South Cook News

Cook County Commission on Social Innovation met Jan. 16.

Here is the minutes provided by the commission:

The meeting of the Cook County Commission on Social Innovation was convened at 4:08 pm. The meeting was chaired by Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya, Chair of the Commission on Social Innovation. This meeting was open to the public.

Commission Members

Present:

• Commissioner Alma

Anaya

• Marc Loveless

• Ana Guajardo

• Carrie Thomas

• Xochitl Flores

• Ald. Maria Hadden

• Wendy Raymer

• Morgan Malone

• Howard Males

• Rodger Cooley

• Harold Rice

• Karin Norrington-Reaves

• Victor Dickson

• John Yonan

• Geri Aglipay

Commission Staff Present:

• Nadia Ismail

• Victoria Moreno

Commissioner Brandon Johnson was also in attendance.

Also present were committee members David Cherry and Michael Woyan.

1. A motion to approve the December 12, 2019 was made by Commissioner Rice and seconded by Commissioner Guajardo. The minutes were approved by a voice-vote.

2. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):

• Commissioner Anaya noted that this meeting would be focused on the SNAP rule changes and proposed rule changes that put County residents at risk of losing benefits.

• Commissioner Anaya passed a resolution with the County Board to defend access to SNAP benefits, and call for expansion of efforts to get exemptions to individuals in-need.

3. Presentation : Rule Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Impact on Cook County

• The presenters for this meeting updated the Commission on the issues Cook County residents are facing as the SNAP program eligibility rules change. The presenters were:

o Nolan Downey, an attorney for the Shriver Center on Poverty Law

o Mari Castaldi, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Chicago Jobs Council;

o Mary Frances Charlton, Youth Health Attorney for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless; and

o Jeremy Rosen, Director of Economic Justice, Shriver Center on Poverty Law

a. Nolan Downey noted that :

i. A policy that limits the period of time someone can be on SNAP, subject to an 80 hour work-requirement was passed by the Federal Government 30 years ago. There was allowance for a waiver for states who did not want to participate in the work requirement. However, all of Cook County is no longer eligible for the waiver and 50,000 County residents may lose their benefits. Furthermore, the Trump administration has recently changed the waiver eligibility making it harder for states, including Illinois, to obtain a waiver. There are also proposed rule changes impacting categorical eligibility that could effect low-income families’ access to the Nation School Lunch Program. Punitive welfare laws took people off of assistance and brought them into deep poverty. SNAP assists families facing poverty

b. Commissioner Anaya added: another issue is that this policy disregards the concentrated areas of poverty and food insecurity in Cook County.

c. Aimee Ramirez of the Greater Chicago Food Depository also provided a statement, noting that SNAP is a crucial program for families in poverty and that the emergency food system does not have the capacity to make-up for the losses in SNAP benefits.

4. Committee Updates –

a. Social and Human Capital is looking further into the employment rubric, evaluating whether it is appropriate for all sized employers. Asking that BED, Procurement, come to future meetings.

b. Intellectual Capital Committee is developing public engagement campaigns with strategic local outreach.

c. Public Capital is looking to engage on related to the Port. Comm. Brutus has looked into art displays in the pedway. Met with State’s Attorney, for guidelines on legislative language on Lincoln Highway corridor.

d. Financial Capital – Not able to meet this month, will update us on Calendar for the year.

5. Announcements:

Commissioner Cooley: The Chicago Food Policy Action Council will be hosting an event on February 22nd. They would like to discuss Census and connect with advocates on the SNAP issue.

Commissioner Malone: The Department of Aviation is hosting a career event on February 27th from 10:00am-2:00pm at Olivet Harvey

Commissioner Raymer: BMO made $10M, 5-year grant to United Way for their neighborhood network program. A big part of the grant is with Austin Coming Together.

Comm Anaya: If you know of areas or events that need County Census outreach let my office know.

6. A motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Malone and seconded by

Commissioner Yonan. The Commission meeting was adjourned at 5:50

https://cook-county.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=-1&GUID=F1990FE7-FDB2-4981-9F7C-83B7F1CFD59A&R=7252a2a9-d6d6-46bd-add0-8d29023644ec