specific Action Goals for Pillar 3 FY2024 - facilitator
    • Mr. Matthew Rodriguez gave an overview of the goal of the brainstorming and how the brainstorming will be done as well as what the next step will be.
    • A working document was shared among the group where members wrote their recommended goals for Pillar 3.
    • Ms. Sophie Milam asked how the June 30, 2024 target date was set. Mr. Rodriguez clarified that it is not a set statute. It is the end of the fiscal year and it was used as something tangible that could be worked on and measured for the upcoming fiscal year. The work does not necessarily need to be finished by 2024; it could be beyond 2024 but that it could also be broken down into smaller goals that could be attained within 2024.
    • Members were concerned whether the goal stated on the document could be accomplished within the timeline. Mr. Rodriguez encouraged members to think of components of the goal that could be accomplished from their perspective and that the goal statement can be modified to reflect their perspective.
    • Members were asked to put their names on the goal/s that align strongly with their area of work.
    • With regards to the goal 75% of household eligible for federal and state earned income tax credits (EITC), Member Erion Malasi wrote that the percentage uptake is at 77.6% in Illinois. He shared that on their work on creating a state child tax credit, they have referenced that percentage as a baseline for considering what the uptake in Illinois might look like. A lot of people don't claim the federal earned income tax credit or other federal tax credits because they don't have income and they don't file their taxes. Also, people who use free tax services often don't claim the credits because they have to pay to claim those. And so, his suggestion is to figure out the deficits and what the uptake might look like and create a simplified filing process for those people with little to no income.
    • Member Meegan Adell suggested to specifically focus on people in deep poverty because they have generally lower uptake rates of the EITC.
    • Member Malasi will share the data with regards to the 1 in 5 people taking advantage of the EITC.
    • Chair Wilson suggested to put in a goal on outreach to capture as many people in deep poverty as possible instead of assuming that people are going to be able to connect with assistance thru whatever means they are using. Member Misuzu Schexnider will draft the goal.
    • Ms. Milam shared the initiatives that the Greater Chicago Food Depository and the Hunger Commission have been working on, targeting the populations that are most disconnected such as older adult citizen, children living with non-citizen, adult and non-citizen who are eligible like legal permanent residents. They have been building out marketing and awareness materials which should be ready in the summer. They also want to identify the people that are intersecting with the populations they are trying to reach, how they can arm these people with materials they can distribute, train these people about what's accurate information and what are client specific messages, and ensure that the outreach is addressing specific population with specific messages.
    • Chair Wilson added that the goal on outreach should be consistent across the board recognizing that not everybody who should be aware of these programs are actually aware.
    • Member Carrie Thomas suggested looking at the characteristics of people who are eligible but not receiving benefits as it might help inform outreach strategies and it might also help other agencies that are looking at access issues, too.
    • Mr. Rodriguez asked if there are any training materials for the people who will be disseminating the outreach materials.
    • Member Adell raised the importance of making sure to work on fixing the underlying reasons why people aren't using the benefit system before outreach is done. The system needs to be improved so that people will want to use it. The process can also be streamlined and simplified and make it easy for people to know they are eligible and apply for multiple benefits.
  5. Next Steps and Adjournment
    • Chair Maehr, Chair Wilson, Mr. Rodriguez and Kari will meet again to discuss and distill the outputs.
    • The final output will be presented to the Commission in June.
    • Member Schexnider moved to adjourn the meeting seconded by Member Adell. The group unanimously approved to adjourn at 10:29 AM.