Comprehensive Immigration Reform: What Happened, Why, and What's Next
September 25, 2007 -The Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees hosted a group discussion on Comprehensive Immigration Reform: What Happened, Why, and What's Next. The discussion was introduced by Larry Hansen, The Joyce Foundation, and featured contributions from Frank Sharry, National Immigration Forum, and Joshua Hoyt, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The defeat of the comprehensive immigration reform bill in U.S. Congress earlier this year has changed the landscape for immigration advocacy efforts. The tactics used to rally opposition to the reform efforts are now spreading to the local level, and advocates for immigrants are working on new approaches to counter those efforts and to rebuild momentum for systemic reform.

Part of moving advocacy efforts to the local level involves ensuring that politicians understand the price they will pay if they advance an anti-immigrant strategy. In the 2006 mid-term elections, candidates who made anti-immigrant positions an important part of their campaign almost always fared poorly. As citizenship drives continue and the number of immigrants gaining the right to vote increases, this trend is likely to grow, meaning that candidates who espouse anti-immigrant views will have a harder time being elected. As new representatives and senators who are sensitive to immigrant concerns come into office, it will be possible to re-introduce comprehensive reform legislation. However, this process takes time, meaning another effort to introduce comprehensive reform is not likely to happen in the near future.

Advocates will also be working to counter many of the hurtful images and racially coded phrases used by anti-immigrant forces. By demonstrating that immigrants are important parts of their community and by exposing the hateful element that is often a part of anti-immigrant rhetoric, advocates can build a more accurate, more positive view of how immigrants contribute to their communities.

Another strategy is to use the courts to combat local legislative initiatives designed to negatively impact immigrants. For example, the village of Carpentersville had proposed measures cracking down on undocumented immigrants due in part to concerns about unpaid ambulance bills that were supposedly tied to providing services to immigrants. A lawsuit has been filed claiming that this debate created a hostile climate in the village that led to a baby who was being cared for by an undocumented nanny being denied necessary medical services by an ambulance crew. This kind of litigation can make local governments understand the potential costs of trying to crack down on undocumented immigrants.

The speakers listed several things funders can do to help immigration reform efforts, including:

• Promote citizenship and voter registration efforts that can help immigrants have a greater voice in civic affairs;
• Support efforts to protect immigrant communities from the negative effects of proposed local laws;
• Help advance the state of policy research to show the different roles immigrants play in their communities and the nation and demonstrate the costs of forcibly removing them;
• Find ways to connect social service provision to larger efforts for systemic reform; and
• Assist efforts to develop messages that will help people think about what it means to be an American and what implications that has for the immigration debate.

What Is the Role of Funders in Addressing Poverty?
June 06, 2007 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty hosted a discussion on What is the Role of Funders in Addressing Poverty? The discussion was introduced by Alison Janus, Steans Family Foundation, and featured contributions from Amy Rynell, Heartland Alliance's Mid-America Institute on Poverty; Aurie Pennick, Field Foundation of Illinois; Paula Wolff, Joyce Foundation and Chicago Foundation for Women; and Bob Wordlaw, Chicago Jobs Council.

Developing philanthropic programs to address poverty and related issues can be difficult when board and staff members of a foundation do not understand the scope of issues involved or do not have the patience to deal with the long-term effort that poverty-reducing strategies require. By framing the issue in ways that highlight relevant data and by balancing short-term service-delivery programs with longer-term, policy-directed efforts, foundations can help reduce the impact of poverty.

Poverty is a large, growing problem that has been building over a long period of time, and it cannot be rapidly solved. Poverty can also be a difficult issue because of its intersection with other sensitive issue areas, especially race (white households in Illinois have a median net worth more than five times higher than the median net worth of minority households). Often, organizations prefer to address poverty through direct-service programs that address existing needs but do not lead to the sort of systemic change needed to eliminate or greatly reduce poverty. Direct-service programs will continue to fill a need as long as poverty exists, but foundations may want to consider complimenting direct service with policy activities that can help reduce poverty in the long-term.

People are often more willing to take action on poverty-related issues when they understand the scope of the problem and see how it is affecting their community. Every county in the Chicago region has seen a growth in poverty rates since 1999, with the fastest rate of growth occurring in DuPage and Kane Counties. Overall, suburban counties saw a twenty-five percent increase in poverty rates from 1999 to 2005, while the poverty rate in Chicago increased by eight percent in the same time period.

Statewide, there are nearly 1.5 million people living in poverty; nearly 700,000 of these people live in extreme poverty, meaning their income is below fifty percent of the federal poverty threshold.

Some of the aversion to funding policy solutions to poverty can be tied to the desire to see direct results that can be connected to foundation expenditures. Investing money in long-term policy issues (such as addressing poverty or race issues) will likely not bring about immediate results and may not even bring long-term success. Foundations have to be willing to takes risks to embark on these kinds of long-term projects, and that sort of risk-taking is often what is needed for broad, systemic change.

Efforts to reduce poverty may need to employ a number of different strategies. People-based strategies can help individuals get the skills and support they need to climb out of poverty; policy-based strategies can build a better social safety net to help those who are struggling while also complementing people-based efforts; and place-based strategies can build the social and physical infrastructure of a community, providing a foundation for poverty-reduction efforts.

