AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 1: Ensure Illinois is Best in Nation for Raising Families, December 1, 2023

Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee on Pillar 1: Ensure IL is Best in Nation for Raising Families

Friday, December 1, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Recording

Members:

Appointment	Member	Affiliation
Chair	Audra Wilson	President and CEO Shriver Center on Poverty Law
Commission Member	Representative Jeff Keicher	Illinois State Representative
Commission Member	Kate Maehr	Greater Chicago Food Depository
Commission Member	Senator Kimberly Lightford	Illinois Senator
Commission Member	Annie Hewitt	Office of Senator Neil Anderson
IWGP Member	Tyler Bohannon	Illinois Department of Agriculture
Public Member	Sophie Milam	VP of Policy and Advocacy, Greater Chicago Food Depository
IDHS SME	Stephanie Bess	Associate Director, Office of Family Wellness, FCS
IDHS SME	Lisa Cohen	Program Manager, SUPR
IDHS SME	Patricia Rooney	Associate Director of Child Care, DEC

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

Facilitators:

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

AGENDA

1. Welcome/Roll Call
2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: October 12, 2023
4. Introduction/Overview
   1. Meeting structure
   2. Review of each current goal and updates
5. Discussion
   1. Gaps between goals and areas of focus
   2. Workgroup sign in
6. Closing
   1. Next Steps
   2. Adjournment

MINUTES

Subcommittee members in attendance:

1. Sophie Milam - Chairperson
2. Audra Wilson - Commission member
3. Rep. Jeff Keicher - Commission member
4. Kimberly Tate - representative of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Commission member
5. Stephanie Bess - IDHS-SME
6. Lisa Cohern - IDHS-SME
7. Patricia Rooney - IDHS-SME

Chair Milam called the meeting to order at 11:02 AM.

