Rockford Sun

City of Rockford Community Action Agency Executive Committee met Oct. 22.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

I. CALL TO ORDER 

a. The regularly scheduled meeting of the Community Action Agency Board of Directors Executive Committee meeting was called to order at 11:13 am

Attendee Name	Organization	Title	Status	Arrived
Karen Hoffman	City of Rockford	Alderman	Present
Dorothy Redd	City of Rockford		Present
Jeremiah Griffin	City of Rockford		Present

II. GENERAL INFORMATION 

a. Director Anqunette Parham: I am going to The Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies Director’s Retreat today. I will be there today through Friday. I will also be presenting at a virtual conference for the Society of Public Health Educators on some of the work we have done in our community. It’s a great opportunity to work with other directors within the Community Action Agency Network.

1. At that conference we will also talk about changes to the LIHEAP program and weatherization.

2. The department will be busy in the coming weeks. A couple alderman have asked staff to be present at their ward meetings to share information about services.

3. We have also started collecting data on all services that have been delivered this year. That information will be presented to the City Council in early 2025.

4. Next week on Tuesday October 29th 9:00am to 11:00am, Bridges to Prosperity is hosting an event at the NIU Rockford location. Agencies such as our department and a number of other governing bodies have been working on what a coordinated poverty strategy can look like for the region.

b. Anqunette Parham: We have a meeting scheduled for November 26, 2024. That would be on the same week as Thanksgiving. It might be prudent to move that meeting to early December. I wanted to pose this question to the board.

1. Dorothy Redd: I would say we should reschedule for the first week of December. The school district is off all that week and kids are home.

2. Anqunette Parham: We will have the meeting on December 3. The Executive Committee will be at 11:00am. The general board will be 12:00pm.

c. Karen Hoffman: A committee has been created composed of four council members. The first meeting for that is October 29th. There will be two Republicans and two Democrats on this committee. This committee will discuss priorities, what needs to be funded, and what funding sources can we use. 1. Anqunette Parham: Currently, all the funding for the department comes from State and Federal grants. This committee will look at other potential sources of funding for the department. Each grant has different guidelines. Most of these grants do not allow for the repair or maintenance of office buildings.

d. Anqunette Parham: One thing we have looked at is how we take applications. We still take paper applications. To get an appointment for an application, there are call in days. With the number of staff we have, we cannot meet the demand of how many people need services. It would be nice to have a digital option. With the budget we have now, there is no wiggle room to allow for such expenses. That necessitates additional funding sources.

e. Karen Hoffman: In the discussion on how to handle surplus funds, it came down to a resolution to devote $250,000 to Human Services. We have additional discussions for the specifics.

1. Approval of Minutes from October 1, 2024

1. Motioned Karen Hoffman Second by Dorothy Redd.

2. All Approved. 3 Ayes. Motion carried.

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]  AYES: Karen Hoffman, Dorothy Redd, Jeremiah Griffin

III. OFFICER REPORTS 

a. Karen Hoffman: Representative Maurice West is having a meeting regarding mental health tonight on October 22. This is at the Northwest Community Center. They are talking about having a new Singer facility. This is an especially important topic in light of what happened in my ward with a resident.

1. Jeremiah Griffin: We are seeing the need with a lot of kids right now. There are not any resources available nearby. We are dealing with a lot of that on the northwest side on Rockton Ave. There are people who need that type of service standing in front of traffic.

2. Karen Hoffman: You see that a lot too downtown near the bus station.

IV. ADJOURNMENT 

The meeting was closed at 12:08 PM

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