Along with directly funding poverty issues, foundations can play a role as convener, gathering non-profit organizations together to help them share strategies, learn from each other, and design new approaches to combat poverty. Foundations can also open lines of communication so that their board members and staff can meet with people who will help them understand and move forward on poverty issues. Finding a leader in the Chicago area who can rally people around the issue of poverty could aid efforts to address the issue.

Data that provides concrete examples of how race and poverty intersect can also help make the issue more clear. One example of this kind of data could be a comparison of how the criminal justice system treats crack cocaine crimes versus how it treats powder cocaine crimes, and the effects this had on minority communities.

Foreclosures, Fraud and Home Loan Financing
February 06, 2007 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty and the Community Building Task Force hosted a discussion on Foreclosures, Fraud, and Home Loan Financing. The discussion was introduced by Alison Janus, Steans Family Foundation, Jeff Pinzino, Woods Fund of Chicago, and Consuella Brown, Woods Fund of Chicago, and featured contributions from Jeff Bartow, Southwest Organizing Project; Raul Raymundo, The Resurrection Project; Teresa Lambarry, Spanish Housing Coalition; Sharod Gordon, Target Area Development Corporation; Robin Hood, ACORN; and Leslie Ramyk, Chicago Community Organizing Capacity Building Initiative.

The recent suspension of HB4050, a program that provided measures to reduce predatory lending in certain Chicago communities, has taken away a tool that can prevent families from falling into foreclosure and communities from having to deal with excessive numbers of boarded-up houses. Complete evaluation of the effects of the legislation while it was active needs to be performed so that community organizations and foundations can better understand both the strengths and weaknesses of HB4050 and use that knowledge in future efforts to combat predatory lending.

Many communities in Chicago have seen an increase in the number of foreclosures since the mid- to late-1990s, and the rapid pace of those foreclosures is increasing the number of vacant buildings and contributing to community blight. People are often receiving loans with high finance charges, rapid increases in monthly rates, or other conditions that can leave borrowers unable to meet their payments and in danger of losing their homes. In some cases, home owners received checks that, when cashed, enrolled them in a loan program with difficult terms. HB4050 was an attempt to combat some of the predatory lending practices in these communities.

While it was active, HB4050 required the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to create a database collecting information on mortgage loans for homes in ten Chicago zip codes. Using the information in the database, potential borrowers might be referred for credit counseling if:

• They had a credit score under 620, OR
• They had a credit score between 621 and 650 and the loan met one of a number of criteria (including a rate adjustment in three years or less, an interest-only loan, a re-finance loan within 12 months of the original purchase, and other criteria) that could indicate a potential problem.

Under the law, the mortgage originator was required to pay a $300 fee for the potential borrower's credit counseling.

The legislation operated for five months before it was suspended by the governor. Critics said that the program, by selecting only a few zip codes, created a form of red-lining-some lenders would not do business in the selected zip codes so that they could avoid the hassle of the program requirements. Some residents also did not like the prospect of being forced against their choice into a credit counseling program.

The program might have functioned better on a broader geographical scale rather than selecting only ten zip codes. If, for example, the program covered all of Cook County, mortgage lenders would not easily be able to simply stop lending in the area covered by the program. However, such an increase in the program's scope would likely require an increase in the capacity of credit counseling services to deal with the increase in new clients.

Part of the public relations battle surrounding HB4050 and any future efforts to combat predatory lending should involve community residents who can tell their stories. Community organizers met many people who went through credit counseling while HB4050 was in effect, and the great majority described it as a positive experience-even those who might not have initially been pleased with the requirement. Many of them also ended up not going through with the loans, hopefully indicating that potential future problems were averted. A detailed analysis of consumers' experiences with HB4050 could be useful in making decisions about future legislation.

Future efforts at combating predatory lending depend to a degree on the government's willingness and ability to enforce new and existing lending rules. Along with its credit counseling component, HB4050 provided a possible enforcement tool; the collected data could have shown which lenders habitually engaged in predatory practices and provided the starting point for enforcement activities.

HELP: Housing, Education and Local Politics
January 11, 2007 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty hosted a discussion on HELP: Housing, Education and Local Politics. The discussion was introduced by Alison Janus, Steans Family Foundation, and Robert Wordlaw, Chicago Jobs Council; facilitated by Consuella Brown, Woods Fund of Chicago; and featured contributions by Veronica Anderson, Catalyst; Irene Juaniza, Blocks Together; and Sokoni Karanja, Centers for New Horizons.

Two public programs-the Chicago Public Schools' Renaissance 2010 plan, which is closing and replacing selected elementary and high schools, and the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation, which has resulted in the demolition of thousands of public housing units (many of which will not be replaced)-have led to significant changes in Chicago neighborhoods. Some communities have been affected by both plans, losing schools within their borders while also losing public housing units.

These communities often have to deal with additional pressures from gentrification. As new housing, including some market-rate housing, is constructed to replace demolished public housing, new residents have moved into sections of these neighborhoods. While some improvements have been seen in these neighborhoods, many existing residents feel that the improvements were not made with them in mind-instead, the neighborhood is being changed to benefit newcomers once lower-income residents move away.

