Agenda - Pillar 5 Subcommittee Meeting June 13, 2023

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

Tuesday, June 13, 2023 1:30-2:30 PM

Recording

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Dr. Charles A. Montorio-Archer - Acting chair; Commission member
  2. Pastor Jason McKinnies - Commission member
  3. Kimberly Tate - Representative of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Commission member
  4. Jennifer Hebel - IWGP member
  5. Becky Salazar - public member
  6. Lauren Wright - public member
  7. Deborah Ward-Mitchell - public member
  8. Jennifer Gentile - public member

Administrator:

  1. Kari Branham, IDHS Special Projects Administrator
  2. Len Conant, Office Coordinator, IDHS

IDHS SMEs:

  1. Lesley Schwartz, Bureau Chief, Early Childhood Development, DEC
  2. Francisco Alvarado - DRS-Administrator of Operations
  3. Letitia Doe - DRS-ICRE Roosevelt-Superintendent
  4. Phillis Johnson Haywood - DRS-Vocational Rehab Counselor

Guest: Matthew Rodriguez - facilitator, Equity Imperative

Agenda:

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: February 21, 2023 and May 12, 2023
  4. Presentation & Approval of Committee FY24 Action Goals
  5. Next Steps and Adjournment

Minutes:

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
    • Chair Montorio welcomed the group to the meeting
    • Members and guests introduced themselves for the roll call including new attendee, public member Deborah Ward-Mitchell
    • Six voting members were present out of 11: Chair Montorio, Pastor McKinnies, Ms. Hebel, Ms. Salazar, Ms. Wright and Ms. Ward-Mitchell. Quorum was attained.
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance, none received.
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: February 9, 2023 and May 12, 2023
    • Pastor McKinnies moved to approve the two sets of minutes, seconded by Ms. Haywood. The group unanimously approved the two sets of minutes.
  4. Presentation & Approval of Committee FY24 Action Goals
    • Mr. Rodriguez gave a recap of the previous meeting and presented the three action goals distilled from the discussion.
      1. By June 30, 2024, Pillar 5 subcommittee will create a network of trusted community-based providers who serve those experiencing deep poverty to ensure ongoing stakeholder engagement, practice sharing, and the regular dissemination of opportunities.
      2. By June 30, 2024, Pillar 5 subcommittee will continue schedule meetings, having conversations, and increasing the awareness of key decision-makers to ensure not only sustained State caregiver funding, but also securing COLA increases to community-based providers to ensure wage increases for frontline human service workers who serve those experiencing deep poverty directly. (advocacy goal)
      3. By June 30, 2024, Pillar 5 subcommittee will support IDHS in comprehensively assessing state contracts and make recommendations to increase funding to those trusted community-based organizations that are geared toward serving underrepresented communities.
    • One goal previously shared by Ms. Haywood will be shared instead to Pillar 4: Address Barriers to Paid Work, Education, and Advancement- "By June 30, 2024, provide more awareness around governmental programs aimed at decreasing the educational gap for children with learning and other disabilities. For example, DHS STEP program that allows funding to these families for educational opportunities after high school graduation."
    • The goals were presented in a shared document were members indicated whether they agree with the goal or whether they have refinements on the language. Ms. Salazar was having trouble typing on the document and so Mr. Rodriguez wrote "I agree" for her on goals 1 and 2.
    • On goal 2, Pastor McKinnies asked if the group will be provided or have a discussion about who the key decision-makers are, for the ones going to have the conversations with them, to utilize or influence to make that awareness and bring that to bear.
    • Mr. Rodriguez said that the focus right now is "what" the group will do for FY24. The discussion will transition into the "how" which will include Pastor's point, a list of key stakeholders that will need to be engaged in the conversations such as those who has legislative influence to ensure that funds are appropriated for the needed services.
    • Chair Montorio added that when the group transitions into the "how", they should concentrate on the biggest decision-makers, maybe a list of 5 and so the group can focus their advocacy on a specific way.
    • Ms. Hebel suggested to change the language in goal 1 to say that the committee "will begin to develop" because creating a network will be an ongoing process as new providers come and as the committee continues to reach new people. The group unanimously agreed with the suggestion.
    • Ms. Hebel also suggested to change the language in goal 3 to "will begin to support…" to reflect that comprehensive assessment of contracts is an ongoing and lengthy process. The group unanimously agreed with the suggestion.
    • On goal 2, Ms. Wright suggested to remove the word "increases" and just say "COLA" to avoid redundancy. The group unanimously agreed with the suggestion.
    • On goal 2, the group unanimously agreed to change the language to read: "…not only sustained caregiver funding, and also securing COLA…." to encompass paid and unpaid caregivers as well as those individuals that are not represented but are providing care to their families.
    • On goal 3, the group unanimously agreed to shift the language to read: "…and recommend increased equitable funding…" to include the word equitable and make the statement stronger rather than passive. The group also unanimously agreed to remove the word "trusted" to avoid ambiguity and to delete the phrase "that are geared towards" to make the statement direct and clearer. The goal should read "By June 30, 2024, Pillar 5 subcommittee will support IDHS in comprehensively assessing state contracts and recommend increased equitable funding to community-based organizations serving underrepresented communities".
    • Ms. Haywood moved to accept the goals with corrected recommendations seconded by Ms. Ward-Mitchell. The group unanimously approved the goals for FY24.
  5. Next Steps and Adjournment
    • Mr. Rodriguez will modify the document based on the approved changes and will forward to Chair Montorio.
    • Dr. Montorio suggested to start the conversation on target advocacy as one of the next steps.
    • Dr. Montorio, Kari and Matthew will reconvene to talk about next steps and scheduling another set of meeting.
    • The approved FY24 goals will be shared with the Commission during its next meeting on July 13th, 2023.
    • Pastor McKinnies moved to adjourn seconded by member Lauren Wright. The group unanimously approved to adjourn at 2:35 PM.