Diversity & Community Relations Committee - Regular Meeting

Relations Committee for Thursday, May 28th at 430 in the City Hall Council Chambers. Call the roll. Councilman Clement.

Here.

Councilman Marino. He told me he would be absent. And Councilwoman Ibarra. Here. So we are going to do an approval of the minutes from May 14th, 2026. Have you had a chance to reveal? Do you want to make any changes? I did. We're all good. I'll make a motion to accept the minutes. Okay. Second. All in favor? Aye. Citizens to be heard on agenda items. This is the time that if any citizens want to talk about the agenda items, they are welcome to speak. This is the time for citizens to be heard on agenda items. Does anyone want to speak on the agenda item?

What is that pertaining to? The CBDG funding.

Oh, okay. Does he have to sign or can he just...

He can just sign.

You can just come on.

Thank you. Appreciate you. Appreciate this opportunity. It's reminding me of my podium.

I know. Is it on? Yeah, testing, testing.

Did you hear him? Okay. I would like to first say thank you for this opportunity that you afforded the community. I want to talk about the Men of Ballard, which has been in existence for 33 years. And I just was looking over how long we've been doing what we've been doing. Believe it or not, I've worked with five mayors. and 10, no, I worked with, yeah, five mayors and 10 chiefs of police that started with Dennis Nowicki. That was the first one that we started with Joe, was Dennis Nowicki. And we, birthing of the Men of Valor program, what we did was we looked at the things that was going on within our community, especially pertaining to young men. And we rolled up our sleeves, and I'm a prodigy of Project Upper Pound. Project Upper Bound prepared us for college, got us ready even though we were in high school, prepared us for college, which was such a blessing because everyone that I went to Project Upper Bound with, they all went to college, all graduated, and all have degrees. Unfortunately, I stopped short of that and got called into ministry. But then I went back to school and obtained my degree in theology within religious study. I've had a chance to go to Africa, minister over in Africa, which was such a blessing. I went to Nelson Mandela's home, Bismarck Tutu's home, and began to see the diversity that was over there in Africa, which was such a blessing there. I had a chance to minister in Mexico, Leon Potavate in Guanajuato. that I have a chance to also minister over in Europe. I'm headed this year to Oman. My nephew's been in Oman for a year and a half. I'm going over there. I've been invited to go also to India and minister over there. But the men of valor was birthed again out of pain. I was seeing what was going on within our community. And we've had graduate classes. On record so far, we have affected 6,500 men within our community and abroad. Also, with the Men of Valor program, we have art classes. I don't know if you're aware of it, but I've had a chance to do art all throughout the United States. The first person that I did art for was in Newtown. I did art there for the victims that were affected there. I did artwork for Breonna Taylor. I did a penitent for the Dallas Police Department. I had a chance to meet President Obama when I did the work at Newtown and his staff. had a chance to also go to Dallas when those officers were killed, presented art there. The young man that was shot in Aurora did work there. So much work, we had a chance to do work also for the young man that was shot at the Chicago State basketball game, that high school game there. We did art, did healing art there. And so, oh my God, it got so consuming that I had to take a break from it. Because doing that work, it weighs heavy on your heart. And it was coming from my own slush fund. We've had a chance, and we've been doing this for 33 long years, and you had a chance to come to our Super Soul Bowl celebration. Where we embrace the whole community, we bring the community in, we invite them in as an evangelistic tool, and we honor individuals throughout the year that have made an impact within their community. We've done also the boots on the ground, prayer strikes in the air. We were acknowledged, the resolution was given to us by Mayor Schultz. We have impacted, we came and we prayed all four corners of the city of Joliet. And while we were doing that, also Pastor Belinda McCullough was a part of that as well, Pastor Brooks. I was a part of that, Pastor Purchase, several of us, Pastor Wilbur before he left. And while we were doing that, there was no shooting or death taking place during that time. We'd done the back to school crash program. This year, what is so unique is that we partnered with the boxing gym and also we partnered also with BMAC. We partnered also with the NAACP. We're doing a lot of things within that. We've been doing that for quite some time. We have a tutoring program. My wife is involved with our widows and our orphans program. Our gym in that church, you may be aware of it, that church made 101 years old. 1925 it was built. In that church there is a weight room and we call it the Samson Fitness Center because there's a weight room in there and we get ready to get that remodeled. We have a feet and clothes and neck programs and also two, we also have a dance group. My daughter's an amazing dancer, which is called the Daughters of Promise. And it's just so much, and I don't want to take up any more time. But we've done several things within our church, outside the community. We just did the Get Out to Vote. And we invited people from all walks and backgrounds. We don't believe in a Republican or Democrat that divide because Christ is not divided. So why should we divide individuals one with another? It's a divisive tool that's been used to keep us apart. I believe in gathering and God believes in gathering. But I can't change my stance whether I'm before judges, lawyers, doctors, black, white, rich, or poor. I'm going to stand what I was called to do. Go ye therefore and make disciples. And he didn't say white disciples, Hispanic disciples, but he said make disciplined followers of Christ. And so that's what I want you to know. that I'm here to see what can be done to help us any way, shape, form, or fashion with what we're doing. And we've been doing it, again, I say, for 33 long years. I'm young. I'll be 66 years young June 12. And I thank God for that, for his health and strength in my body. And I do appreciate the time that you allotted to me. And if any more information you need from me, by all means, I will forward that and bring that to you. Again, thank you for this time. May God richly bless you. And may God keep you is our prayer.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who wants to speak on an agenda item?