Changes in schools can leave residents with this same impression. While the school closings have displaced about 9,000 students, only a small number of these children, less than one percent of them, ended up attending upper-echelon schools in the CPS system. Most of them-approximately two-thirds-ended up in schools that were on probation, partly because families want to keep students near their neighborhood support network. While these students made some initial gains on their test scores in their new schools, their scores still lag behind those of their peers. Additionally, as schools are transformed and re-opened, they often end up serving a smaller portion of the community than they did before the closure, meaning fewer local residents benefit from the new school.

An alternative to closing schools and shuffling students is keeping a school open while bringing in new administrators and teachers. This allows the enrolled students to remain in place and enjoy the benefits of the changes. Sherman Elementary in Englewood is undergoing such a transformation and is being closely watched to see what results it generates.

The combined effect of removing public housing units and closing schools can drain a community. The Plan for Transformation will replace less than half of the housing units demolished, which will exacerbate the existing affordable housing shortage in many communities, particularly gentrifying communities that face rapid increases in housing costs. While income has crept up in some communities, it is still far below the regional median, and poverty remains widespread in many of these communities. Residents may find it difficult to develop their community according to their vision-as gentrification moves into some of these communities, land is purchased by speculators who simply hold on to it, meaning community-based development can be difficult to accomplish.

Some communities are working to preserve what they have left. Schools that received students from other closed schools cannot themselves be closed, but some community residents are attempting to build other, more positive reasons to keep these schools running. They are actively working to improve the quality of education and the safety of neighborhood schools through bringing in quality leaders, training security staff, initiating parent patrols, and other measures. Plans like the one used for Sherman Elementary could be helpful in other communities, if the plan proves successful.

In keeping neighborhood schools open, communities can face challenges of sudden surges of enrollment and possible increases in violent incidents. While these incidents can be troublesome in the short-term, some neighborhood schools have developed ways to deal with such incidents that can lead to an overall decrease in violence.

Along with community-based measures, there is pending city and state legislation that could affect or prevent planned school closings, including a proposed city ordinance that would put a moratorium on future school closings.

Antipoverty Advocacy and the Press
August 23, 2006 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty hosted a discussion on Antipoverty Advocacy and the Press. Alison Janus, Steans Family Foundation, introduced the discussion, which was moderated by John Bouman, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and featured contributions from Mary Ann Fergus, Chicago Tribune, Amy Rynell, Heartland Alliance, and Alysia Tate, Chicago Reporter.

Building and maintaining positive working relationships with reporters plays an integral role in helping an organization get its message out through the media, allowing it to tell stories that grab the public's attention. Cultivating relationships with reporters can be mutually beneficial, as grantmakers and grantees may find an avenue for telling their stories and reporters may gain a resource to help them gather information.

In developing stories about poverty, grantmakers and grantees need to find ways to make the issue immediate and personal. Stories tied to individuals showing the effects of poverty in their lives are more interesting to editors than dry descriptions of policy. Additionally, making sure reporters have time to notice telling details can lead to a better story-in many cases, the right detail can drive home important points more effectively than long explanations. It's also important to help reporters see beyond easy clichés so they can see what is really happening in a community and not fall into the trap of using generalizations or shorthand descriptions.

Customizing stories for particular reporters or newspapers can also help, particularly if an organization can customize data for particular geographic areas in a press release. Press releases should not stand alone-phone calls following a press release can help build a relationship with a reporter and increase the chance of a story being picked up.

Organizations can also develop media strategies based on the strength and weaknesses of different outlets. For example, television coverage can have a widespread impact and can deliver powerful visuals, but the small amount of time given to television news stories prevents an in-depth discussion of causes and solutions of societal problems. Newspapers and magazines can provide more details about the causes of poverty and potential solutions, but there is little chance for interaction with the readers. Radio call-in shows and blogs allow for interaction with the audience, but audiences may often be segmented, making it difficult to reach a broad spectrum of people.

Some of the possible roles grantmakers could play in drawing attention to poverty include:

• Facilitating conversations about issues brought up in media stories. The media generally serves as a tool of information, not advocacy. Grantmakers can help people understand how the information from media reports can be translated into concrete action.
• Making sure new data or information resulting from grantee activities is seen by the right people in the media. Helping such grantees include a media outreach strategy in their proposals would assist in getting information out.
• Increasing capacity of grantees to deal with media requests, allowing social service agencies to better serve as liaisons between their clients and the media.
• Contacting media personnel, including reporters and editors, to encourage them to cover poverty. Let them know there is an audience for these stories, and let reporters know you can help them tell those stories.
  

Bringing Asset Building to Scale
May 17, 2006 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty hosted a discussion on Illinois Asset Building Group: Bringing Asset Building to Scale. Leslie Corbett, Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, introduced the discussion, which was moderated by Consuella Brown, Grand Victoria Foundation, and featured contributions from Joe Antolin, Heartland Alliance, and Phyllis Russell, Work, Welfare and Families.

After three years of discussions and planning, the Illinois Asset Building Group (IABG) has decided to move forward with a proposal to create a Children's Savings Account (CSA) program in Illinois. Their planning for this project involved discussions with the groups involved in the IABG and conversations with constituents who would be affected by whatever program they eventually designed. These discussions pointed them toward CSAs as a way to build assets for lower-income families and help them improve their economic status, especially in the long term.

