01/14/2025
Summary
- The Chicago Empowerment Fund (CEF) is a rebranded expansion of the Chicago Resilient Communities pilot program that was developed to benefit low-income Chicago residents and families that have faced economic hardships. This manual release provides guidance on the Chicago Empowerment Fund (CEF) and how payments will affect eligibility for all food, cash, and medical programs.
- Eligibility requirement for the CEF:
- Applicants must be Chicago residents;
- Applicants must be age 18 years old or older; and
- Household income must be at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level.
- The CEF will select 5,000 eligible Chicago residents that will receive a second round of cash payments of $500 a month for 12 months.
- Applications for the CEF will be set to open 11/18/2024 through 12/13/2024. Payments are anticipated to be issued to enrollees no later than 01/2025.
- Due to Public Act 103-0492, money received from the Chicago Empowerment Fund (CEF) will be considered exempt for food, cash, and medical eligibility for programs which utilize MAGI budgeting methodology. This payment is considered non-exempt unearned income for AABD Medical and other non-MAGI Medical programs.
Public Act 103-0492 allows any financial assistance, cash transfers or gifts that is provided to a person through a guaranteed income program through one-time or recurring unconditional payments for the purposes of reducing poverty, promoting economic mobility, or increasing the financial stability of Illinois residents to be excluded from determining eligibility and the amount of public assistance.
Chicago Empowerment Fund (CEF)
The Chicago Empowerment Fund (CEF) is a rebranded expansion of the Chicago Resilient Communities pilot program that was developed to benefit low-income Chicago residents and families that have faced economic hardships. The CEF program will provide eligible Chicago residents with a monthly cash payment of $500 for 12 months. The CEF will select 5,000 households to participate the program. Applications for the CEF are from 11/18/2024 through 12/13/2024. Payments are anticipated to be issued to enrollees no later than 01/2025.
Chicago Empowerment Fund (CEF) Eligibility Requirements
Eligibility requirement for the CEF:
- Applicants must be Chicago residents;
- Applicants must be age 18 years old or older; and
- Household income must be at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Cash/Food/Medical
Verification of the exempt income is required, if questionable, when determining eligibility for cash, food, and medical programs. The $500 monthly payment received from the pilot is considered exempt unearned income for the purposes of determining cash, food, and medical eligibility for programs which utilize MAGI budgeting methodology. This payment is considered non-exempt unearned income for AABD Medical and other non-MAGI Medical programs.
IES
When entering income received from the Chicago Empowerment Fund (CEF) in IES, workers should enter the income based on the programs selected when processing an application or changes to an existing case. Workers should process as follows:
- Applications with Cash, Food and/or MAGI Medical, select Other Exempt as the unearned income type on the Unearned Income-Details page.
- Applications for AABD Medical only, select Other Unearned as the income type on the Unearned Income-Details page.
- Applications with Cash and/or SNAP containing Medical programs using AABD budgeting, workers should contact the Bureau of Medical Eligibility Policy and Special Programs (BMESP) for specific instructions, HFS.Eligibility.Policy@illinois.gov
- Document in Case Comments the type of unearned income received and if it was exempt or non-exempt for each program.
Manual Revisions
[signed copy on file]
Dulce Quintero
Secretary-Designate, Illinois Department of Human Services
Elizabeth Whitehorn
Director, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
