Agenda and Minutes - Pillar 5 Subcommittee Meeting November 6, 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

Monday, November 6, 2023 12:00-1:00 PM

Recording

Members:

Appointment Member Affiliation
Public Member Lauren Wright (Acting Chair) Executive Director, Illinois Partners for Human Services
Commission Member Albert Llorens (Chair - on medical leave) Vice President, Board of Directors, Illinois Education Association
Commission Member Senator Dale Fowler Illinois State Senator
Commission Member Jason Mckinnies Senior Pastor, Southern Illinois Worship Center
Commission Member Juan Calderon Chief Operating Officer, The Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Commission Member Senator Kimberly Lightford Illinois State Senator
IWGP Member Jennifer Hebel Special Assistant for Research, Illinois Department on Aging
IWGP Member Dr. Janice Phillips Assistant Director, Illinois Department of Public Health
Public Member Meredith Byers UniServ Director, Illinois Education Association
Public Member Becky Salazar Egyptian Area Agency on Aging
Public Member Deborah Ward-Mitchell Assistant Director, Infant Care Center District 205, National Education Association
Public Member Johnny Ramos
Public Member Jennifer Gentile Deputy Director, Bureau of Clinical Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities
IDHS SMEs Lesley Schwartz Bureau Chief, Early Childhood Development, DEC
IDHS SMEs Letitia Doe DRS-ICRE Roosevelt-Superintendent
IDHS SMEs Phillis Johnson Haywood DRS-Vocational Rehab Counselor

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. Approval of Meeting Minutes: October 11, 2023
  4. Review of Goals and Collective Input
  5. Discussion and Breakout session - workgroups discuss accomplishments and updates on gaps
    1. Workgroup 1/Goal 1
    2. Workgroup 2/Goal 2
    3. Workgroup 3/Goal 3
  6. Report Back
  7. Next Steps and Adjournment

MINUTES

Subcommittee members in attendance:

  1. Lauren Wright - Acting Chair
  2. Juan Calderon - Commission member
  3. Jennifer Hebel - IWGP member
  4. Becky Salazar - public member
  5. Jennifer Gentile - public member
  6. Lesley Schwartz - IDHS SME/public member

Facilitator:

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

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

  1. Introductions/Welcome/Roll Call - Only 6 members were present out of 15 members. Quorum was not attained.
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance, none received.
  3. Housekeeping - Administrator Kelly introduced Lauren Wright as the new acting chair of the subcommittee. Chair Wright gave a short background information about herself.
  4. Approval of Meeting Minutes: October 11, 2023 - The group decided to delay the approval of minutes to the next meeting due to lack of quorum.
  5. Review of Goals and Collective Input
    • Mr. Rodriguez gave a recap of the previous meeting and mentioned that workgroups were created by members signing up for a goal that they want to work on. Ms. Hebel who was not able to attend the last meeting said she will check with their Legal staff on which goal she can sign up because they have restrictions on such things but mentioned that it would probably be goal 1.
    • Mr. Rodriguez also mentioned the guidance worksheet that was previously shared containing the initial steps that were already identified and potential steps that were offered for the workgroups.
  6. Discussion and Breakout session - because there were not enough members to do breakout sessions, the group decided to stay in one large group and discussed updates per goal.
    1. Goal 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
      • Trusted community-based providers can be defined as those who have already contracted with the state, have gone through the rigmarole of contracting with the state
      • The next step can be getting a list of organizations starting from IDHS, who are working in deep poverty areas that have been identified geographically to understand how many those organizations are, how many in each region and what services they are providing through their contracts with IDHS
      • Chair Wright can also pull out a database from Illinois Partners
      • Two lenses can be used to identify the organizations, one is geographically and two is according to services they provide
      • Ms. Schwartz raised the importance of identifying service gaps in the poverty areas that have already been identified in the strategic plan. Administrator Kelly agreed; the work does not need to be limited to the goals that have been identified, it is very important to determine where the service gaps are and it could come up from cross-checking the listings.
      • Cross-checking the list from Illinois Partners and DHS can also generate a list of organizations that have not contracted with any state agencies but are trusted by the community and have been providing services in poverty areas
      • Also important to consider is being in a list or in a network should not add any burden to these organizations, instead, what will be the added value of being in the list. The value could be getting notified of any funding opportunities from the state that is related to the work they are doing in the community or any kind of opportunities that would help their work.
      • Mr. Rodriguez said that sharing opportunities to these organizations is already an example of ensuring stakeholder engagement, practice sharing and regular dissemination of opportunities which is the second half of the subcommittees goal.
      • Chair Wright also suggested conducting listening sessions as an added value for these organizations where they can have the opportunity to be heard about what kind of resources or support they need to meet the people living in poverty
      • In terms of prioritizing, the first step is to create the list of providers, identifying those organizations working to meet the needs of those in poverty (from the IDHS list and the Illinois Partners list); 2nd is to identify the overlap between the lists and identify which organizations would be interested in getting plugged into opportunities; 3rd is creating the listserv; and fourth is conducting listening sessions or workshops for these providers.
      • Administrator Kelly will check with IDHS Finance/Budget if there is a centralized list of providers with contracts to IDHS instead of asking per division. Timeline: week of November 27th.
      • One thing that could be brought to the group is a potential listing of services that the group is considering as addressing the needs of those in deep poverty.
      • Chair Wright can pull a list based on regions as well as a list based on services but she need to know what are the regions she needs to pull from (regions that have been defined as deep poverty regions). Administrator Kelly can provide the regional mapping from the Poverty Commission report. Timeline for Chair Wright: by December 8th.
  7. Next Steps and Adjournment
    • The link to the sign up worksheet will be send to members who have not signed up yet to any goal.
    • Administrator Kelly moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Chair Wright. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 12:59 PM.