Asset-building programs such as Individual Development Accounts have arisen recently as complements to income-support programs such as Temporary Aid to Needy Families and the Earned Income Tax Credit. The effects of asset-building programs can be broad, as people invest not only in their own future but also in their families and their communities. By providing assets that children can use for a variety of purposes when they turn 18, CSAs help lay a foundation to help individuals and families out of poverty.

The exact shape of the proposed CSA program is still open to discussion. Questions still to be resolved include:

• Who would be included in the program? Some type of universal program without income limits may be the most politically palatable way to design the program, but then there are questions of whether the program covers only children born in Illinois or if provisions should be made to bring children into the program who move to Illinois when they are below a certain age.
• When would government deposits be made into the program? Should there be a single deposit made upon the opening of the account, or should there be a series of deposits at different points in a child's life, which would allow childrFor what purposes could the account be used? In Great Britain CSAs exist with virtually no restrictions, but such a program likely would not pass here. However, restrictions could be drawn broadly enough to allow for a wide variety of expenditures.
  Participants discussed the value of partnering with banks in such a program, especially banks with experience in reaching out to school-age children and helping them create checking and savings accounts. Surveys of bank employees asking them how they promote the benefits of accounts to their customers along with the reasons their customers give for opening an account could also be useful in designing and promoting a CSA program.

The cost of a CSA program may be high (the exact cost depends on the design of the program), but not without precedent, and state government has previously found a way to pay for new programs deemed important, like the All Kids program. A clear explanation of the benefits of CSAs-possibly including estimates of how many more children would attend college and other such measurements-could encourage the government to pass the program.

Hurricane Katrina: What's All the Hype About Poor People?
November 29, 2005 - Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty hosted a discussion on Hurricane Katrina: What's All the Hype About Poor People? Leslie Corbett, Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, and Consuella Brown, Grand Victoria Foundation, introduced the program, which featured presentations from James Thindwa, Chicago Jobs with Justice, and Bob Wordlaw, Chicago Jobs Council, and a discussion moderated by Deborah Harrington, Woods Fund of Chicago.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina opened the door to actions to address the problem of poverty in the United States, but it is unclear how long that door will remain open and whether anything of substance will be accomplished while the opportunity is at hand. At the very least, Hurricane Katrina exposed the problems of poverty in the United States to people who may not have been aware of the extent of the problem.

Maintaining a long-term effort around the problems revealed by Hurricane Katrina can be problematic, as people are willing to offer help when a problem is right in front of them, but become less willing as the problem fades into the past and the emergency recedes in their memories. The fight against poverty needs more than short-term financial gifts; it needs people who are willing to engage the issue and work for substantial policy change. Unfortunately, the current rebuilding process in New Orleans seems to be changing policy for the worse, eliminating some existing government protections instead of creating new ones.

The fight against poverty has been made more difficult by the fact that certain programs that were formerly viewed as unassailable, such as Social Security and environmental protections, are now under fire. The limits on welfare benefits are causing problems, and cuts in mass transit are preventing residents of lower-income neighborhoods from traveling to prospective employers. All these changes are part of a larger debate on the role of government in society, and the terms of that debate must be continually questioned and challenged. If those who wish to fight poverty let their opponents frame the debate, they have already lost a significant part of the battle.

Private-sector funders also need to be wary of stepping in and performing tasks that the government used to perform but has abandoned. Such action can set a precedent for further rollbacks by the government as the public sector tries to shift more and more activities to the private sector. Rather than pick up the slack, philanthropic organizations and their grantees must hold government officials accountable for their actions and not allow them to abandon their responsibilities.

As the group discussed the problems and opportunities that arose in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they mentioned the following issues:

• Organizations sometimes create a false divide between short-term problems and long-term problems. Many problems require both short- and long-term solutions, as shown by Hurricane Katrina-there was a pressing need for emergency relief after the hurricane, but also a need for long-term change that could prevent the recurrence of such drastic problems.
• Finding clear ways to present facts about poverty and related issues can be crucial to winning support for a campaign. For example, when people compare the increased taxes they would pay under a single-payer health care system to the amount of money they pay in health insurance premiums, they generally have little difficulty seeing the economic advantage of a single-payer system.
• Communication on poverty issues between government branches and between government and non-profit organizations is often non-existent. Improved communication can result in increased opportunities for dealing with poverty-related problems.
• There are recent examples of victories in combating poverty. The creation and promotion of the Earned Income Tax Credit is one such example, as it showed how providing a direct service (income tax consulting and preparation in this case) can help build a base for system-wide change. Identifying victories, however, can be difficult, as not all campaigns show measurable short-term results. Some battles take many years.
• Funders need reliable information on what programs work and which don't. They do not always have time to fully research policy proposals, and it is helpful for them to have reliable sources who can tell them what ideas will likely lead to positive results.
  

Mothers Returning From Prison
May 19, 2005 - Gail Smith of Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers began the presentation with an overview of the issue: 2,800 women live in Illinois' four prisons, 61% of which are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes; 90-95% are survivors of physical and/or sexual abuse as children; 67% are African American, 27% are white; 82% are mothers.

