City of Rockford Community Action Agency Board met July 25.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
I. CALL TO ORDER
A. Roll Call
| Attendee Name | Organization | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Karen Hoffman | City of Rockford | Alderman | Present | |
| Gina Meeks | City of Rockford | Alderman | Absent | |
| Michael Chamberlain | City of Rockford | Excused | ||
| Gina Delrose | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Dorothy Redd | City of Rockford | Absent | ||
| Jeremiah Griffin | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Laura Snyder | City of Rockford | Absent | ||
| Steve Booth | City of Rockford | Absent | ||
| Tiana McCall | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Mary Yoho | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Markayla Herbert | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Mary Cacioppi | City of Rockford | Excused |
Other Attendees:
a. Guest: Jeffery Bailey, Odessa Walker
Quorum Established 12:11 pm
II. ACTION ON MINUTES
1. Approval of Minutes 5-23-23
a. Motion for approval on minutes from May 23, 2023, Board Meeting.
i. Motioned: Tiana McCall.
ii. Seconded: Karen Hoffman
All approved, Motion Carried
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
AYES: Hoffman, Delrose, Griffin, McCall, Yoho, Herbert ABSENT: Gina Meeks, Dorothy Redd, Laura Snyder, Steve Booth EXCUSED: Michael Chamberlain, Mary Cacioppi |
III. PROGRAMMATIC REPORT COMMUNITY SERVICES
i. We have received $171,000 from IACAA for the Employment Barrier Reduction Program. Funding is available to able-body (working) adults who receive SNAP, TANF, Medical, or other public benefit as long as they are working or searching for employment. Funding can be used for rent, utilities, auto repair, auto insurance, etc. This program will begin in August 2023 and run through June 30, 2024, or until funding is exhausted.
1. Date was rolled back to May 31, 2024.
ii. We received $741,241 (we request $387,414) from IDHS for Homeless Prevention. This grant can assist people with deposits, rent, back rent, utilities, and mortgages. The program begins July 1, 2023, and runs through June 30, 2024, or until funding is exhausted.
iii.IDHS Homeless Prevention grant program was audited for the 2022- 2023 program year. There were no findings on either the programmatic side or the fiscal side.
iv.Organizational Standards (The purpose of the organizational standards is to ensure that all agencies have appropriate organizational capacity, in both critical financial and administrative areas, as well as areas of unique importance to the mission of the Community Action network.) are due to the state July 30th this includes the CAA Strategic Plan and Theory of Change that needs to be updated this year.
1. Will need help from Board for this. Anqunette will send out emails for Board Members to sign up.
b. HOMELESSNESS
Current Homeless count-183:
Veterans-1
Chronic-1
Youth-11
Families-31
Singles-139
1. Youth population down to 6, if we keep the number under 8 for 90 days, we will be at functional zero.
i. In June-we hosted guests from Built for Zero. They facilitated a community meeting with several stakeholders to discuss the homeless work. Will be having a virtual follow-up next week to implement some of the plans and to assign various tasks to outside stakeholders. They will also be looking to help us secure potential funding to help build programs and get the services needed.
1. Panhandlers are 97% housed and known to the housing staff. Integrated marking to encourage people to donate to Agencies that work in Homelessness.
ii. ESG Cares funding ended June 30th, which will significantly impact the number of homeless families/individuals that we can assist in Rapid are-housing.
iii. A new SPOE intake person was finally hired to fill the empty position that we have had for several months. This person will also be assisting with data collection/submission.
iv. DCFS program year also ended on 6/30. We are completing the annual report which is due next week.
v. Been working with several key partners including UW Health Systems to help make a plan to build a Medical Respite Program for homeless individuals. This would help people who have medical care needs that are not severe enough to remain in the hospital but too sick to return to the street or shelter. It would provide a temporary setting for people to sleep while they recover from their illness or injury.
1. This would directly from the hospital. Not from community members to service.
c. LIHEAP
i. LIHEAP is over and Partners have been paid. 12,295 applications were taken and 11,157 resulted in a benefit for the household. This is by far the most applications we have done since I have kept track starting in 2014.
1. Only 2nd in the state to CEDA.
ii. LIHEAP policy and procedure workshop is Aug 8 in Springfield. All COR LIHEAP staff will attend. The 2024 Program year will have a reduction in benefits for applicants.
1. Liheap Considering extending to a 10.5-month program.
2. Board members are encouraged to contact legislators about additional funding and duration.
3. Energy companies lobby government officials to say utility funds are not being used, and need to present other information.
iii. LIHWAP was on pause for a week, as the State and our Fiscal Officer worked out how much client benefit money remained. They have agreed that we have enough to continue applications through 7/31, and we will re-assess at that time how much we can continue. I anticipate only doing applications for disconnected or imminent disconnected households until we run out of funds. The program would end on 8/31 anyway.
