Posted on by ILTFYouth

MARCH 8th MINUTES – Policy, Program and Finance Committee Meeting

AUDIENCE

Members of the State Task Force Policy, Program and Finance Committee and Staff. Public is welcome to attend.

DATE & TIME

March 8th, 2018

2:30 PM

LOCATION

Youth Connection Charter Schools (YCCS)

10 W. 35th St. Chicago, IL 60601
11th Floor, Conference Room II

Conference Call: (888) 330-9549
Access Code: 230540#

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order
  2. Roll Call
  3. Review minutes from February 16 th Meeting.
  4. Discuss next steps for research regarding program policies and finance in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and other municipalities and states across the country and also at the national level in the areas mentioned in the minutes and other areas we should outline in this call-in meeting. Attached is an overview of programming for 8 to 25 year olds done by Children’s Home and Aid in February 2017 as part of their campaign called Start to Finish Campaign.
  5. The ASN has hired a part-time staff to help with all of this work. This is someone who has worked with us before and is very competent.
  6. Other

MINUTES

  • In attendance: Jack Wuest, Alternative Schools Network; Cynthia Levi for Sheila Venson, YCCS; Sheila Venson, Youth Connection Charter School; Aaron Hacker, Illinois Department of Human Services; Karrie Rueter, Illinois Department of Human Services; Kathleen Johnson, Peoria Police Dept. for State Senator Chuck Weaver, 37 th District (Katie); DeMarr – THRIVE, Chicago; Andrew Wells, Chicago Urban League; Grace Tran, Alternative Schools Network; Senator Chuck Weaver, 37th District
  • NOT in attendance: Paul Vallas; Karina Ayala-Bermejo, Instituto Del Progreso Latino; Caitlyn Barnes, Illinois Community College Board; Reyahd Kazmi, National Youth Advocate Program; Davide Whittaker, Chicago Area Project
  1. Call to order
    1. Meeting was called to order at 2:30 PM
  2. Roll Call
  3. Review minutes from February 16 meeting
    1. Motion to approve the minutes: Cynthia – motion to approve the minutes
    2. All in favor
  4. Discuss next steps for research regarding program policies and finance in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and other municipalities and states across the country and also at the national level in the areas mentioned in the minutes and other areas we should outline in this call-in meeting. Attached is an overview of programming for 8 to 25 year olds done by Children’s Home and Aid in February 2017 as part of their campaign called Start to Finish Campaign.
    1. Katie – Peoria Economic Development Council – demand of jobs & numbers; Aaron had discussed training – kids earning certificates.
      1. Peoria Economic Development – jobs, demands, gaps. They have an updated version for 2018 – as soon as the team approves it, Katie will send it out to everyone.
      2. Matt Wilson – University of Illinois.
      3. Decline of the different types of jobs across the state of IL. Report will be ready by beginning of May.
    2. TANF money to be used for jobs/employment directly – Karrie Reuter – DHS has a whole unit here that works with individuals on TANF to help them get education and employment related programming and services. We have a focus of getting individuals on a path to sustained employment that will put them in a position where they’ll be able to earn enough money to get off of TANF. Employment through community groups. Karrie will send information. There is someone who can talk to the group if we need it.
    3. ITA – who to talk to? Julio
    4. ICCB – Adult Education – Jack will work with Caitlin from ICCB. What programs are happening now, age of people, federal funding (16 and up), Senator Weaver sponsored legislation for Adult HS certification process – a big resource for 21-24- year-olds. Spoke to Jennifer Foster about it; competency based diploma granting. Pilot (originally 10 school districts) is currently being expanded. Peoria Options Program – employability skills, work, 3 hours of classroom time.
    5. ISBE – TAOEP – figure out who to talk to
    6. Regional offices of education – Association? Who oversees this? They do programs for dropouts. Senator ?? used to be head of ROE to see if there is an association. We want a picture of what’s out there. Jack will speak to her.
