January 15, 2014 – IJJC Meeting Minutes

I. Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 9:19am.

II. Roll Call

Commissioners: Chairman George Timberlake, Rodney Ahitow, Julie Biehl, Arthur Bishop, Jacqueline Bullard, Rick Velasquez, Lisa Jacobs, Esther Franco-Payne, George Hill, Patrick Nelson, Dana Weiner, Ethan Viets-Van Lear, Shelley Davis, Veronica Dixon, Ben Roe. Quorum declared present. Guests: Jim Bray, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA); Erica Hughes, ICJIA; Susan Witkin, Center for Prevention and Research Development (CPRD)-University of Illinois; Nora Collins-Mandeville, Juvenile Justice Initiative. Staff: Karima Douglas, Rob Vickery, Julie Stremlau, Jeff Bradley, Heidi Mueller, Ron Smith, Dick Walsh, Monica Kelley, Intern and Phillip C. Dalmage, Division of Family & Community Services (DFCS) Acting Associate Director.

III. Approval of Minutes

Commissioner Franco-Payne motioned to approve the November 2013 minutes. Commissioner Velasquez seconded the motion. All in favor minutes approved.

IV. Committee Updates/Motions for Consideration

A. JDAI/DMC

Commissioner Velasquez gave the JDAI update. Please see JDAI January 14th minutes for complete report. Karima Douglas, DMC Coordinator updated the group on DMC Legislation and the DMC Assessment. Briefly discussed DMC federal classifications and how they differ from State regulations. The 2012 DMC Data review will be complete by the next IJJC meeting. Commissioner Franco-Payne would like the Juvenile Justice Council involved in DMC/JDAI membership and would like the Committees separate. Chairman Timberlake added that the JDAI/DMC current committee is only temporary until a new DMC Chairperson can be named.

B. Planning and Grants

Commissioner Jacobs explained that this committee has met two times since November Commission meeting. The committee has updated information on the Reconnecting Pathways Conference, the JJ Council planning project, Raise the Age and Reentry programming strategies.

Kane County Bridge Funding Recommendation
The committee brought forth a request for $17,200 of JABG funds for Kane County. Kane needs this increase in their contract to fund them through June 2014. The group discussed. Commissioner Jacobs moved to approve increase, second not needed as a committee motion. All in favor, motion passed.

C. Data Liaison

Commissioner Weiner talked about the Juvenile Leadership Council workgroup and feedback on the DJJ reports. Erica Hughes added that the statewide DMC data is ready. Commissioner Franco-Payne indicated there was a soft launch for Youth 360. They plan to access race and ethnicity data from DJJ regularly. Commissioner Weiner will be attending the Reconnection Pathways Conference in May to talk to practitioners about data entry, etc. Susan Witkin is working on sharing information between DJJ and DCFS. She believes both parties are very engaged in this data conversation. Her most recent meeting was successful and the data warehouse project appears to be moving forward. Recently the Parole Board and DJJ made a great effort to reduce the number of kids waiting for a placement from about 140 to 50.

D. Communications Liaison

  1. JSO Communications Plan and Requests
    Commissioner and Communications Liaison Franco-Payne stated the JSO report is getting ready for release. The plan is to release this report as we did the parole study and share with legislators. The report is in final editing form and was distributed to the Commission on Friday, January 10th. Please send any comments and/or suggestions to Commissioner Franco-Payne. They will soon finalize the fact sheet, messaging and plan the pre-release, general release and press conference. There is a need for participation from the all Commissioners.

E. JSO Report Liaison

  1. Request for report approval/authority for Executive Committee to approve, it was noted that there is no need for this approval as the full Commission voted twice on the JSO Report and its recommendations. Any editing at this point is simply for clarity.

F. Youth Advisory Board Updates

Commissioner Viets-Van Lear gave the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) update. He stated the group had difficulty with attendance at recent meetings due to the Holidays. They continue to discuss and finalize the YMCA project. Commissioner Viets-VanLear would like clarification on how and when to obtain the approval of the Commission for YAB business. Chairman Timberlake will consider making the YAB a sub-committee of the Commission.

V. New Funding Requests

  1. Restorative Justice Conference Request

The Adler School of Psychology is asking for $10,000 for Restorative Justice Hubs. It indicates it will provide and in-depth Restorative Justice focus. The group discussed at length. Commissioner Davis moved and Commissioner Nelson seconded the motion. All in favor, motion for $10,000 approved.

VI. Fiscal and Strategic Planning

A. Grant and Funding Report

Executive Director, Heidi Mueller gave the fiscal update and explained the allocations on the handouts provided. Commissioner Jacobs is pleased there are contract agreements this early but worries that if we focus on CCBYS and the Feds decide to decrease funding in that area, what are our options? Planning and Grants really needs to stretch this money. The Executive Director indicated with the unpredictable funding streams we need to diversify our funds. The IJJC will make recommendations with what we know. Commissioner Hill added that it is difficult to stretch out funds over three years and be on track with trends. The materials for FY15 and FY16 show that we are on track and underspent in others. JABG under spending has to do with the federal funding not being readily available but will be back on track soon.

B. Project Implementation Updates

Final decisions on agenda, registration, etc. for Reconnecting Pathways Conference continues. Invitations have gone out to keynote speakers but no real response at this time. CEU’s or Continuing Educational Units for attendees was discussed. Currently have 200 rooms reserved.  Initially we had 11 sites for Juvenile Justice Council focus. 2 sites, Winnebago and Cook have dropped out. DuPage has not completely withdrawn at this time. The current sites contracts have been entered and they have been notified of their awards.
Rob Vickery gave the Reentry update. He stated that referrals from DJJ still continue to be an issue but they are getting better. They are developing a training curriculum for frontline staff which includes webinars, on line training, etc. They will fine tune this and have it ready for next fall.

VII. Chair’s Report

  1. Membership Updates
    Heidi Mueller, Executive Director of the IJJC gave her update. The JCEC requirements for membership and committee assignments must be met. We have applications in with the Governor’s office but no updates at this time.
  2. Committee Assignments
    We are open to new committee assignments but feel we are operating quite well as we are. IJJC Vice Chairman Jacobs again reminded the group that all Commissioners are welcome to attend the Planning and Grants committee meetings. Commissioner Esther Franco-Payne has been added to the Executive Committee. It was noted that the Research aspect of the IJJC has been briefly put on hold due to other priorities. It is recommended that Commissioner Biehl and her group give the update on the Raise the Age report. It was recommended to add the topic of Expungement to one of the existing committees.
  3. Other Updates
    DJJ Director and Commissioner Arthur Bishop updated the group about DCFS going live with a 24 hour hotline for reporting abuse or mistreatment in DJJ facilities. Director Bishop explained that when there is alleged abuse that is youth on youth, the facility handles the case. When a staff to youth allegation is made, an outside investigator is used. DJJ, DOC and DCFS are all involved in the investigations.

VIII. New Business

None noted.

IX. Adjournment

Chairman Timberlake motioned to adjourn. Commissioner Hill seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 1:10pm.