Mimi Alschuler and Samir Goswami of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless presented the agency's 2002 study titled, Unlocking Options for Women: A Survey of Women in Cook County Jail. The average profile of a woman in jail: she is 30+ years old, African American, lives on the streets, and has been in jail twice or more. Other key findings include:

• It is very common for women to be jailed for prostitution or drug charges;
• 92% said they would have to live with someone else after being released;
• Only 1 in 235 surveyed said she had ever been to a domestic violence shelter;
• 27% have never received any help for a mental health problem; and
• 88% plan to go back to school after being released

From the survey, several recommendations were set forth:

• a comprehensive housing plan is needed for women following release from prison;
• more support services need to be available for women after release in order to prevent recidivism;
• legislation must be passed to provide alternative consequences to jail for women who commit nonviolent crimes.

Rochelle Perry of the Safer Foundation began her presentation by explaining that incarceration is just one of the problems that these women face - most have no job, are victims of domestic violence, have little or no education, abuse drugs or alcohol, and have been physically and/or sexually abused in the past. Without an education, a woman has very little employment potential, making her three times more likely to return to jail. Ms. Perry concluded by saying that more support services and job opportunities are needed for women post-incarceration.

Ms. Smith continued by focusing on the particular hardships that mothers in jail must endure. The single worst thing to happen to a young child is to be separated from his/her mother. Foster care is very common for children with mothers in jail, but it is difficult for them to be re-joined legally. With a criminal record, many mothers are shut-out from employment and housing opportunities. The entire panel agreed that more collaborative efforts are needed among nonprofits and state/city departments in order to address all of the factors involved.

Just Say No To Band-Aids
April 19, 2005 - GCP member Consualla Brown of the Grand Victoria Foundation began the program with a brief overview and introduction of the speakers. Amy Rynell of the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, provided a comprehensive presentation detailing the multi-faceted risks that vulnerable teens face and which often lead to adult poverty: school dropout, early pregnancy/parenting, homelessness.

In Chicago, half of all high school students do not graduate - this has serious implications since low education is a key indicator of future poverty. The number of homeless individuals dropped between 1990 and 2000; however, the number of homeless youth increased. Funding for youth services has decreased statewide.

Robert Barnett of Jobs for Youth Chicago began his comments by describing his goals as two-fold: to give youths the job skills and "soft skills" (ie. Communication skills) needed to succeed at a job; and to work with the business community to ensure that youths have access to jobs in order to overcome poverty. There are many prejudices among employers that need to be addressed before job opportunities can be made available.

Melissa Maguire of The Night Ministry provided a more realistic picture of homeless youth, saying that the typical age is often over 21 years old. They caught are between teenager and adult development but usually cannot be served well because many state and social service agencies have strict age categories. Ms. Maguire called for a "continuum of appropriate services and housing" that could seamlessly support young individuals as they advance through specific developmental milestones or regress to troubled behavior.

Jobi Petersen of Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health related the topic of youth in poverty to the issues of sex, pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases. Many sex educators do not provide the full information that teens need. Grants from private foundations certainly keep nonprofits in operation. However, she noted, increased government funding is the only way we can truly overcome youth poverty as a community.

Consuella thanked the speakers and summarized the highlights from the panel: breaking the cycle of poverty needs to start early in life; everyone should have solid skills after earning a diploma and a living wage once in the workforce; affordable housing and access to healthcare are essential; and the need to develop a safety-net of social services.

Grantmakers Concerned With Poverty Policy Briefing
February 14, 2005 - Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty held a briefing to discuss poverty issues at the Federal and State levels. Phyllis Russell, Executive Director, Work, Welfare and Families moderated the program. Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition for Human Needs, Washington, D.C. spoke on Looking at the President's Budget, TANF Reauthorization and the Federal Policy Scene. Dia Cirillo, Director of Public Initiatives, Work, Welfare and Families spoke on Looking at the State's Fiscal Situation, the Budget and 2005 Policy Initiatives.

Deborah Weinstein opened by saying it is a major year on both the Federal and State levels. The President's budget came out a week ago and it does not provide for crucial needs like jobs, healthcare, and affordable housing. The budget cuts Medicaid while the number of uninsured is growing, cuts food stamps by over a billion dollars in ten years, cuts Head Start by 25,000 children, cuts vocational training by $50M in Illinois, cuts community development, under-funds education, moves housing vouchers towards "state flexibility," and increases the amount of Pell Grant Awards but decreases the number of students eligible for Pell Grants.

These cuts are not unavoidable, but rather a choice the administration is making. The tax cuts of 2001 - 2003 are a large part of our country's move from surplus to deficit. The tax cuts are skewed toward the benefit of the wealthiest 1% and have been protected by cutting funds for programs. Examples were given of how expensive the tax cuts have been including the statement that if the tax cuts were left in place it would cut Social Security in half by 2014. The President's budget sets rules that say you can propose any tax cut without a change in the budget. However, if you want to change funding for an entitlement program that gets its funds from legislation and does not need an annual appropriation, you can't raise taxes to pay for it; you must instead cut the funds from another entitlement program. This is similar to the "Pay As You Go" model, but it no longer allows legislators to use new or raised taxes as a funding method.