    7. Juvenile justice redeploy – Karrie is the person to talk to. Younger (17 and younger) and older (18 and older) – youth who are under the jurisdiction of juvenile court. Youth between the ages of 13 and 18. Primarily between 13 and 17. Redeploy for adults – program functions differently – juvenile redeploy provides individualized case management to particular youth and family needs; on the adult side, it is more specialty courts. Mary Ann Dyer – criminal justice information authority – not a DOC program; managed through CIJA ?? Karrie will get Mary Ann Dyer’s info to the group. Redeploy – murderers &  class-act felons cannot be enrolled in the program. $4.8 million in redeploy. How many kids are served.
    8. Karl Perkins – federal for vocational training (ISBE?); may have been revised with the All Student Success (which replaced No Child Left Behind)
    9. Ability to Benefit – for awhile you could pay for services before someone got into college. Is this still the case? Check this out. Dual enrollment program – training and also earning HS equivalent/GED. Ability to Benefit rules changed a few years back – they no longer allow for it. The Fed Govt didn’t want to give financial aid to someone who couldn’t benefit from it, set a threshold for a HS equivalency to meet Ability to Benefit. In recent years, it has changed to specific vocational programs for people without HS equivalent could take a welding class and get federal fin aid for it. Benefits for people to get who are out of school and out of work.
    10. VISTA/Youth Build
    11. Homeless programs for youth and adults, DHS & DCFS – ISBE – migrant & homeless students who have dropped out
    12. Nonprofit/nongovernmental funding:
      1. Senator Weaver: different models
        1. Angel Investment Network – companies
        2. Startup & mentoring programs
      2. Junior Achievement – franchise model?
    13. National:
      1. Portland, OR
      2. Seattle – has a large group of schools for re-enrolling kids. Re-engagement centers for 21-24 year olds.
      3. Peoria District 150 – re-enrolling students?
      4. Jack will send out a report from a previous Task Force which lead to IHOPE – Race to the Top startup fund that distributed funds to ROEs. Still a possibility as a line item.
      5. ROE Program – Jack with check with Jennifer on what associations there are for ROEs. Figure out the new formula.
      6. Medicaid – data purposes. Are we able to move people off public benefits and into employment where they have private insurance?
        1. IDHS has done multiple pilots. Proven to be NOT cost-effective, but there are changes on the horizon and if they go through, we believe more of the kinds of services that are being provided to many of these youth may become eligible under Medicaid. It will require significant systems changes to claim Medicaid services, but from youth services programs in particular, most of these programs will refer youth to service providers that claim Medicaid dollars. 1115 Waiver – a request put the feds a couple of years ago that includes input from all state human services related agencies and it essentially expands the scope of services reimbursable under Medicaid. Has NOT been approved. Reach out to HFS (?) to clarify any information that Karrie shared. Alicia Norwood?
      7. Good Will Industries – Job and mentoring programs across the country.
      8. Job Corps – Andy Sum reports? Research on effectiveness and structure. They have resources for people up to 24 (?) yrs old. Pipeline to the trades. $1.6 billion in the Federal line item.
      9. AMACHI – Mentoring program that targets children of prisoners & military. Variety of age groups – in more than half of the states. Hundreds of thousands of children are served.
      10. Sheryl Howard – mentoring association – statewide.
      11. Workers retiring, birth rate below replacement rate – can’t find workers can’t expand – which means they can’t expand the economy. Need young workers to build up economy.
  5. The ASN has hired a part-time staff to help with all of this work. This is someone who has worked with us before and is very competent. – Grace Tran
  6. Other
    1. Meeting Schedule that we can post:
      1. Every three weeks – conference call. Touch base, get the notes out, etc. 2:30pm, every 3 weeks on Thursday.
    2. Task Force Hearing – Friday March 2. Youth and business panels, 230-40 people. Video that will be posted on Task Force website (Jack will send out); Robin Robinson as the moderator. Interesting interplay between young people and politicians. “If you want to reach these kids, you have to do something differently.” More social media; door-to- door. Evaluation to be sent to participants to receive feedback.
    3. Social Media – how to reach kids? Messaging/language. Ask youth directly.
  7. Motion to adjourn: Karrie makes a motion to adjourn. Motion seconded.
  8. Meeting adjourned.
  9. The next meeting will be a call in meeting on April 5th at 2:30pm at this number – 888-330- 9549 and use code 230540#