I. Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 9:35am.
II. Roll Call:
Commissioners: Gene Griffin, Rod Ahitow, Ben Roe, Committee Chairman Rick Velasquez, IJJC Chairman George Timberlake, Barb Shipp. Guests: Dr. Miguel Lewis. Staff: Karrie Rueter, Julie Stremlau, Jeff Bradley, Lin Ferguson.
Chairman Velasquez introduced Ben Roe as a newly appointed member of the IJJC.
III. Approval of Minutes:
Commissioner Ahitow made a motion to approve the minutes of the May 12, 2011 meeting and Commissioner Griffin seconded the motion. All in favor. None opposed. Minutes approved.
IV. JDAI Coordinator’s Report:
Jeff Bradley incorporated the substance of the summary of the past two reports into this month’s report. The local site reports are due August 31, 2011. Gail Mumford at Casey reported to Jeff that at the end of July they will send out the templates to complete those reports or send a link to the website. Sites have been informed of the due date and that the report template will be available online. They will have 30 days to complete the report. The goal is to have 100% timely compliance and Jeff doesn’t see any barriers to completing on time.
Screening Instrument: The IPCSA has not met since our last Committee meeting. In meeting with Margie Groot he gained a great understanding of the barriers in collecting the screening instruments. Commissioner Velasquez asked what we are going to accomplish with the screening instrument. Jeff wants to see the differences in the instruments. He understands that the biggest difference is the point values assigned to specific offenses. He doesn’t think that they would be far apart, but until they look at all of them, they won’t know. Margie Groot added that they did the same type of comparison in 2007 or 2008. It clearly is the point differences that they want to revisit. She is also looking at other materials to use. She has also pulled material from the VERA Institute Report regarding some empirical data that was used in New York regarding screening. They are also looking at some other references that can be used in approaches. Commissioner Velasquez mentioned that he and Chairman Timberlake had a very successful meeting with Margie and her staff last week. He added that at any time they felt it would be helpful we could invite staff from VERA to discuss with AOIC how they went about performing their review.
Next Steps:
-After collecting the information this Committee, Margie Groot and AOIC to meet with the IPCSA Detention Committee and discuss our differences and how they can be overcome to move forward with a statewide screening instrument. These Barriers should not be insurmountable, but Jeff does not know that at this time.
-Decide what we want to do with the information we glean. Undecided if that should include statewide meeting of JDAI sites that provide information for further discussion.
-Bring in technical assistance from MacArthur, Models for Change, or through Casey Foundation, VERA or other groups to assist how we should proceed.
New activities: Michelle Arnold, YNC, sent plans and reports to Casey today. Jeff completed the FY12 draft in May and he and Michelle completed FY11 last week. He will contact Michelle to find out if anything else needs to be done concerning these plans. Commissioner Velasquez wants to clarify that we have not received any of the FY11 money that would have been allocated to us, because the FY11 plan was not submitted. Jeff has been working on both plans simultaneously. The FY12 draft is done, but needs to be edited and Commissioner Velasquez asked if we could present it to this Committee at the next meeting to assure transparency of the Casey Foundation plan and this Committee’s plan so we can support what we say we are going to do and where can use resources.
