AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 4 Subcommittee Meeting August 9, 2024

Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

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

Meeting Agenda and Minutes

Friday, August 9, 2024, 12:00-1:00 PM

Recording

Agenda:

  1. Welcome/Roll Call
    • Introduction of new member
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: May 21, 2024
  4. FY24 Recap
  5. Development/Review of FY25 Goals
  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. Carrie Thomas - IWGP member
  4. Anna Koeppel - IWGP member
  5. Gina Harris - public member
  6. John Bouman - public member
  7. Bob Glaves - public member
  8. Karina Lopez - IDHS-SME

Administrator: Priya Khatkhate, DHS-Chief Policy Officer

Facilitators/Guests:

  1. Matthew Rodriguez - Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
  2. Kaitlin Devaney - IRRPP
  3. Nancy Toure - IRRPP
  4. Bryan Preston - Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map (IECAM)

Proceedings:

  1. Welcome/Roll Call - attendees introduced themselves; 8 members were present out of 17; quorum not attained.
    • New member: John Bouman, Director of Legal Action Chicago
  2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance; none received.
  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: May 21, 2024 - postponed for the next meeting due to lack of quorum.
  4. FY24 Recap - Matthew and team are assisting Priya in finalizing the IWGP FY24 report
    • Bryan Preston from IECAM discussed the maps that show the gap between childcare need and demand. In the early childhood education field, the gap is called a slot gap. There are two maps, one for Chicago and one for the State of Illinois which are both available in the web. Illinois Child Care and Education Slot Gap _counties (arcgis.com)
    • The orange parts of the maps show unfulfilled needs while blue indicates a potential overabundance of slots that is beyond the need.
    • There are a lot of assumptions built into the map due to lack of perfect data on number of children enrolled. Instead, the data used is the capacity of the different private and public programs on childcare and preschool that accept the CCAP subsidy that eligible families receive from the State. On one hand, need is the count of children living in households below 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
    • In relation to the subcommittee's goal 1, there is no need to create a map since the goal has been fundamentally met with the existing IECAM maps. Matthew added that goal 2 on designing an advocacy strategy to address the areas with the most need will be continued to FY25. He also mentioned that there was a lot of work done on FY24 goal 3 on barrier reduction.
  5. Development/Review of FY25 Goals
    1. Goal 1 - By June 30th, 2025, Pillar 4 subcommittee will create an in-depth report of existing universal and affordable childcare as well as school-based programs in Illinois. This plan will include, but is not limited to:
      1. Identifying where geographical gaps exist;
      2. Identifying which age group each program serves to identify potential gaps, looking at programming for youth up to age 13;
      3. Identifying which has before and after school programs;
      4. Determine potential gaps that exist which may hinder employment for those who work evenings, weekends and/or overnight jobs.
    2. Goal 2 - By June 30th, 2025, Pillar 4 subcommittee will create a running list of established partnerships with relevant stakeholders, community organizations, policymakers and employers. This list will be used to do the following:
      1. Address findings from in-depth report (above) to create potential policy reforms;
      2. Develop advocacy strategy to improve Illinois' offerings of childcare services;
      3. Identify which partnerships are best aligned to address each identified barrier.
    3. Goal 3 - By June 30th, 2025, Pillar 4 subcommittee will create a report that documents both specific legal barriers that hinder access to employment opportunities along with potential partners who can address existing gaps in legal service provision. This report will include, but is not limited to:
      1. Legal barriers that hinder access to paid work;
      2. Legal barriers to accessing education (by level);
      3. Legal barriers to social advancement, more generally;
      4. Gaps in legal service access;
      5. Available apprenticeships and other programs that may mitigate legal barriers to paid work, education and advancement listed in the report.
    4. Goal 4 - By June 30th, 2025, Pillar 4 subcommittee will create a support plan for the available apprenticeships, work-based learning, and other barrier reduction programs so individuals can learn and train while supporting their family. This plan will:
      1. List the available apprenticeships, work-based learning, and other barrier reduction programs in Illinois by category;
      2. Identify which programs the committee will support and in what way; and
      3. Delegate support with a chronological timeline.
  6. Comments/Questions
    • Carrie Thomas flagged another barrier to employment which is accessibility to childcare for parents who are in the process of getting a job, doing a job search, interviews, training and education and such.
    • On apprenticeships that may mitigate legal barriers, Priya clarified that it was meant to be a reentry piece. Carrie added it could be examples of workforce or employment programs that integrate services that may mitigate [legal barriers].
    • Carrie also raised the issue on the use of credit reports in the employment process i.e. employers asking people the use of credit reports or checking credit reports. John Bouman shared they worked on a bill that was recently passed that keeps medical debt off credit reports but on Carrie's idea, it would be good to start with the National Consumer Law Center. Department of Labor may know as well.
    • Priya shared: The Illinois Employee Credit Privacy Act, 820 ILCS 70/1, et seq, ("ECPA"), provides that an employer may not order an applicant or employee's credit report, inquire about the applicant's employment history, or otherwise discriminate against an individual on the basis of his or her credit history or credit report unless the position in question meets certain criteria. 820 ILCS 70/10. Exempted from these requirements are employers in the financial and insurance industries and certain governmental employers. Carrie asked if there are any data on complaints, etc.
    • John mentioned that there is a program advisory or sub-regulatory policy position on how the use of criminal records in access to housing at least is actually a civil rights violation or presumptively, racially discriminatory and there might be a similar activity around the use of credit records.
    • Matthew will modify the last bullet under Goal 3. Bob and John can help with Goal 3 in identifying gaps in access to legal services and can assist with the legal barriers piece.
    • On goal 1, Priya will connect with the Department of Early Childhood, specifically with Sinthu Ramalingam who is a subcommittee member, and see if there are already work happening in relation to the pieces mentioned and if there are any other areas with greater needs.
    • Matthew mentioned that Pillar 1 wants to partner with Pillar 4 in relation to goal 1 and 2.
  7. Next Steps
    • Matthew and team will modify goals 1 and 3 to incorporate Carrie, John and Bob's comments.
    • Priya will connect with Sinthu re goal 1.
    • John and Bob to help with goal 3.
  8. Adjournment - John moved to adjourn the meeting seconded by Chair Bush. The group unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 12:45 PM.