Deborah referenced Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform, and his definition of the conservative agenda as the effort to reduce the size of the Federal government by first cutting revenue, then cutting the programs.

Concerns and questions for educational efforts were raised including: how to make the budget clear to the average person and how to make these concerns real to them especially when the language they hear is contrary to the changes that are taking place. How do funders respond to Bush Administration's claim that a cut is "only 1%" or that they're giving tax cuts to the people who "really invest"? Deborah suggests that the key lies in making the numbers real in human terms by giving examples of individuals who are affected by the legislation or the programs which are suffering cuts. Funders can point to unmet needs that exist now to show what it will be like if the programs are discontinued. People may not be interested in expansion, but that does not mean that they want these programs to end.

Dia Cirillo opened the discussion on Illinois finances by saying that the Governor's budget would be released on Wednesday, February 16, 2005. Illinois' revenue collections have declined in the past three years, while Governor Blagojevich has promised no new taxes. Unlike the Federal government, states cannot deficit spend and therefore must balance their budget. Solutions that have been useful in the past for balancing the budget include budget cuts, one-time new revenue sources, and borrowing money.

The good news is that Illinois leads the nation in health care funding and is a strong supporter of child care. However, most of the revenue that has been used in the past few years has come from staffing cuts and other one-time revenue sources. Gambling expansion is being considered in the state's search for additional funding sources. Illinois is also too dependent on income provided by four major taxes including income tax, corporate tax, sales tax, and utility tax. These factors have put Illinois in fiscal crisis with in-year revenue deficit, structural deficit, and an education funding crisis.

Illinois needs to consider tax reform to effectively bring itself out of the fiscal crisis. It should be noted that of the 41 sates with an income tax, Illinois has the lowest top rate in the nation at 3%. Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, and Ohio all range from 6% to 8.98%.

Participants in the meeting raised questions including:

• Is the local advocacy community able to leverage the budget? State hearings have said that people support increased taxes over additional cuts in the budget.
• The relationship between the Federal and State governments was discussed, noting that deficits at the Federal level are pushed to the State. As a result the Federal government can claim cuts, but these cuts have to come out of state budgets that cannot deficit spend. Many people don't realize that if you're not paying for something at the Federal level, it is because it was pushed to the State and you will have to pay for it there or lose it.
• What sort of society are we-the help-all-others kind or the help-yourself kind? How can we engage people in that question? It was decided that more discussion needed to take place about how funders connect with their constituents and their community.
  

Listening To Olivia
October 4, 2004 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty held a discussion on the intersection of race, poverty and gender. Moderated by the Suntimes columnist Laura Washington, the panel included: Olivia Howard, Community Counseling Center; Jody Raphael, author of Listening to Olivia: Violence, Poverty and Prostitution; Valerie Lewis, Genesis House; and Jennifer Rosenkranz, Michael Reese Health Trust.

Research has shown that poor women in low-income communities often engage in the sex trade business. Olivia Howard shared her personal experiences. Her story was similar to other young girls who begin work in the sex trade. To escape domestic abuse at home, she worked as a dancer in a bar. Eventually, she began prostituting and became dependent on drugs.

Comments highlighted missed opportunities to intervene, such as hospital staff asking questions to identify help and offering information. Olivia was eventually assisted by a nonprofit organization offering many services to women in similar situations, including HIV, Hepatitis C and tuberculosis testing, and assistance with mental health issues, employment and dental care.

One program officer highlighted that even though the issues were shocking to its board, the foundation recognized the impact of the larger issues on the community and felt that it needed to help fund change. The program officer acknowledged that its foundation's guidelines were flexible to fund this type of assistance program, but that not all foundations are able to make grants to organizations such as this one.

Employment and Housing
May 10, 2004 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Ending Homelessness and Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty co-sponsored a program on workforce development issues as they affect the homeless population. Topics included: job sectors that have suffered and where there is growth locally; problems unique to the population; barriers the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funding presents to this population; and how the current employment system responds to the homeless population. Panelists included: Heriberto Garcia, U.S. Department of Labor; Jeffrey Lewelling, Mayor's Office of Workforce Development; Shannon K. Stewart, The Employment Project; Eric Weinheimer, The Cara Program; and Matthew J. Blakely, Communities Program, McCormick Tribune Foundation.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) highlighted homeless assistance through mainstream and targeted employment related programs. Three areas of the comprehensive statewide homelessness prevention strategy included programs targeted to foster care youth, veterans, and persons discharged from prison or treatment centers. DOL discussed its Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative and the Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program. Distributed materials provided national examples of one-stop career centers and their current strategies for assisting homeless persons in their job search.

The labor market participation rate among homeless persons is higher than perceived. The rate indicates a high portion of the population is motivated to work. Trends in the current job market include an increase in jobs within health services and the business sector. There has been a decrease in jobs in the hotel industry.

The Mayor's Office for Workforce Development utilizes its funding to assist and support the employment of the homeless population. Mayor's Office for Workforce Development has allocated an additional $400,000 to serve ex-offenders. Workforce programs of The Mayor's Office do not reach homeless persons who are not searching for work.