1. July 1- July 15th Spent $62,000 on pledges.
iv.PIPP Recertifications are fully underway and will continue throughout the year with October being the only month without any. We are seeing a trend downward in the NICOR budget bills which is a relief for the people who had incredibly high budget bills last year.
v. We will be securing outreach locations and dates for LIHEAP 2024 - targeting January, February, March, and April as our outreach months. Our goal will be 4 locations in our territory's NW, NE, SW, and SE areas on Wednesdays. Also will be working to secure our Partner sites, and possibly add some additional partner sites - perhaps in Loves Park/Machesney Park and Catholic Charities.
1. Improve education on what clients need to do with energy assistance.
d. WEATHERIZATION
i. The new Weatherization Program Year has started. We are currently rolling jobs over.
ii. We expended the entire DOE grant. We spent 69% of the HHS grant and 69% of the State grant. The remainder of the 2 grants will be rolled over and will end on September 30th.
iii. We are still looking to hire new assessors/QCI.
1. Programmatic Report Community Services
| RESULT: DISCUSSED |
IV. PROGRAMMATIC REPORT HEADSTART
1. Headstart Report
I. Headstart Programmatic Report
i. We still have several positions available but have hired a new Health Services Manager - Ron Webb. He’s coming from Crusader Clinic. He has lots of experience working with Head Start families and he is an RN. We also have a new PACE Teacher, Heather Duffy.
ii. Received a small literacy grant from United Way for $15,883. We will do two parent-child activities at Pace, distribute books and the curriculum to EHS home-based families, and do two literacy walks with our RPS partners.
1. Attached is our dashboard for currently enrolled students only:
2. Unexcused Absents might increase Once School Begins
3. Income Status Category of Eligibility.
| RESULT: DISCUSSED |
V. PROGRAMMATIC REPORT FISCAL
1. Fiscal Report
a. Fiscal Reports
i. Health and Human Services Award Dashboard.
b. Monitoring/Auditing
i. IDHS monitoring event in June presented no findings.
ii. City audit was completed in June.
iii. The Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) will be available on the City’s website after it has been presented to City Council.
iv. No questions regarding the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
v. The Single Audit is in progress and on track.
| RESULT: DISCUSSED |
VI. EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT
i. Working on a pilot program for Diaper Bank, with IACAA.
1. Boone County has Diaper Bank, we could coordinate.
ii. Had a meeting with Regional Headstart on how to serve Belvidere / Boone County.
1. Current agreement with RPS extended for a year.
2. Office of Headstart not sure how Preschool for all will affect HS.
iii. Design a program to help families with mental health issues in both CS and HS.
iv. Not increasing funds but consolidating families, to expand Pay raises.
v. Mary Cacioppi approved by City Council.
1. Will be putting up other names.
Working towards Poverty Mitigation instead of just handing out
VII. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS
i. No Board Member Reports
VIII. GUEST REPORT/ PRESENTATIONS
i. No Guest Reports
IX. APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS
i. No Appointments or Resignations
X. NEW BUSINESS
1. Community Needs Assessment
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
AYES: Hoffman, Delrose, Griffin, McCall, Yoho, Herbert ABSENT: Gina Meeks, Dorothy Redd, Laura Snyder, Steve Booth EXCUSED: Michael Chamberlain, Mary Cacioppi |
2. Approval of Work Plan
i. Approval of Community Needs Assessment and 2024 Work Plan
1. Motioned Jeremiah Griffin
2. 2nd Karen Hoffman
3. All Approved Motioned Carried.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
AYES: Hoffman, Delrose, Griffin, McCall, Yoho, Herbert ABSENT: Gina Meeks, Dorothy Redd, Laura Snyder, Steve Booth EXCUSED: Michael Chamberlain, Mary Cacioppi |
XI. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was closed at 1:25 PM
1. Next Board Meeting September 26, 2023 12 PM
a. Motioned Karen Hoffman. Seconded Mary Yoho. All approved. Motion carries.
i. End time 1:25. Total time one hour and fifteen minutes.
b. Next meeting September 26, 2023, 12 pm Conference Room B City Hall.
| RESULT: APPROVED [4 TO 0]
AYES: Karen Hoffman, Gina Delrose, Mary Yoho, Markayla Herbert ABSENT: Gina Meeks, Dorothy Redd, Laura Snyder, Steve Booth EXCUSED: Michael Chamberlain, Mary Cacioppi AWAY: Jeremiah Griffin, Tiana McCall |
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