1. Welcome/Roll Call - out of 9 members, 7 were present. Quorum was declared.
2. Approval of October 12, 2023 Meeting Minutes - The group unanimously approved the October 12, 2023 meeting minutes.
3. Introduction/Overview - Chair Milam gave an overview of the meeting:
   • Assess focus areas and goals.
   • Discuss goal updates.
4. Discussion
   1. Gaps between goals and areas of focus
      • There is no associated goal for focus area 1 which is "ensure access to high-quality, early childhood services".
      • There are organizations doing work on focus area 1 but they are not currently represented in the subcommittee. It was recommended to connect with a couple of partners and invite them to join the subcommittee to help define a goal for focus area 1 as well as to determine ways that the Poverty Commission can help advance the work that's already happening.
      • Pillar 4 has created a lot of their goals around childcare. The group agreed to understand first what Pillar 4's work is around childcare; if what they're doing answers Pillar 1's focus area, then Pillar 4 can take the lead and Pillar 1 will support in order to avoid duplication of work. If there are gaps that Pillar 1 can fill, then the group can work with Pillar 4.
      • IDHS-SME Trish Rooney shared that the Early Learning Council has a committee on access and equity for early childhood who can work with Pillar 1. She also mentioned Smart Start which will be implemented in the coming fiscal year.
      • On focus area 2 "find a method to replicate the federal child tax credit for families raising children": Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Economic Security Project and a few other organizations are looking at the 2024 General Assembly to strengthen the Child Tax Credit in Illinois.
      • Shriver Center is presently working on a legislative advocacy policy on child tax credit. Commission Chair Wilson stressed that any support from the Commission will be very helpful in their advocacy.
      • On focus area 3 "expand access to free and reduced school meals": Chair Milam gave updates on the work that the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) has been doing on the latter part of the meeting.
      • In relation to goal 1, designing advocacy to continue funding for WIC, there are proposals at the federal level to cut the WIC funding. Thus, there is a timely need to advocate and support the continuing of WIC funds. There is an opportunity to send a letter from the Poverty Commission to the state's congressional delegation in Washington underscoring the need for them to make a decision by January 19th, 2024 on the WIC program funding. Chair Milam will draft the letter and circulate to the group for comments. The letter will have the Poverty Commission logo and not the IDHS logo.
      • Representative Keicher suggested to have only the Commission Chair sign the letter as opposed to having all members sign the letter so it would not get held up by members being not available to sign.
      • Chair Milam suggested it to be a joint letter from the Poverty Commission and Hunger Commission. She will see how the letter can be supported by the Hunger Commission (as she is part of it as well) if it would need a unanimous vote or a majority. She will have the draft letter by Tuesday, December 5th and send it to Stephanie Bess for inputs.
      • Representative Keicher recommended to make the letter a general ask for improvement, no policy proposal with a specific dollar amount, to make it easier for everybody to agree or support the letter.
   2. Updates on WIC - Stephanie Bess
      • There are 166,252 individuals enrolled in the program and have benefits to purchase food items as of October 2023.
      • There are 96 local grantees receiving WIC funding which are primarily local health departments and community-based organizations that do the direct service to the women, infants and children.
      • For FY23, $154.8 M in WIC food benefits were expected to be spent locally. Participants receive monthly food pack as well as a cash value benefit. During the ARPA funding, USDA increased the benefit amount from $9 for children to $25. The average value of a WIC food package is about $77 a month.
      • If the WIC funding is cut and no adequate funding is received from USDA, the benefit amount drops by 56%.
      • As a result of the increased buying power of the participants, the program put back $106 M to the communities for state FY22 and $118 M for state FY23. Thus, the WIC program has a big economic impact as it try to keep local grocery stores open and prevent food deserts.
      • IDHS is doing a lot of outreach to market the program and is now close to hiring a State Communications Coordinator which will allow for more awareness work and get the program more visible in social media. They are trying to connect better with SNAP and Medicaid participants to make sure they are aware that they can be on the WIC program as well.
      • IDHS is also working with GCFD in doing some survey work to investigate if some of the things IDHS is planning are on target.
      • To address some of the barriers on the WIC program, IDHS is also addressing its staffing crisis and was able to get approved by USDA policy to allow a pair of professionals in WIC supervised by a nutritionist or registered dietitian. The agency continues to work to diversify the workforce.
      • Another strategy to address barriers that IDHS is working on is streamlining the process of sharing the proof of income and the agency is close to procuring a system of sending customized messages to participants to inform them of what to bring to their appointments and maybe allow them to submit requirements in advanced to speed up the process.
      • In addressing transportation issues, IDHS is working on a project that will be launched between January and February together with agencies in Chicago targeting local places such as the libraries where families with young children go. Boon County Health Department has already secured a grant they used on WIC on Wheels project, a mobile clinic they've been taking out to reach small communities.
      • IDHS is also doing a lot of partnering with Headstart to get more children engaged in the WIC program.
      • The Commission can also help the WIC program by getting support from the state level in improving the bandwidth of local health departments and strengthening them and for WIC to be included as one of wraparound services that people can get from their local health departments. Stabilizing staffing thru funding in the local health departments will also benefit the WIC program especially in the rural clinics since they share staff for multiple programs.
   3. Update on School Breakfast in Illinois - Chair Milam
      • School meal programs are federally funded where schools are reimbursed for the cost of meals provided to students. Schools receive a certain amount of money per meal based on the income level of the child and based on whether it's breakfast or lunch.
      • The fees that families pay for meals depend on their income level: if a family is under 130% of the federal poverty level (FPL), they get all meals for free; families between 130%-180% FPL pay 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch; while families above 185% FPL pay an average of $1.80 for breakfast and $3 for lunch.
      • Families typically apply for meals when they register for the school year. Some schools are adopting the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) under the 2010 Child Nutrition Bill which eliminates the need for individual applications and is oriented toward low-income schools where particular data points such as the census poverty data are used in determining eligibility.
      • Pre-pandemic data in Illinois show that there is higher participation in lunches over breakfast because students are at school during lunch time while students have to get to school to get breakfast and a lot of families eat breakfast at home. Also, higher income school might not participate in breakfast compared to low-income schools.
      • Most breakfast participants are low-income students who qualify for free meals and a very small number participate in the reduced and paid rate.
      • Pre-pandemic data also shows that breakfast participation in Illinois is pretty low compared to other states and roughly $43 M are left on the table each year for breakfast.
      • Two levers to increase breakfast participation in Illinois: cost and flexibility. CEP is a good strategy in getting eligible schools to participate and the federal government has actually expanded eligibility. All that needs to be done is to get more schools to participate.
      • Flexibility on access also needs to be improved. Traditional breakfast is served in the cafeteria from 8:30-8:50 AM before school begins. Sometimes, buses don't arrive at time, their schedule is not coordinated with the breakfast schedule.
      • There is also a stigma among students; getting breakfast at school is like raising your hand to say that you're low income whereas everybody goes into the cafeteria for lunch.
      • Some ways to improve accessibility includes breakfast in the classroom where everybody's getting breakfast in the classroom while in their seats; and breakfast kiosks which is a grab-and-go breakfast where kids pick breakfast on their way to class.
      • Breakfast after Bell is also a great strategy to increase participation but based on pre-pandemic survey, only 10% of high poverty schools are doing this strategy.
5. Closing
   1. Next Steps
      1. Chair Milam will draft the WIC letter by December 5th and send it to Ms. Bess for inputs.
      2. will look at getting a meeting scheduled in January; will move forward with the letter on child tax credit
   2. Adjournment - Chair Milam motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Ms. Rooney. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn at 12:00 PM.