AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 2 Subcommittee Meeting September 29, 2023

Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee on Pillar 2: Stabilize Homes and Communities

Friday, September 29, 2023 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Recording

Members:

Appointment Member Affiliation
Chair Senator Dale Fowler Illinois State Senator
Commission Member Mark Eichenlaub Regional Superintendent of Schools, St. Clair County Regional Office of Education #50
Commission Member Pastor Jason McKinnies Senior Pastor, Southern Illinois Worship Center
Commission Member Angela Curran President & CEO, Pillars Community Health
Commission Member Juan Calderon Chief Operating Officer, The Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Commission Member Senator Kimberly Lightford Illinois State Senator
IWGP Member Dir. Paula Basta Director, Department on Aging
IWGP Member Marc Staley Deputy Director, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
IWGP Member Dr. Janice Phillips Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Public Health
IWGP Member Jason Horwitz Deputy Director for Policy Development Planning and Research, Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
IWGP Member Emily Mueller Assistant Director of Policy and Research
Public Member Elizabeth Vogt Senior Policy Advisor, Department on Aging
Public Member Emily Metz Director for Housing Stability and Inclusive Economy Lab, Chicago
Public Member Hope Babowice President, Mundelein High School Education Support Association
Public Member Courtney Groves Illinois Education Association-Government-Relations Department
Public Member Keesha Readus Communications Associate at Illinois Education Association
IDHS SME Felicia Gray Associate Director, Division of Early Childhood, Illinois Department of Human Services
IDHS SME Christine Haley Statewide Homelessness Chief; Illinois Department of Human Services
IDHS SME Amanda Lake Senior Policy Advisor, Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery
IDHS SME Ryan Rollinson Chief of Staff, Division of Mental Health

Administrator: Dana Kelly, IDHS-Associate Secretary of Disability Services and Education and Facility Operations

Agenda

  1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Housekeeping
  4. Approval of Meeting Minutes: June 29, 2023
  5. Discussion: Implementation of FY24 Action Goals
  6. Next Steps and Adjournment

MINUTES

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Senator Dale Fowler - subcommittee chairman; Commission member
  2. Dir. Paula Basta - IWG member
  3. Elizabeth Vogt - IWG member
  4. Marc Staley - IWG member
  5. Jason Horwitz - IWG member
  6. Erik Turner - representative of Emily Mueller, IHDA (IWG invited member)
  7. Hope Babowice - Public member
  8. Keesha Reedus - Public member
  9. Felicia Gray - public member

Administrator: Dana Kelly, IDHS-Associate Secretary for Disability Services and Education and Facility Operations

Facilitator:

  1. Matthew Rodriguez - facilitator, Equity Imperative
  2. Ni'Shele Jackson - UIC
  3. Karlia Brown - UIC

Guest/s: Dana Hooven - Senator Dale Fowler's legislative staff

  1. Welcome/Introductions/Roll Call - Administrator Kelly led the introductions and roll call. Out of 17 members, 9 were present. Quorum was declared.
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: June 29, 2023 - Dir. Basta motioned to approve, Ms. Babowice seconded. The group unanimously approved the June 29, 2023 meeting minutes.
  4. Discussion: Implementation of FY24 Action Goals - Mr. Rodriguez explained the goals of today's meeting which are for members to pick an action goal/s that they would like to work on and identify colleagues and people who they think they can fill in the gaps that were also outlined with the goals. He also gave a recap of Pillar 2 goals and shared the online working document where the goals and gaps are outlined.
    • FY24 Actionable Goals - Karlia discussed some of the work that's already been done and currently being done related to the Pillar 2 goals.
      1. Fund or support the development of at least 300 supportive housing units through various programming (Permanent Supportive Housing Development Program, Statewide Referral Network units, etc.) - will collaborate with IHDA
      2. Research the existence and impact of different rent control models and document their findings for future advocacy efforts - a lot of literature were identified and member Hope Babowice also shared a literature on rent control; Karlia and team are still narrowing down key takeaways from all the literature
      3. Design an advocacy strategy to influence legislation that will limit the impact of credit checks for rental housing - Karlia and team will speak with some UIC folks about a research on the impact of credit check on rental housing
      4. Create a map of housing affordability and availability for three prioritized regions and comprehensively anaylze the map to identify gaps, with special attention toward availability for individuals with a disability, mental illness, or substance use disorder. Lessons learned will be applied in future efforts to build this same kind of map statewide - identified a few maps of housing affordability or changes on affordability and availability over time
      5. Craft a vision with clear goals and strategic action for each area of work within Pillar 2 beyond FY24 with special attention toward investment in (a) high-quality, specialized supports for persons experiencing mental health and substance use related crises, and (b) interventions that address cycles of trauma and violence in our communities - need to define high quality supports; looking into researches done on trauma response teams; there's effort within IDHS in building an advisory council related to trauma response in Illinois
    • Gaps - Mr. Rodriguez also presented the gaps on the focus areas of Pillar 2 that are not being addressed by the approved actionable goals.
      1. Invest in high-quality, specialized supports for persons experiencing mental health and substance use related crises
      2. Invest in interventions that address cycles of trauma and violence in our communities
    • Members were asked to join a workgroup that corresponds to a goal or gap by putting x beside their name under the goal or gap which they wanted to work on. Workgroups are expected to report progress in the next meeting.
    • Administrator Kelly asked IWGP member Erik Turner if the 300 supportive housing units under goal 1 is a work that IHDA is committed to or engaged with. Mr. Turner confirmed that IHDA is doing a lot of work with regards to permanent supportive housing but he would have to verify the 300 units mentioned with his colleagues at IHDA.
    • Related work on finding housing for persons with developmental disabilities who may need community supports to be successful will be added under Focus Area 2 (specialized supports for persons experiencing mental health and substance abuse-related crises) as suggested by IWGP member Marc Staley. Administrator Kelly also mentioned the investment and funding for additional CILAs and group home environments for people with developmental disabilities.
    • Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities Director, Kimberly Mercer-Schleider will be invited to the subcommittee as suggested by Mr. Staley. Administrator Kelly will reach out.
    • Mr. Turner will reach out to his coworkers who might be able to help with focus area 2.
    • Member Amanda Lake mentioned that there are a lot of subject matter experts from her division as well as from the Division of Mental Health and Office of Firearm Violence Prevention who can be included in the other focus areas. Administrator Kelly (OFVP) agreed and added that focus area 3 might have been designed to look at community investment and supports that prevent firearm violence which is directly related to poverty and so involving somebody from OFVP is really important.
    • Administrator Kelly will prepare a short summary about the Poverty Commission and subcommittee works that can be forwarded to people who will be invited to join the subcommittees. Members can email/forward the summary to people they want to invite and they can copy Administrator Kelly and Len on the email. Members can note on the online working document when they have made the introduction and put the name of the person/s they have invited.
  5. Next Steps and Adjournment
    • Members can start sharing information among their workgroups thru email or if they want to meet among themselves.
    • Ni'Shele also created a document which will be sent to members as well where they can put notes about the goals.
    • A follow up communication will be sent to other members who were not able to join the meeting so they can sign up for a workgroup.
    • Next subcommittee meeting will be in November.
    • Member Jason Horwitz moved to adjourn the meeting, Ms. Vogt seconded. The group unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at 11:56 AM.