Mark Haskus, President of the Bar, has met with judges, probation officers, prosecutors and public defenders statewide to discuss Pathways initiatives. Chairman Timberlake and Betsy Clark along with Jeff met with people in Sangamon County and were well received. Redeploy was the focus at that meeting. They met in Jackson County this week and they are looking JDAI taking the lead there. It was clear from data and their conversation that they are using detention as an alternative to DJJ. They will meet again in the next couple of weeks and include the coordinator of the IL Association of Juvenile Justice Councils in that meeting to help them make JDAI their issue. Jeff will keep the Committee updated on this. There is also a meeting scheduled in the very rural counties of Massac and Union. If we can get Jackson and Williamson Counties to take the lead as JDAI site for that Circuit, all counties along and south of I-70 will be have JDAI sites. Basically that is the lower 1/3 of the state. Chairman Velasquez added that we are beginning to find out where the interests lie of jurisdictions that have not previously had contact with this Committee. This is in line with one of the goals we set late last calendar year. Commissioner Roe added that newer state’s attorneys are more receptive to new juvenile justice initiatives. Chairman Velasquez asked if we are leading the change or if the state’s attorneys are more open to change. There seems to more openness to change at this time. Jeff responded that in some instances they are leading the change. Barb Shipp added that we need to define “good”, because some counties are doing a good job in JDAI and doing nothing for DMC. Chairman Velasquez added that the more data we can collect to develop a baseline, the better we can measure change and practices in jurisdictions. Juvenile Justice Councils is one area of movement in jurisdictions.
V. DSO/Compliance Report:
Dick and Ron were not available for this meeting. Commissioner Velasquez wanted to bring to the Committee’s attention the fact that the IJJC funds transportation grants as a way to ensure that there is timely removal of kids from adult facilities. At a Planning and Grants Committee there was a question about the efficacy of these programs. Planning and Grants issued a short term, 3-4 month approval of the grant and wants us to look at the data relative to this program to determine if there are other ways to achieve this goal. Commissioner Griffin added that the Commission is trying to move towards results based accountability with grants. The feeling surrounding the transportation grant was that it has been declining and the funding is now only a fraction of what it was. The idea was to look at what makes more sense concerning closing some detention centers, so they are looking for better alternatives. Chairman Timberlake added that it would be possible to RFP the transportation funding in the future. We might have unintended consequences of other detention centers requesting money for this which we would not fully fund. Continuing the existing grant in with the qualification that we inquire of them how they are changing and looking to JDAI to determine if those grants were affected in any way or develop benchmarks. Chairman Velasquez added that there is not a timeline for completion of this project, and asked Karrie and Jeff to look at data surrounding this issue. Karrie responded that Julie Stremlau and Ron Smith would have the information needed. She explained that there is a significant amount of data. JMIS is the system used to track information for grants. Chairman Velasquez asked Julie to provide a briefing and overview for the next meeting so we can determine how to proceed. The Committee will then determine a timeline and decide how to proceed. What will be difficult to ascertain is whether they will be able to continue to do the work if the funding ends. Chairman Velasquez stated that we need to determine what results the Commission is trying to achieve with this program so we can work toward that and discover is there is another solution. Barb Shipp asked if Julie’s overview could include the original intent of the grant. Commissioner Ahitow added that it was to prevent violations of keeping kids in adult jails. Chairman Timberlake added that these grants do not cover all of the expenses of transporting the kids. He suggested that we talk to the sites and ask them how are they will continue if we are no longer funded by the feds. The Commission doesn’t want to cut off funds but we want to have an analysis of alternatives available to handle the load. Jeff Bradley added that transportation is the primary barrier in rural counties. Chairman Velasquez added that transportation is not the only option. He would like to see rural counties to take advantage of telecommunications to help alleviate some of the need of transporting kids. Chairman Timberlake asked the JDAI Committee to coalesce around some specific, fundable targets within a RFP framework to try and move ideas such as the telecommunications option forward. Miguel added that this is a statewide issue as well as an indigent issue in Cook. Chairman Velasquez wants to respond back to the Commission on this issue by their December meeting.
VI. Old Business:
A. Annual JDAI Site Reports:
Chairman Velasquez asked what we are getting out of the ARRA reports, and asked if we know what is happening at our sites after our meeting with Margie Groot and her staff. Do we have an inventory or profile? He wants to know what kind of progress we need to make in order to move this forward. Jeff Bradley responded that this is Casey mandated reporting and he doesn’t think it will be difficult to access the data, since it is already being collected. Chairman Timberlake asked if there was a specific person at Casey we need to contact. Jeff responded that Gail Mumford would be able to provide all of the data we will need. The data is on a template on the Casey website. Jeff will work on getting what we need and give an update report at the next meeting.
