AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 3 subcommittee meeting May 10, 2024

Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee on Pillar 3: Ensure Just and Equitable Access to Economic Security Programs

Meeting Agenda and Minutes

Friday, May 10, 2024, 10:30-11:30 AM

Recording

Members:

Appointment	Member	Affiliation
Chair	Sophie Milam	VP of Policy and Advocacy, Greater Chicago Food Depository
Commission Member	Senator Kimberly Lightford	Illinois State Senator
Commission Member	Audra Wilson	President and CEO Shriver Center on Poverty Law
IWGP Member	Marc Staley	Deputy Director, Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget
IWGP Member	Dana Kelly	Chief of Staff, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
IWGP Member	Carrie Thomas	Deputy Director, Business Services, Illinois Department of Employment Security
Public Member	Erion Malasi	Director of Policy & Advocacy, Economic Security for Illinois
Public Member	Meredith Byers	UniServ Director, Illinois Education Association
Public Member	Misuzu Schexnider	Program Director, Inclusive Economy Lab
Public Member	Niya Kelly	Director of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Public Member	Meegan Dugan Adell	Fellow, New America Chicago
Public Member	Elizabeth Ojeda-Jimenez	NEA Director, Illinois Education Association
Public Member	Jeremy Rosen	Director of Economic Justice, Shriver Center on Poverty Law
IDHS-SME	Leslie Cully	FCS Associate Director, Office of FCRCs

Agenda:

1. Welcome/Roll Call
2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: February 23, 2024
4. Review of Goals and Collective Input
   1. Goal 1 - Develop an interagency map that links eligibility criteria across benefit options provided to help inform future work to enhance access to benefits and reduce barriers to all state benefits.
   2. Goal 2 - Collaborate with the Illinois Department of Revenue to include the basic elements for confirming Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the Application for Benefits Eligibility (ABE) to analyze current deficits in uptake and create a simplified filing process in order to increase the number of people in deep poverty who receive their state and federal EITC
   3. Goal 3 - Design an advocacy strategy toward securing guaranteed income programming beyond FY24
   4. Goal 4 - Coordinate with the Commission to End Hunger to develop/support a dissemination strategy to amplify the impact of designed materials so as to increase the uptake to important programs and benefits, especially those where gaps are most relevant
5. Discussion
   • FY25 Goal Planning
6. Next Steps
7. Adjournment

Minutes

Subcommittee members in attendance:

1. Sophie Milam - Chair
2. Audra Wilson - Commission member
3. Marc Staley - IWGP member
4. Misuzu Schexnider - public member
5. Meegan Dugan Adell - public member

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, IDHS-Chief Policy Officer

Facilitators:

1. Matthew Rodriguez - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
2. Nancy Toure - IRRPP

Minutes

1. Welcome/Roll Call - attendees put their names and affiliations in the chat.
2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: February 23, 2024 - postponed for the next meeting due to lack of quorum.
4. Review of Goals and Collective Input
   1. Focus area 1 - Create a single, accessible platform for individuals to enroll in all state benefits
      1. Goal 1 - Develop an interagency map that links eligibility criteria across benefit options provided to help inform future work to enhance access to benefits and reduce barriers to all state benefits.
      2. Goal 2 - Collaborate with the Illinois Department of Revenue to include the basic elements for confirming Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the Application for Benefits Eligibility (ABE) to analyze current deficits in uptake and create a simplified filing process in order to increase the number of people in deep poverty who receive their state and federal EITC
         • Discussed creating a crosswalk that mapped eligibility application criteria from public benefit programs that are already at ABE; added child tax credit
         • One potential action item is to get guidance from folks who are closer to the work to identify opportunities on what else can be done to achieve the goal
         • Misuzu mentioned direct file and that it could be added to the crosswalk. It will likely come to Illinois next year.
         • Meegan added that IRS did a pilot at 13 states and they are looking for more states to pilot the program for FY25. New America, IDHS and IDOR have started discussions on how to hash out workflows to be able to share data in a way that would remove steps in getting EIC to people and ultimately the CTC as well. New America is also collaborating with COFI (Community Organizing and Family Issues) and New Practice Lab to help design the project. The project will ideally increase the number of low-income families receiving tax credits.
         • The group also sees the project as a steppingstone in figuring out solutions on how to streamline ABE for different benefit application and to determine different ways different departments can work together thus, hopefully moving along progress on Goal 1.
         • The group is 85% sure of funding for user testing and work is anticipated to start in July. Shared statement of objectives across both departments will be available to the departments between July and October. Results from background work, client journey map, feedback from parents and actual potential users are expected to be available early November particularly to policy makers in the hopes that the GA will provide funding to the departments to facilitate the next stage. Misuzu suggested reaching out to Families and Workers Fund which supports modernization of benefits. HOMEPAGE - The Families & Workers Fund (familiesandworkers.org)
         • The project is most likely to start with SNAP recipients and estimates to start with around 36,000 families.
         • Matthew asked if exploring the option for families to opt out from state benefits would be a potential FY25 goal.
         • Meegan mentioned that the group is already thinking of how people in poverty can automatically get enrolled in benefits that should be made available to them. DHS is also already exploring using AI tools to notify the department who is eligible for other benefits.
         • Meegan also shared that in Washington state, people who qualify for food stamps are automatically made eligible for the state financial aid for college which could be done in Illinois thru a legislation.
         • Audra added that a good publicity or dissemination strategy would be needed for a program to be accepted by the target population. Meegan shared that with the direct file, links were put up at the IRS website which were targeted for the younger generation and information were shared thru news stations targeted for the older population.
   2. Focus area 2 - Increase uptake, access, and value of existing public benefits for those in extreme poverty
      • Goal 4 - Coordinate with the Commission to End Hunger to develop/support a dissemination strategy to amplify the impact of designed materials so as to increase the uptake to important programs and benefits, especially those where gaps are most relevant
   3. Focus area 3 - Deploy direct cash assistance programs to lift families out of deep poverty
      • Goal 3 - Design an advocacy strategy toward securing guaranteed income programming beyond FY24
5. Discussion - FY25 goal planning
   1. Focus area 1 potential FY25 goals
      1. Use SNAP/Medicaid data to identify and engage WIC-eligible households - there's some efforts underway to use SNAP data to screen for WIC-eligible household and then do some outreach to them; Chair Milam wants to make sure to use Medicaid data as well; she can circle back on the topic on the next meeting or invite experts to talk about the project
      2. Identify EITC/CTC eligibility in ABE and encourage families to complete tax return
   2. Focus area 2 potential FY25 goals
      1. May-August: Summer EBT awareness - potential action could be pushing the program out to the Commission listserv and possibly help raise awareness and connect families to the program
      2. September-forward: SNAP and/or WIC
   3. Focus area 2 potential FY25 goals - Convene experts for landscape review and identify action items for Pillar 3; use the next meeting to get a landscape update on the Guaranteed Income Bill and other programs that are happening to identify roles that the Commission can play to advance such programs and efforts
6. Next Steps
   1. Chair Milam, Matthew and Priya will draft either a modification of the current goals or extension to the current goals as well as potential addition such as considering taking some steps towards looking at opt out approaches
   2. Draft will be sent to members to get feedback and insights.
   3. Matthew informed the group that he, Priya, Nancy and other colleagues at UIC are putting together a final report for FY24 for each of the pillars, draft will be ready by end of May and will be sent to each chairperson and subcommittee members to see if there are anything missing. The final report will be hopefully ready just before the full Commission meeting in mid-July.
   4. Misuzu raised that it's also important to think about threats such as the national effort to ban guaranteed income in certain states which has been successful in many red states. Ms. Wilson shared that Shriver Center was actually asked to be part of an advisory group related to what Misuzu has shared.
   5. Links shared:
      1. Opportunities to Streamline Enrollment Across Public Benefit Programs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org)
      2. Verifying WA Grant eligibility via food benefits | WSAC
7. Adjournment - Dir. Staley moved to adjourn seconded by Misuzu. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn at 11:26 AM.