Two local nonprofit organizations highlighted their different approaches to job placement and job training. Comments emphasized the important role enhanced training and specialized skills can play in participant placement. Best practices highlighted included:

• Hire a business services coordinator to build relationships with surrounding businesses. Engage those businesses in the work the organization does with this population.
• Establish a community voicemail system with free access. This can assist in embracing a support system between family members, employers and health service providers.
• Insist that career services staff communicate with case managers at the shelters.

The discussion addressed barriers that WIA funding presents and the proposed solutions to those issues. One issue is the length of time homeless persons are in the employment and training system. Most will not rotate out of the system within a year. In addition, organizations are constrained by the time limits built into the existing program enrollment process which prevent more in-depth assessment of potential enrollees' appropriateness for the specific training opportunities.

Materials distributed included:

• Local Area Unemployment Statistics
• Low pay by City keeps working homeless in poverty

Grantmakers Concerned With Poverty Peer Exchange
April 7, 2004 - Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty met for a presentation on the Critical Skills Initiative. Panelists included: Mary Pepperl, The Workforce Board of Northern Cook County, and Linda Kaiser, Chicago Workforce Board.

Panelists reviewed the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Critical Skills Shortage Initiative. A consortium of Workforce Boards represents each of the 10 economic development regions. The consortium is charged with addressing critical skills shortages by redirecting resources and applying for funds to fill gaps. The northeastern regional consortium has identified a six sector focus and is assisting each sector to identify industries and shortage occupations, complete analyses of the skill shortage root causes, develop a regional solution, and oversee the awarding of training grants.

Working with the consortium, the healthcare sector has collected data using a Job Vacancy Survey for acute care, long-term care and ambulatory care. Occupations with severe shortages, vacancy rates, minimal educational requirements, and obstacles to hiring have been identified. Focus groups have begun to identify root causes of the skill shortage in the sector across the region. Other information collected included: current education and training providers for the critical skill occupations; assessment of policies and regulations; awareness and perception analysis; and career path analysis.

Funders suggested potential nonprofit partnerships. Foundations were encouraged to involve their grantees in the regional consortium to assist in the development of the plan. Potential funding opportunities included: advocate on behalf of policies and regulations that are identified through the initiative; and expanding of the capacity of education and training providers.

The 2003 State of the Workforce Report for the Metropolitan Chicago Region (pdf) was distributed to program attendees.

How Will Governor Blagojevich's New Workforce Development Initiative Affect Your Grantees?
March 17, 2004 - The Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty invited representatives from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunities to discuss the Critical Skills and Healthcare Initiatives. Panelists included: Therese McMahon, Deputy Director; Julio Rodriquez, Director of Program Services; and Bob Sheets, Program Consultant.

The transfer of workforce programs to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunities (DCEO) was done to help build a globally competitive workforce. The Critical Skills Initiative identified the department's goals to align regional workforce programs. Ten economic development regions were designed by the Governor and based on economic and labor market factors. The DCEO plan draws on the Workforce Investment Boards to provide consortia leadership, along with the integration of education and training agencies, economic development organizations, organized labor, and private business and industry. Consortia will work on a consensus basis to voluntarily redirect public and private resources to address critical skill shortages in a region. The DCEO would like the consortia identify themselves as a broad system linked to the region.

DCEO will provide Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds to underwrite planning costs and provide incentives to regional consortia to participate in the initiative. Consortia that produce the best regionally funded plans and have the best developed requests for supplemental funding will be awarded funding. Evaluation will be based on the concrete goals associated with each proposal. Funding is limited and is to be used to stimulate conversation about the larger scale issue. Implementation steps for the consortia included:

1. Identify sectors, industries and occupations with workforce shortages.
2. Complete analysis of root causes.
3. Develop regional solutions.

Healthcare was identified as a key industry sector critical to the economic development of the Northeastern region of Illinois. Strategies to address the short-term and long-term needs of the area included:

• Retain Nurses and Healthcare Technicians.
• Provide Certificate opportunities for foreign trained nurses.
• Provide professional advancement for low-income healthcare workers.
• Expand career opportunities for other low-income adults with healthcare career interests.
• Expand career development opportunities to K-12 students.

Highlighted to be discussed at the summer retreat included: "Is there enough momentum and interest for the Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty to exist? If there is interest, what are the future goals of the group?

The discussion centered on developments in federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). TANF and WIA offer the promise to change the picture of inequality of low-wage employees. Most low-wage employees are working with little or no job security. Specific TANF trends included:

• Federal level deregulation of block grants.
• Conditional benefits to enrollees.
• Sufficient deficit will affect cuts in TANF.

Currently, TANF includes a caseload of over 30,000 people. The working poor population is rapidly increasing in numbers. Low-wage workers are not going to welfare to get financial support. Due to the structure and complication of policies in place, many workers have problems moving forward in the system.

WIA is the single largest supplement to educate employers and employees. One WIA initiative highlighted the shift of funding distribution to the local level. WIA challenges include offering programs that would be best utilized by those who are not yet connected to the system.

Comments on the Illinois deficit offered a broad view of possible challenges facing Illinois. One challenge included issues that could arise from future decreases in funding for federal and state programs. Illinois is under pressure for general revenue spending. States need maximum flexibility in state options versus state mandates.

