I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 9:15 AM.
II. Roll Call
Chairman George Timberlake, Commissioners Pam Rodriguez, Gene Griffin, Julie Biehl, Lisa Jacobs. Quroum present.Staff: Rob Vickery, Julie Stremlau, Lin Ferguson. Guests: Heidi Mueller.
III. Approval of Minutes
Minutes of the June 20, and August 15, 2012, meetings will be approved at a later date.
IV. Staffing
Chairman Timberlake reported that Heidi Mueller will begin work as Executive Director as soon as paper work processing is completed by DHS.
V. Status Update
No report.
VI. Annual Report
Lisa Jacobs reported that Jim Bray presented a draft Annual Report to the Communications Committee for review. Another draft will be submitted prior to sending it to the full Commission for approval. Commissioner Biehl noted there were a lot of people present at the Communications meeting to respond to the draft report.
VII. 3-Year Plan Revision
Chairman Timberlake reported that Karrie Rueter brought this topic to his attention at the last Commission meeting. Information discussed concerned the Annual Report and a possible need for modification due to some of the fiscal year funding changes. The Chairman will ask Karrie Rueter to provide an update.
VIII. Commission Data Liaison
Working well to date. Commissioner Weiner has been going to all of the Committee meetings and working with CPRD. We are sure to see the benefits soon.
IX. Juvenile Sex Offender Study
Commissioner Jacobs reported that the work group is making real progress. The Loyola team has started to sketch out the findings to make recommendations for consideration at the November Commission meeting. Dr. Anita Weinberg and her staff discussed their initial findings with Senator Milner and others to discuss the initial findings. Senator Milner said that it was a very informative meeting and the findings are not what he expected concerning the numbers of youth and the rate of recidivism. He wants to consider how the report is shared with other policy makers. It is important that legislators and policy makers benefit from this.
X. Juvenile Reentry Projects
Rob Vickery reported that we have to work to assure everyone involved with the project is in the same place. Commissioner Jacobs added that we have work to get a systematic plan in place that works for the youth, and gets the kind of data necessary to improve the aftercare system. Being three months into the project we don’t have a perfect model considering that we have two entirely different environments in the two agencies involved in the project.
XI. Raise the Age Report
Commissioner Biehl explained that reports will be presented on Juvenile Sex Offender and Raise the Age at the next Commission meeting in November. Dr. Anita Weinberg and Stephanie Kollmann will provide full reports on each project. She will request that the handouts be distributed the week before the meeting.
XII. Committee Updates
Chairman Timberlake has met with staff from DePaul and John Marshall Law Schools and also with clinical programs working with the BARJ curriculum. He thinks it may be worth considering convening interested law schools in Illinois that have juvenile justice clinical programs for a conversation about current restorative justice practices.
DMC – Committee met on Monday. The Commission received a letter from OJJDP stating that IL is out of compliance on two issues surrounding DMC. One is that the data reported in the 3 Year Plan does not match what was entered in the DMC data website. Candice Jones and Erica Hughes were working on this issue when Ms. Jones resigned, but to date the problem has not been resolved. The second issue is our collection of data and that we only collect data on 3 decision points rather than the required nine. We must demonstrate legislative or executive commitment to change the way we collect data. We are moving forward to rectify these problems and have a call scheduled with OJJDP next week. We also are trying to reschedule the site visit with OJJDP. Financially, the finding of non-compliance will affect the FFY 2012 funds, which is money that we are not drawing down. That gives us the additional time needed to show that we are in compliance. If we can’t show that IL is in compliance, they will require us to direct 50% of our funding toward DMC to address these issues.
Communications – Commissioner Biehl reported that they are moving forward with the community briefings on Youth Reentry Study.
Planning and Grants – Commissioner Jacobs reported that the last meeting was centered on the Reentry Projects. The other focus of the November 14 meeting is DJJ staff and Commissioner Weiner updating us on the implementation of the screening and assessment grant. They will report on how it is working and what the implications are for attaining our goals. They have also started to address strategic planning and looking at how to engage the full Commission and all of the partners in an assessment on where we are, where we need to go and how we need to map out the next phase of our work. This needs to be a discussion involving the full Commission and not just the Planning and Grants Committee. Chairman Timberlake added that in January we will have served on the SAG for three years and we should look at where we are. He would like to schedule a retreat and take the time to look at what we want to accomplish. Commissioner Jacobs will work with staff and Heidi Mueller to schedule meetings for 2013. Chairman Timberlake asked YNC to look nationwide at JJ Commissions and identify the function of youth commissioners.
XIII. New Business
Commissioner Jacobs recommended that Susan Witkin meet with Commissioner Weiner to compare data collection methods with those of CPRD. In November CPRD staff will start updating data previous collected. Chairman Timberlake has provided CPRD with materials on outcomes for kids, not only concerning social-emotional issues, but measures that were addressed at the Trauma Symposium at Northwestern last spring. Chairman Timberlake will do a White Paper.
Commissioner Pam Rodriguez asked how CPRD’s work plan compares to, overlaps and/or parallels that of ICJIA and what we expect from them. Commissioner Jacobs added that ICJIA has just updated their Planning and Research Committee and has asked her to serve as chair of that Committee. They want to identify the positive role that ICJIA could play in terms of juvenile analysis. There has been one meeting and they plan to meet more often than in the past. Chairman Timberlake reported that Commissioner Wayne Straza resigned his position on the Commission. He is looking at candidates.
XIV. Adjourn
Commissioner Pam Rodriguez made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Jacobs seconded the motion. All in favor. None opposed. The meeting was adjourned at 10:25AM.