B. JDAI State Technical Assistance Application: New Jersey –
Jeff Bradley put together a delegation and spoke with everyone on the list. They all have agreed to participate. He compiled a list of who would be a good delegation and he recommends the following people that should be included in the grant as part of our delegation. Rick Velasquez, Jeff Bradley, Brian Brown, Sue Corpai, Carmen Cassas or Miquel Lewis, Ben Roe, Judge Sawyer, Margie Groot, Chairman Timberlake. The grant will pay for travel and all expenses while in New Jersey. If there is anyone not included on this list that you think should be involved, Rick Velasquez is willing to give up his seat. New Jersey would like to have 11-12 people. Chairman Velasquez asked JB to put this into the draft application and distribute to Committee members prior to next meeting so comments can be used to finalize the application.
C. Casey Foundation Annual JDAI Grant:
D. Social Marketing:
The Communications Committee is taking this on in a bigger way and how to communicate with the general public and Chairman Velasquez does not want to get in front of them on this topic. Jeff Bradley thanked Barb Shipp for the material he gave him. He has learned a lot about the Community Toolbox and media campaigns versus social marketing. If chair sees fit he would like to be assigned to the Communication Committee to work on this project. Chairman Velasquez will talk to Commissioner Franco-Payne tomorrow and lay the ground work for Jeff to participate in that Committee. Chairman Timberlake asked if there is any technical assistance available through the EUDL Grant. He stated that there may be some resources there. Barb Shipp added that Kim Fornero is the person in DHS to contact about EUDL.
E. JMIS:
Chairman Velasquez reported that Margie has been working with CPRD and working on changes in JMIS. She reported that enhancements are scheduled for July 25, 2011. Instructions and overview materials were distribution through the University of Illinois. Staff have been alerted. They are looking forward to information and breakdown that the enhancements will provide, because JMIS data is used for salary reimbursements for detention positions. Chairman Velasquez added that the enhancements will include a separation/designation of race and ethnicity which will provide better knowledge of the Hispanic population within the system as well as different types of unsecured detention.
VII. New Business:
JT reviewed the notes of their meeting. There isn’t comparison of YASI and MAYSI scores between DHS providers and probation. Additionally for both YASI and MAYSI services providers have to bill Medicaid two times, which is counter intuitive for both tools and unnecessary. He would like Margie to work on this in the future. Margie replied that she needs to clarify which tool DHS is using now. She is not sure the same tools are being used. Barb Shipp added if they haven’t changed the probation version in the last two to three years, we are using the same tools. DHS updated the tools in e-cornerstone to match what AO uses. AO moved to a web-based YASI in the fall of 2010 and she would like to get the working well before she looks into the billing issue. Chairman Timberlake case work is what AO is using since. Assessment of the YASI is done at the intake and some departments are working at a diversion level. Chairman Velasquez added that we are seeing that several community based agencies are using YASI as a key screening instrument whereby this information can be shared on a case by case basis. DJJ is also acknowledging the importance of this tool and using the YASI at intake and discharge. This provides the continuity of information which is useful in tracking kids. Margie added that the policy is that it should be done at a 90-120 day interval. She is not aware that DJJ was looking at the YASI. Chairman Timberlake added that they are looking at an array of instruments but YASI is part of their plan for probation. DJJ will be in contact with AO soon, since their funding will be approved next week at full Commission mtg.
Jeff Bradley received an email from the 4th circuit asking when the funds approved by the Commission for partial funding for their JDAI conference would be paid. Jeff will follow-up with YNC for payment, since the funds will come from Casey funds.
VIII. Adjournment:
Barb Shipp made a motion to adjourn. Rod Ahitow seconded the motion. All in favor. None opposed. Meeting adjourned at 10:55 AM.