Agenda and Minutes - Pillar 5 subcommittee meeting October 11, 2023

Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

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

Wednesday, October 11, 2023 2:00-3:00 PM

Recording

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 13, 2023
5. Discussion: Operationalization of FY24 Action Goals
6. Next Steps and Adjournment

Minutes

Subcommittee members in attendance:

1. Kimberly Tate - Representative of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Commission member
2. Juan Calderon - Commission member
3. Dr. Janice Phillips - IWGP 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: 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

1. Introductions/Welcome/Roll Call - Administrator Kelly led the introductions and roll call. Out of 12 members, eight were present. Quorum was declared.
2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance, none received.
3. Housekeeping
   • Previous Chair, Dr. Charles Montorio-Archer has left his position and is no longer a part of One Hope United. As such, he is no longer a Commission member nor a subcommittee member. Administrator Kelly is serving as the chair in the meantime. She informed members that whoever is willing to step up to be the chair can reach out to her anytime thru email.
   • Administrator Kelly clarified that the Intergenerational Poverty Act does not outline the restrictions on the subcommittees and thus, membership has been kept open for people to join. Poverty Commission members were encouraged to join and chair the subcommittees but since most of them are busy, the chair position is being opened to all members to keep the work going.
4. Approval of Meeting Minutes: June 13, 2023 - Member Becky Salazar motioned to approve the minutes, member Deborah Ward-Mitchell seconded. The group unanimously approved the previous minutes.
5. Discussion: Operationalization 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.
   1. FY24 Actionable Goals - Ni'Shele discussed some of the work that's already been done and currently being done related to the Pillar 2 goals. Mr. Rodriguez, Ni'Shele and team will continue to work on the goals to help members bring the goals to life by June 2024.
      1. Create an integrated network of trusted community-based providers who serve those experiencing deep poverty to ensure ongoing stakeholder engagement, practice sharing, and regular dissemination of opportunities. - "integrated network" needs to be defined; IDHS has a database of trusted community-based service providers but so far, Ni'Shele has only found one for the Family Community Services Division IDHS: List of Community Service Agencies Serving Immigrants (state.il.us), none yet found for the other divisions.
      2. Continue scheduling meetings, having conversations, and increasing the awareness of key decision-makers to ensure sustained caregiving funding, as well as securing COLA to community-based providers to ensure wage increases for frontline human service workers, who serve those experiencing deep poverty. - lots of resources on cost of living (COLA) but there is a need to define whether COLA in city, state or region. Member Lauren Wright shared Illinois' Partners for Human Service report on cost of living More-Than-Essential2021-Rates-FullReport.pdf (illinoispartners.org).
      3. Support IDHS in beginning to comprehensively assess state contracts and recommend increased equitable funding to community-based organizations serving underrepresented communities. - US Department of Labor has a tool for Contractor Assessment; need to identify somebody from the Comptroller's office who can talk about their process; need to define "equitable funding" and "underrepresented community needs".
   2. Gaps - Mr. Rodriguez also presented the gaps on the focus areas of Pillar 2 that are not being addressed by the approved actionable goals.
      • No attention being dedicated to securing support for "unpaid caregivers".
   3. Discussion:
      • Administrator Kelly pointed out the need to determine what does it mean to create an integrated network of community providers and what's the work involved in it as well as flushing out that the other goals mean. Any members with expertise or can potentially support the gap on unpaid caregiving workforce were asked to add context or possibly add an extra goal for this focus area.
      • 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 or even areas they are stuck on in the next meeting.
      • Mr. Rodriguez also explained how succeeding subcommittee meetings will be structured: a portion will be dedicated for the workgroups to discuss by group and then come back to the meeting as a whole group.
      • Senator Lightford's representative, Kim Tate sent the goals to Senator Lightford and will put x once the Senator picks.
      • Ni'Shele asked Administrator Kelly if she knows a person at the Comptroller's Office or if she knows the right office to reach out to regarding goal 3. Administrator Kelly gave points for clarification as to where the group wants to go regarding goals 3: state contracts are publicly available, what degree of reviewing does the group want to do- review a set of contracts or review standard contract terms; or does the group want to interview providers instead and ask them what contracting challenges do they encounter may it be on the process or the actual contract terms.
      • Ms. Wright shared an infographic on how the state of Illinois can improve equity and well-being thru improvement of contracts, payments and court of claims 2023 Government Contracting Report - Final Infographic.pdf - Google Drive.
      • Ms. Wright thinks that the issues do not lie in the Comptroller's Office but in the inconsistency across state agencies often and how contracts and timely payments are implemented or not implemented. The report/infographic can be used as a starting point for goal 3 according to Administrator Kelly and added that if there are any other information, how should it be packaged and communicated to make a statutory change.
6. Next Steps and Adjournment
   • Members will receive an email with the list of people (with email addresses) who signed up for each goal and encouraging each workgroup to start conversations, identify or share resources. Mr. Rodriguez's team will put together a guidance document with guiding questions that workgroups can use to start discussions. It will also contain the spreadsheet of the work that Ni'Shele and Karlia have already done and access to the links that have already been shared. The email will either come from him or Administrator Kelly.
   • Members who are not present in today's meeting will also be asked to sign up for a goal.
   • The meeting was adjourned at 2:25 PM.