AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 4 Subcommittee Meeting December 4, 2023

Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee on Pillar 4: Address Barriers to Paid Work, Education, and Advancement

Monday, December 4, 2023, 12:00-1:00 PM

Recording

Members:

Appointment	Member	Affiliation
Commission Member	Senator Kimberly Lightford	Illinois State Senator
IWGP Member	Jane Flanagan	Director, Illinois Department of Labor
IWGP Member	Anna Koepel	Legislative Director, Illinois Department of Labor
IWGP Member	Jason Horwitz	Deputy Director, Office of Policy Development, Planning, and Research, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
IWGP Member	Carrie Thomas	Deputy Director, Business Services, Illinois Department of Employment Security
Public Member	Erion Malasi	Director of Policy and Advocacy, Economic Security for Illinois
Public Member	Heather Becker	Region 12 Chairperson, Illinois Education Association
Public Member	Crystal Bush	UniServ Director, Illinois Education Association
Public Member	Amy Evans	Public Member
Public Member	Gina Harris	Member, Illinois Education Association; Board member, Oak Park and River Forest High School
Public Member	Jeremy Rosen	Director of Economic Justice, Shriver Center on Poverty Law
IDHS SME	Jennifer Gentile	Deputy Director, Bureau of Clinical Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities
IDHS SME	Sinthu Ramalingam	Senior Policy Advisor, DHS-Division of Early Childhood

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: September 28, 2023
4. Housekeeping
   1. Chairperson - none yet
   2. Workgroup sign ups
5. Review of Goals and Collective Input
6. Next Steps and Adjournment

MINUTES

Subcommittee members in attendance:

1. Kimberly Tate - representative of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Commission member
2. Jason Horwitz - IWGP member
3. Carrie Thomas - IWGP member
4. Erion Malasi - public member
5. Crystal Bush - public member
6. Amy Evans - public member
7. Gina Harris - public member
8. Jeremy Rosen - public member
9. Jennifer Gentile - IDHS-SME

Facilitators:

1. Matthew Rodriguez - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy
2. Ni'Shele Jackson - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy

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

1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
   • Administrator Kelly informed the group that she is serving as Chair interim of the subcommittee while working on finding a replacement for previous Chair Jennifer Groce.
   • Members wrote their name and affiliation on the chat as the form of roll call.
2. Approval of September 28, 2023 Meeting Minutes - Approval of minutes was done in the latter part of the meeting as more members joined and quorum was reached.
   • Administrator Kelly moved to approve the September 28, 2023 minutes seconded by Ms. Carrie Thomas. The group unanimously approved the September 28, 2023 meeting minutes.
3. Review of Goals and Collective Input
   1. Overview
      • Administrator Kelly provided the overview of Pillar 4's focus areas/strategies and FY24 actionable goals.
      • On the meeting agenda, updates on the FY24 goals will be discussed and any other needs that should be done to achieve the goals. Additional goals can also be created to answer the focus areas (gaps) that are not being addressed by the FY24 actionable goals. Work that is being done in relation to the gaps can be brought up and possibly those that the Commission can lift up.
   2. Goal updates
      1. Goal 1 - IDHS has already contracted a team called IECAM to collect data on childcare services.
         • Dawn Thomas from the group has volunteered to join the subcommittee.
         • IECAM created a map of licensed childcare centers and compiled a report which can be used by the subcommittee to get a map of regional demand for childcare services. The map can be found in the website https://iecam.illinios.edu/
         • IECAM can do the map based on the subcommittee's need.
      2. Goal 2 - Illinois already has guidelines on what quality childcare services means and it's called Accelerate Illinois Standards.
         • Birth to Five is an organization that organizes local stakeholders and families to create a statewide mechanism to engage them in early childhood education and care expansion. However, they do not do any legislative work. Birth to Five already has a relationship with IDHS and the subcommittee can facilitate a conversation to understand what legislative support is needed.
         • Len and Ni'Shele to work on bringing together Dawn Thomas, Sinthu Ramalingam from DEC and a representative from Birth to Five to talk about Goal 1 and 2.
      3. Goal 3 - The goal may have originated from Mr. Dan Lyonsmith who already left IDHS. No replacement has been made.
         • Administrator Kelly will try to get information from FCS and provide update in the next meeting.
         • Matthew and team to connect with the Office of Employment and Training at DCEO to discuss how they use barrier reduction funds.
         • Since Goal 3 is a DHS-focused goal, DCEO's input could be on how their barrier reduction funds are used, if they use it similarly with DHS and whether there are lessons learned that can be shared.
         • Mr. Horwitz shared that their barrier reduction funds have been pretty limited and only when they had more state funding over the past few years that they were able to ramped up their barrier reduction funds. Being able to coordinate those efforts to ramp up the barrier reduction funds can be noted as an accomplishment.
         • One of the ways that DCEO deploys their barrier reduction funds thru ARPA was the Job Training and Economic Development (JTED) grant and this is still rolling out and will be going over the next couple of years even though they're getting to the end of the line for ARPA fund availability.
         • In addition, CEJA came with a dedicated barrier reduction fund for the workforce development programs that were rolling out specifically for clean energy occupations and will be going until 2045 per the legislation.
         • Another goal can be created around DCEO's related programs e.g. evaluation or study of the impact of barrier reduction resources to argue for more funding moving forward to ensure sustainability. Administrator Kelly will find out more about the IDHS perspective in relation to the current goal and the subcommittee can continue to dig in whether the goal can be expanded to capture DCEO's programs.
   3. Gaps/other focus areas with no related goals
      1. Work with paid leave updates as shared by Mr. Jeremy Rosen
         • The Paid Leave Act was passed in January 2023 providing many workers in Illinois (except in Chicago and Cook County which will have their own version of the law) with five days (40 hours) of paid leave that can be used for any reason.
         • The Illinois Department of Labor is currently accepting comments on their rules and regulations for the program which will take in effect in January 1, 2024.
         • Mr. Rosen will circulate to the group information about the existing law.
         • Department of Labor can be invited to the group to speak more about the implementation process and learn how the group can support.
      2. Broadband services
         • Mr. Horwitz will send updates to Administrator Kelly and see if their Broadband office could use any support from the group in pushing certain things forward. They can also be invited to the group.
      3. Reentry services
         • At the DHS level, there is a new Director for Reentry Services who has been brought on to lead the reentry work. They are looking at barriers to reentry that are not only related to job access but also to housing access, access to public services, public benefits, etc.
         • IDHS is also working with different stakeholders to create a working group to come together and coordinator where the gaps are for returning residents, what they need to have prior to their release in order to be set up for success.
         • IDHS is also looking to hold listening sessions across the state with both returning residents as well as incarcerated residents to talk about what their needs might be prior to release and post release.
      4. Investing in Apprenticeship, Work-based Learning and Barrier Reduction Programs
         • Ms. Carrie Thomas shared the link to the apprenticeship program in Illinois which is led by the local workforce areas and covered by the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) and the IWIB Apprenticeship Committee. Apprenticeship Illinois Apprenticeship Illinois (illinoisworknet.com)
         • There are different apprenticeship programs in Illinois from pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship and even beyond pre- and apprenticeships. The programs are not only from DES and DCEO but also from community colleges.
         • Mr. Horwitz suggested one issue where there might be a potential greater impact on poverty reduction is improving equitable access to apprenticeships. Some programs are fairly competitive but some can more likely be accessed if one happens to know the right people. One potential solution is good apprenticeship programs where graduates of those programs have a pipeline to getting into the apprenticeship whether or not they had any sort of previous connection. But even coming out of those programs, there is not much uptake at least among some apprenticeship programs.
         • Administrator Kelly also suggested that an expert on the programs might be helpful to know what is currently underway or what are the barriers and how to navigate them.
         • Ms. Thomas shared the Apprenticeship Committee's charge and priorities 2020_2022 APPROVED IWIB Strategic Plan .pdf (illinoisworknet.com) pages 9-10.
         • Expand access to legal counsel for Illinoisans and ensure access to court and legal processes
         • Ms. Crystal Bush will reach out to associations and see what's already available.
         • Administrator Kelly will also reach out to some advocates that could invited to the group. Members are also encouraged to recommend any advocates that can be invited.
         • Mr. Rosen will email Administrator Kelly with some contacts from the Legal Aid Community.
4. Next Steps
   • Administrator Kelly reiterated that the subcommittee is still looking for a chair to lead meetings. The person need not be a Commission member and the only additional work would be attending a 30-min prep meeting before the larger subcommittee meeting just to gauge how to lead the meeting forward.
   • Len and Ni'Shele to work on bringing together Dawn Thomas, Sinthu Ramalingam from DEC and a representative from Birth to Five to talk about Goal 1 and 2.
   • Administrator Kelly will try to get information from FCS and provide update in the next meeting on IDHS' barrier reduction programs.
   • Matthew and team to connect with the Office of Employment and Training at DCEO to discuss how they use barrier reduction funds.
   • Mr. Rosen will circulate to the group information about the existing law (Paid Leave Act).
   • Mr. Horwitz will send updates (on Broadband programs/services) to Administrator Kelly and see if their Broadband office could use any support from the group in pushing certain things forward.
   • Ms. Crystal Bush will reach out to legal associations and see what's already available.
   • Administrator Kelly will also reach out to some legal advocates that could invited to the group. Members are also encouraged to recommend any advocates that can be invited.
   • Mr. Rosen will email Administrator Kelly with some contacts from the Legal Aid Community.
   • Invite expert/s from the Department of Labor to speak about the implementation process of the Paid Leave Act and learn how the group can support.
   • Invite expert/s from the Apprenticeship Committee to speak about Apprenticeship in Illinois.
5. Adjournment - Administrator Kelly motioned to adjourn seconded by Ms. Gina Harris. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 12:58 PM.