01.13.2025 Minutes

Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board

Workforce Development & Infrastructure Working Group Meeting

January 13, 2025

Virtual Meeting Held Via Zoom

Meeting Minutes

Workforce Development & Infrastructure Working Group Members

Blanca Campos, Community Behavioral Healthcare Association (Chair)
Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, Wolf Pack; Live4Lali
Angel Cruz, Peoria County Sheriff's Office
Dr. Trenton Fedrick, Habilitative Systems, Inc.
Kristin Hamblock, Rosecrance
Angie Hampton, Egyptian Health Department
John Horsely, Kenneth Young Center
Jen Nagel-Fischer, The Porchlight Collective, SAP
Lora Passetti, Chestnut Health Systems
Teressa Perdieu, CEAD Council (DBA Hour House)
Chris Schaffner, JOLT Harm Reduction
Mila Tsagalis, DuPage County Health Department

Welcome and Roll Call

Blanca Campos, Chair, welcomed the group. Sue Pickett, PhD, facilitator, Advocates for Human Potential (AHP), Inc., conducted roll call. All members were present except Angel Cruz, Theressa Perdieu, and Mila Tsagalis. Quorum was established.

Review and Approval of November 18, 2024 Meeting Minutes

Ms. Campos called for a motion to approve the November 18, 2024 meeting minutes. Lora Passetti made a motion to approve the minutes. Angie Hampton seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of approving the minutes. The motion passed.

Settlement Funding Update

Jim Wilkerson, Interim State Opioid Settlement Administrator (SOSA), introduced the new SOSA, Verella Olguin. Mr. Wilkerson noted that he will still be involved in IORAB activities through January and potentially longer as needed.

  • Mr. Wilkerson provided updates on the opioid settlement agreement remediation funds. To date, more than $237 million (M) has been disbursed. Mr. Wilkerson noted that projected future amounts are subject to change.
  • Mr. Wilkerson reviewed approved recommendations including Community Intervention Services, Access Narcan, and the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program (IL PMP). These recommendations were funded as expansions of services. Access Narcan now has multiple funding mechanisms, so it will not receive remediation funding in fiscal year 2025. IL PMP joined the Illinois Department of Human Services/Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (IDHS/SUPR) in 2024, so this program will not receive remediation funds after fiscal year 2024.
  • NOFOs that were awarded include: IM Naloxone and Other FDA-Approved Drugs to Reverse Overdose, Opioid Abatement Strategies Effectiveness Evaluator (OASEE), Community Outreach and Recovery Supports (CORS), services for Pregnant and Postpartum People and Their Families, Warm Handoff Programs and Recovery Services, BASE Prevention Programs, and mobile MAR services. An intergovernmental agreement with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) to provide services to individuals that are incarcerated has been created. A NOFO for the Opioid Training and Technical Assistance Center (OTTAC) was released and has recently closed.
  • IDHS/SUPR is currently negotiating with other state agencies to create a funding process for the capital improvements recommendation, which will be awarded as a one-time investment. This funding amount for this recommendation will be discussed at the next IORAB meeting.
  • The opioid treatment programs recommendation is currently in the NOFO creation process. This recommendation will be funded as a one-time investment. Recommendations currently under NOFO development include Tribal Community Services, Youth and Family Services, Contingency Management and Telehealth Expansion.
  • Mr. Wilkerson reviewed the difference between the annual allocation amount and the one-time investment balance. The annual allocation amount is the original grand total for settlement funding divided by 18 years. With the additional funding received in fiscal year 2024, the annual allocation amount is now $32M. Money that is not spent during a fiscal year is placed in the one-time investment balance, which is currently $74M.

Discussion:

  • Ms. Campos asked if capital investment is considered a one-time expenditure, and if it could become a recurring funding source or become available to a broader pool of providers. Mr. Wilkerson responded that capital investment could become recurring if offered during multiple years. He noted that if all the money allocated for capital investment is not spent with one NOFO, IDHS/SUPR can issue multiple rounds of NOFOs. He anticipates that not all allocated money will be spent, and unspent money will go into the one-time investment balance and become available.
  • Ms. Campos asked how to make these funding opportunities available to more providers. Mr. Wilkerson stated that creating new capital investment NOFOs each year could be a way to broaden the pool of recipients.
  • A working group member requested clarification on the difference between capital improvement and capital investment. Mr. Wilkerson said that capital improvement related to remodeling or renovating existing structures while capital investment typically refers to building new structures. Mr. Wilkerson stated that recommendations can include both capital investment and improvement.

