Agenda and Minutes - Pillar 3 Subcommittee Meeting June 29, 2023

Subcommittee on Pillar 3: Ensure Just and Equitable Access to Economic Security Programs

Thursday, June 29, 2023 3:30-4:30 PM

Recording

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Kate Maehr - Subcommittee Chair; Poverty Commission member
  2. Dr. Charles Montorio-Archer - Commission member
  3. Audra Wilson - Commission member
  4. Carrie Thomas - IWGP member
  5. Marc Staley - IWGP member
  6. Erion Malasi - public member
  7. Meredith Byers - public member
  8. Misuzu Schexnider - public member
  9. Meegan Dugan Adell - subcommittee public member

Administrator:

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

Guest: Matthew Rodriguez, Equity Imperative, facilitator

Agenda:

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Housekeeping
  4. Approval of Meeting Minutes: May 15, 2023
  5. Presentation & Approval of Committee FY24 Action Goals
  6. Next Steps and Adjournment

Minutes:

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call - Len Conant led the roll call; out of 15 voting members, 9 were present; quorum was declared.
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance, none received.
  3. Housekeeping - Administrator Kari Branham reminded attendees that only voting members can vote on committee business, make motions and second motions. IDHS subject matter experts provide knowledge and information. She also reminded members to complete the 2023 IDHS Mandatory trainings, Len will be sending email reminders.
  4. Approval of Meeting Minutes: May 15, 2023 - Dr. Montorio-Archer moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Ms. Wilson. The group unanimously approved the May 15th, 2023 meeting minutes.
  5. 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 30th, 2024, Pillar 3 subcommittee will reduce barriers to benefits by developing an interagency map that links eligibility criteria across benefit options provided. Reference: Carrie, Meegan, Kate, Erion and Audra
      2. By June 30th, 2024, Pillar 3 subcommittee will collaborate with IDoR to include the basic elements for confirming EITC eligibility in the ABE application to analyze current deficits in uptake and create a simplified filing process for those with little-to-no-income in order to increase the number of people in deep poverty who receive their state and federal EITC. Currently, federal EITC uptake is 77.6% in IL, highest is 84% in Rhode Island, lowest is 70% in Alaska. National average is 79.3. Reference: Misuzu, Meegan, Marc, Kate, Jeremy and Erion
      3. By June 30th, 2024, Pillar 3 will design the correct advocacy strategy in order to influence the work of others toward securing guaranteed income programming beyond FY24. Reference: Carrie, Marc, Erion and Audra
      4. By June 30th, 2024, Pillar 3 will create a dissemination strategy to amplify the impact of designed materials from the Commission to End Hunger so as to increase uptake to important programs and benefits, especially those where gaps are most evident. Reference: Kate
    • The goals were presented in a shared document were members indicated whether they agree with the goal or whether it could be refined or strengthened, or if they have refinements on the language.
    • Dir. Staley suggested to define the different kinds of benefits that are being mentioned in goal 1. However, so as not to forget any or limit the list, the group agreed to keep it general for the time being but add "government-funded". The benefits will be determined as the FY24 kicks in and as the group starts to work on the goal.
    • Still for goal 1, Ms. Adell suggested to mention what the map is going to be used for. The group agreed to incorporate some language from the first strategy under Pillar 1 so as to inform the future work with regards to the map.
    • For goal 2, Ms. Adell suggested to remove "little to no income" to avoid redundancy as the statement already mentions deep poverty.
    • For goal 3, the group agreed to remove the word "correct" and "in order to influence the work of others" and the goal would read "…will design the advocacy strategy toward securing guaranteed income programming beyond FY24" so as to encompass key decision-makers as well as others. Dir. Staley informed/reminded the group of the sustainable funding source that is a pilot program with around $4M in the DHS budget and that can be included in goal 3.
    • A clarification was made on goal 4 by Chair Maehr and Ms. Wilson. The idea was to get committee and Commission members to think strategically on how to amplify the work of the IL Commission to End Hunger (ICEH), to connect people with the information/materials that have been developed by ICEH considering that many of the targeted individuals come to the system in different ways with different amount of initial information. Ms. Thomas suggested a revised language, "coordinate with the Commission to End Hunger to develop/support a strategy to get its materials on benefits uptake widely disseminated…". The group agreed that Mr. Rodriguez will revise the language of goal 4 utilizing Ms. Thomas' suggested language.
    • Considering all the revisions and suggestions made, Dr. Montorio-Archer moved to approve the FY24 goals seconded by Mr. Malasi. The group unanimously approved the Pillar 3 subcommittee actionable goals for FY24.
  6. Next Steps and Adjournment
    • Ms. Thomas moved to adjourn the meeting seconded by Ms. Adell. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn at 4:27 PM.