AGENDA - Pillar 4 Subcommittee Meeting May 21, 2024

Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

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

Meeting Agenda and Minutes

Tuesday, May 21, 2024 1:00-2:00 PM

Recording

Agenda:

1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call
2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: March 8, 2024
4. Review of Goals and Collective Input
   1. Goal 1 - Create a state-wide map of childcare availability and their services along with a map of the regional demand and comprehensively analyze those maps to identify the highest need areas with the largest service gaps
   2. Goal 2 - Design an advocacy strategy to address the highest need areas to ensure the increase of the number of high-quality childcare providers who offer flexible hours of service to meet the needs of a modern workforce
   3. Goal 3 - Expand the funding and reach of DHS's Employment Barrier Reduction Program by at least 25%
5. Discussion - FY25 Goal Planning
6. Next Steps
7. Adjournment

Minutes

Subcommittee members in attendance:

1. Crystal Bush - Subcommittee chair
2. Kimberly Tate - Office of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Commission member
3. Jason Horwitz - IWGP member
4. Carrie Thomas - IWGP member
5. Margaret Decker - IWGP member
6. Amy Evans - public member
7. Gina Harris - public member
8. Matt Bruce - public member
9. Sinthu Ramalingam - IDHS-SME
10. Karina Lopez - IDHS-SME

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, DHS-Chief Policy Officer

Facilitators:

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

Proceedings:

1. Introductions/Welcome Roll Call - Chair Bush led the introductions and roll call. Ten members were present out of 18. Quorum was attained.
2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: March 8, 2024 - Gina moved to approve the meeting minutes. The group unanimously approved the March 8, 2024 meeting minutes.
4. Meeting feedback survey - The group was asked to provide their feedback on the work that had been done so far by the subcommittee thru the Menti tool. Feedbacks include:
   1. Joy
   2. Movement
   3. I like the focus on access to childcare.
   4. Laying the groundwork for more to come.
   5. Great, specific, actionable ideas
   6. Still learning, but feel we have made progress
   7. Solid start and more to do
   8. Frustration
   9. It's been helpful to discuss issues and learn what others are working on
   10. I feel good about it. It just takes time to get going to make sure what we are doing is right.
   11. I am curious to see what action items can come out of this Commission; what are the action items to get to the goals; would like to see some synthesis of action items and goals.
5. Review of Goals and Collective Input
   1. Goal 1 - Create a state-wide map of childcare availability and their services along with a map of the regional demand and comprehensively analyze those maps to identify the highest need areas with the largest service gaps
      • Sinthu shared that they met with IECAM folks and tried to focus on what already exists. Definitions have been discussed such as the age range for early childhood and tried to narrow it down to come up with a map that truly serves the group's need. IECAM is listing their ideas on possible parameters for coming up with the definition and the group will provide feedback.
      • It was suggested to expand the early childhood age to age 13 to allow capturing some of the other needs beyond pre-school age
      • Matt supports the expansion: lack of access to childcare for older elementary age children is a different but still important barrier to work than lack of access to childcare for very young children.
   2. Goal 2 - Design an advocacy strategy to address the highest need areas to ensure the increase of the number of high-quality childcare providers who offer flexible hours of service to meet the needs of a modern workforce
      • Covered in goal 1
      • As soon as there is a clear sense and if the group moves forward with expanding, what childcare looks like when older kids are included, it would allow the group to look at the map and design advocacy strategy around where the highest needs are
   3. Goal 3 - Expand the funding and reach of DHS's Employment Barrier Reduction Program by at least 25%
      • Jason and Charles previously provided information on the DCEO and IDHS work on barrier reduction and mentioned challenges in funding. There's also interest in exploring successful barrier reduction programming in other states.
      • Nancy shared a barrier reduction program in California that is called Breaking Barriers to Employment Initiative, a grant program that provides individuals with the necessary employment services to enter the workforce and provides training and education programs for people who need such to be able to get back into the regular workforce.
      • Individuals eligible for the program are youth who are disconnected from the education system or employment, women seeking trainer education to move into nontraditional fields of employment, and unskilled or under skilled low age workers.
      • Some of the findings were 50% of the participants were employed six months after the program finished although the percentage reflects the outcome of fewer than 20% of all participants; about 33% of the participants in training had accomplished a measurable skill gain; 67% of grantees plan to sustain their breaking barriers program; majority of grantees have completed most of their self-defined program activities within three to four months left in the grants; and 44% had completed most or all of their self-defined goals or outcomes.
      • Another program is Georgia's USAID Industry-led Skills Development Program, a 5-year initiative designed to partner with the private sector to develop human capital skills leading to high value employment opportunities and increased economic competitiveness in Georgia. The program trains people to become competitive in the private sector. It aims to build a strong and lasting partnerships with the private sector by equipping Georgians with skills that are in demand within the private sector.
      • Organizations can apply to the program and must meet funding and cost eligibility criteria. Program has not started.
6. Discussion
   • Goal 1 and 2 can be continued to FY25 since they have not been completed.
   • Funding systems to ensure expansion of employment barrier reduction programming is something that can be considered for FY25 as well.
   • Matt shared the link to the Student Emergency Fund Report: 2015-2018 https://allchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Student_Emergency_Fund_Report_Final-1.pdf
   • Barrier Reduction funds and Workforce fund were clarified as the report shared by Nancy is a broader take to answer Pillar 4's focus area 2 "invest in apprenticeship, work-based learning, and barrier reduction programs so individuals can learn and train while supporting their family" and not barrier reduction programming that answers focus area number one "address barriers that prevent consistent work at a living wage, by investing in transportation, childcare, paid leave, broadband, legal aid, reentry services, disability and rehabilitation supports, and immigrant and refugee services".
   • Examples of barrier reduction funds as it relates to focus area one are DCEO's barrier (barriers to employment) reduction funds that might be expanding or going away due to funding issues, and IDHS' barrier reduction program. Matt also mentioned HIRE360's barrier reduction fund that they share across many different trades, workforce partners; All Chicago's barrier reduction fund that they share across different housing and stability programs or student serving programs.
   • Carrie suggested to use a different term because focus area 2 are all about workforce and what Nancy has reported would fall under workforce and not barrier reduction.
   • Jason also added that barrier reduction funds would refer to additional funds available for folks in need of support with transportation, childcare and maybe even short-term financial needs in order for them to be able to stay and complete a training. DCEO has been providing barrier reduction funds thru the WIOA program; funds are provided to local workforce agencies and are used for supportive services. They have ramped up state funding thru ARPA and CEJA, both have specific parts of funds set aside for barrier reduction funds. There is an opportunity to learn if the barrier reduction funds are deployed correctly and if they are effective in other states because these are relatively new in Illinois in terms of systematic deployment. Carrie can reach out to one of their National Workforce Advocacy organizations to see if they have done any research on barrier reduction funds. Carrie can facilitate an introduction between her colleague/s and Matthew and Nancy.
   • For focus area 2, Carrie emphasized that what the group is maybe trying to narrow on are strategies that provide money, whether it's a stipend or financial supportive services or barrier reduction payment, that will help people in poverty to meet the needs of their families while in a training or an apprenticeship.
   • Matt shared that All Chicago has an emergency fund they've had for a long time wherein they added a student emergency fund similar to a barrier reduction fund. The student emergency fund is about keeping a student in school by paying their tuition balance or apartment rent to prevent them from dropping out of school. It is cheaper to keep them in school rather than get them back to school after they drop out. All Chicago has a report on this program.
   • Nancy will fine tune her research on barrier reduction funds to contain:
   • Types of barrier reduction funds in different states
   • How is the barrier reduction fund structured, i. e. is there one in the state level or local level, who administers the fund, where does the funding come from, what are the kinds of program associated with it, etc.
   • Impact of barrier reduction funds in different states
   • Sinthu can look into specific initiatives such as student teachers getting paid similar to apprenticeship or non-traditional hours on childcare.
7. Meeting feedback survey - The group was asked to provide 3 words/phrases where they see gaps between the work that's been done and pillar 4's focus areas thru the Menti tool. Feedbacks include:
   1. Transportation
   2. Re-entry
   3. Legal counsel
   4. Apprenticeship is work-based learning - too much focus on apprenticeship than workforce, focus should be more on the breadth of program models to meet the breadth of needs across constituents
   5. Direction, focus, vocabulary, clarity, boiling the ocean
8. FY25 goal planning
   • Draft a goal for focus area 3 "Expand Access to Legal Counsel for Illinoisans and Ensure Equitable Access to Court and Legal Processes"; Priya will check with IDHS' program areas to determine exact supports on expanding access to legal counsel
   • Jason, though not sure if related to focus 3, mentioned the Quality Jobs Pilot that DCEO is doing with DOL where part of the training is training people on their rights as workers.
   • Carrie is also not clear on focus area 3 and that it could be a lot of things supporting the workforce such as legal aid for preserving housing if at risk of eviction, criminal record and expungement, reporting requirements when on probation, employment authorization for new arrivals, applying for asylum, etc. But more legal aid is probably good and more relationships between community organizations that do legal aid and workforce organizations would be great.
   • Carrie suggested that the FY25 goal for focus area 2 could center on increasing awareness on legal stuff surrounding labor market.
   • Matt shared that before COVID, the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation attempted to locate legal services in workforce centers so they could connect, in a more streamlined way, the workforce services to various legal needs.
   • Matthew and Nancy will look at FY24 goals and think about how to either extend or modify them and also look at gaps related to the focus areas to create in preparation for crafting FY25 goals. Draft goals will be presented to the group for feedback.
   • In relation to the upcoming Poverty Commission meeting, a draft report is being prepared that will capture the work that's been done in each pillar for FY24, the group will be requested for feedback on it as well
9. Adjournment - Jason moved to adjourn the meeting seconded by Carrie. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 2PM.