Where Are the Jobs?
November 5, 2003 -
Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty sponsored a program on the barriers to advancement for low-skill employees and the current movement of low-skill and low-wage jobs out of the city. The program concluded with a discussion on future funding strategies. The session, moderated by Spruiell White, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, brought to the table many barriers that a majority of low-skilled workers, mostly women, face while balancing a family on the income of a low-wage job. These barriers included longer work hours, an hour or more increase in work travel time, and an overall lack of labor market knowledge.

The program presented panelists who discussed the issues from various angles. Juan Salgado, Instituto Del Progresso Latino, addressed the need for strategies addressing the foreign born and Mexican populations and
his support for such strategies to increase productivity and increasing opportunities for those working in low wage, low skill employment. Anne Ladky, Women Employed Institute, discussed how the organization addresses post secondary education job training and the job pathways of women. Mary Pepperl, Workforce Board of Northern Cook County, identified the need for more solutions to job improvement and the need to realign workforce development systems to address the high African American unemployment rate. John Plunkett, Suburban Job Link Corporation, reiterated the need for collaboration on additional issues addressing legislation that have an impact on those in the low-wage and low-skilled labor market, such as U.S. Agricultural Subsidiaries and the competition to replace people with machines.

Additional funding strategies discussed among program attendees included: addressing employment barriers such as education, transportation, and training; stabilizing lives of homeless to return to work; and supporting social enterprises.

The group recommended Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehenreich, the writer's experience working low-wage, low-skill jobs in the U.S.

Does Service Differ By Race?
May 7, 2003 - The Poverty Task Force invited Dr. Susan Tinsley Gooden to discuss her new research, "Examining the Implementation of Welfare Reform by Race: Do African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites Report Similar Experiences with Welfare Agencies?" Her research was the result of two seperate studies that examined how responsiveness and quality of service differ by race at welfare agencies. The qualitative study examined a small cohort of southern welfare recipients and outlined the different levels of service they receive based on race. Through a number of personal interviews, she found that white clients typically reported better experiences with caseworkers and employers than did the black clients. The quantitative research was conducted on a much larger and more urban scale, yet found similar results. The audience compared her findings with more local experiences and sought to identify the opportunities for affecting systemic changes.

Jobs and Income Program
February 26, 2003 - The Poverty Task Force hosted a program on the fight to retain the state Earned Income Tax Credit and a discussion of the pros and cons of advocating for a state minimum wage. Ralph Martire, from the Illinois Tax Accountability Project, talked about current reauthorization efforts for the state Earned Income Tax Credit. Mr. Martire argued the benefits of removing the sunset on the Illinois EITC and expanding the credit to be fully refundable.

Denise Dixon, an ACORN community leader, discussed the campaign for a state minimum wage. Her presentation, which focused on the need to reward work and to begin to address basic needs by increasing the minimum wage to $6.50, was supported by John Burbank from the Economic Opportunity Institute in Washington state. Mr. Burbank highlighted best practices, challenges and evaluation data from the 1998 state minimum wage increase in Washington, one of 11 states which has a higher wage than the federal rate.

The New Political Era in Illinois
December 12, 2002 - The Poverty Task Force hosted a special program on aiding the transition to new leadership in Illinois. This informal meeting between nonprofit leaders, foundation program officers and Deanne Benos, the Director of Policy for Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich's Transition Team, allowed for the discussion of a broad range of human services and social policy issues that the new administration will be facing to determine what opportunities for input and dialogue exist between the Transition Team, nonprofits and foundations. Participants brought their thoughts and ideas about a variety of topics, ranging from predatory lending practices for housing and tax preparation and ex-offender re-entry to supportive housing programs. The dialogue included the examination of opportunities for nonprofits to help with the state fiscal crisis, as well as the potential possibility of streamlining government services through increased communication. Both the audience and the Transition Team expressed an interest in maintaining the momentum initiated through the afternoon's discussion, and are dedicated to investigating the possibilities of a Task Force that will keep the dialogue open between the new Governor's office and the foundation community.

Building Assets and Financial Services
October 29, 2002 - Speakers included Marva Williams of the Woodstock Institute; Dory Rand of the National Center on Poverty Law (NCPL); and David Voss of First Bank of the Americas. David Marzahl of the Center for Economic Progress and Fabio Naranjo of the MacArthur Foundation moderated the brown bag session. The audience heard from the panelists on the myriad of opportunities available to promote financial literacy and encourage wealth-building among low-income consumers. Insight was given of on the financial services policy environment, model financial literacy and asset-building programs, like Financial Links for Low-Income People (FFLIP) Coalition sponsored through the NCPL, and the role of banks in improving access to low-income consumers. David Voss outlined how a profit-bearing institution can dually serve both its shareholders and its community. This program was held at the MacArthur Foundation.

Challenges Facing Low-Wage Workers in Today's Recession: Welfare Reform, TANF Reauthorization and Workforce Development
March 8, 2002 - With the five-year time limit on benefits under welfare reform kicking in this year, at a time when the economy is in recession, the Poverty Task Force took a look at the intersection of federal and state welfare and workforce development issues. This panel discussion included: Sue Armato, executive director of Midwest Partners; professor Julie Henley, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago; and Bob Wordlaw, executive director of the Chicago Jobs Council. Recent and pending changes in workforce development and welfare-to-work policies as well as pending TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) Reauthorization received special focus.

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