Dr. Pickett and Randi Moberly, PhD, AHP, presented the step-by-step process by which proposed recommendations are reviewed, approved, and translated into NOFOs.

  • The Illinois Regional Care Coordination Agency (RCCA) supports the IDHS/SUPR Office of Opioid Settlement Administration by providing program management and administrative services, including sub-award administration for grantees receiving remediation funds.
  • Recommendations can come from multiple sources, including the public. The IORAB Working Groups review these recommendations and develop their own recommendations. The SOSA reviews all recommendations to ensure that they meet required criteria: recommendations must provide general benefits across the state, must not duplicate existing services, and the services recommended must qualify as an approved use of funds that cannot be funded via existing resources including Medicaid. Recommendations move from the working groups to the SOSA for editing and then to the IORAB for review at a meeting. Funding amounts for recommendations are determined based on estimated costs and needs. The SOSA then submits the recommendation and any supporting information to the IORAB. The IORAB reviews, discusses, and then votes on whether a recommendation should be forwarded to the Steering Committee or should be returned to the Working Group for more information. The Steering Committee reviews the recommendation for alignment with the State Opioid Action Plan and determines if it can be funded with settlement funds. The Steering Committee votes on whether the recommendation should be approved ?
  • If the recommendation is approved by the Attorney General's office, it moves to IDHS/SUPR to create a Statement of Work (SOW). The RCCA uses this SOW to create a NOFO for the recommendation, posts the NOFO on their website to solicit applications, and then uses a merit-based review process to determine which applicants will receive funding for their proposed projects. Once these decisions are made, the RCCA sends NOFO applicants a Notice of Intent to Award (NOIA) or a Notice of Non-Award (NONA). Awardees are also sent a subaward agreement to review and sign.
  • The RCCA regularly collects metrics from grantees related to the outcomes described in the NOFO. The RCCA will provide quarterly updates with this information.
  • The OASEE collects data from grantees and conducts analyses to assess the implementation and determine the effectiveness of the funded interventions.
  • More information about current NOFOs and awarded programs can be found at Illinois Regional Care Coordination Agency.

Discussion:

  • Ms. Campos asked how the state is providing information about the services and activities that local municipalities are conducting with their awarded settlement funding. Tina Wilson, AHP, responded that initially the Attorney General's office asked municipalities to provide information about these activities. The RCCA developed a quarterly online survey that is sent to municipalities to track their activities. The RCCA has merged the initial paper forms with the information from their online surveys and published the resulting dataset. The RCCA is working to finalize online dashboards that will present this data. These dashboards will be available at Illinois Opioid Settlements Initiative. Ms. Wilson recommended individuals interested in learning how municipalities are spending this money can also talk to their local public health departments as they oversee the use of the funding.

Priority Recommendations for the IORAB

The group reviewed the Training Resources & Strategies recommendation. The group drafted this recommendation to fund strategies to support people as they build careers in behavioral health. Ms. Campos noted that this recommendation was put on hold at the November meeting due to concerns about feasibility.

The group then discussed developing a new recommendation to use remediation funds to provide administrative support, including personnel, to aid smaller organizations in grant applications and management.

  • A working group member asked how a 'smaller organization' would be defined, including if this determination would be made based on annual revenue or headcount of staff. Mr. Wilkerson stated that the working group members could determine what criteria would need to be met for an organization to be considered small.
  • A working group member recommended polling organizations that would be interested in this support to get a sense of their current capacity and needs.
  • Working group members discussed the limitations of using an organization's annual budget to determine eligibility to apply for this administrative support. The working group members discussed that many harm reduction organizations have a very small budget, but have a large impact, and that both should be considered for eligibility. They discussed the complexity of measuring agency size, because agencies with more funding may not necessarily have money for grant writing and administration.
  • Ms. Campos asked working group members who have suggestions on language for this recommendation to email Dr. Pickett at spickett@ahpnet.com. These suggestions will be reviewed at the next scheduled meeting.

Public Participation

The members of the public attending the meeting had no comment.

Adjourn

  • Ms. Campos adjourned the meeting.
  • The next meeting of the IORAB Workforce Development & Infrastructure Working Group will be held on April 7, 2025 from 11 AM - 12 PM.