I'm Catherine Beavers, Executive Director for Family and Friends Transitional Housing Veterans Home. We've never applied for the BEOG grant before because we just kind of assumed we haven't been getting grants, we don't have a grant writer, and we wouldn't get it. So this time we took a chance and applied. It's really needed. We do transitional housing for veterans, and we're the only one. We've been here since 2008. We're located at 725 Wilcox. We house veterans from Joliet, Plainfield, Kankakee, Chicago, and the surrounding area. And we're it. There's not another one. The one that the bishop had in Chicago was closed. We have a waiting list. As we house our vets, they keep coming. When they come to us, most of them are homeless, a lot are disabled, and some we make sure that they get back to school, that they want to go back to school. A lot of them need counseling, and we have a counselor on staff. Also, we connect them with the VA, because I'm connected with the VA. And then after we get them counseling, get them where they can function in society, we get them in their own apartment. We work closely with Cornerstone, Catholic Charities, and the Housing Authority here in Joliet. I also have a permanent home on 105 McDonough and 1 North Center Street. We recently worked with a young lady there and she opened up a, it's not a sober home, but they do counseling for people within the community with alcohol, substance abuse issues, which is a good thing. It works out really good for our veterans because they can attend her counseling programs as well. We really need that grant. It would help us. We have a home in back that is for when the guys need to isolate and be there for more counseling or have family that comes to visit, we need repairs, needed repairs to that. There's a restaurant next door, and I guess at some point last year they hit our building, so now we're getting water in there. So we really need the funds to do the needed repairs.

Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to speak on an agenda item?

Good afternoon or good evening. I'm Dr. Glenda Wright McCollum, and I'm here on behalf of Arise Community Development Corporation, and we are seeking funding through the CDBG funding. I applied for the grant. And I submitted the grant 15 minutes before the grant was due. And the reason being is because I didn't believe that the grant would be approved. Based on some of the things that we had to go through in order to even get the variance for zoning, that was a challenge. And finally, I didn't think that we would even be considered And so at the last minute, I decided, well, why not go ahead and try to apply? Arise Community Development is a nonprofit organization, and we exist to uplift and transform communities through youth empowerment, neighborhood revitalization, and active community engagement. We invest in the potential of young people and those in need to restore underutilized spaces. and foster strong, inclusive neighborhoods by building partnerships and creating opportunities for long-term growth and resilience. I have been serving on a community level for almost 40 years, a lifelong resident here in Joliet. I sit currently as the chairwoman for the Housing Authority of Joliet and on the Board of Commissioners, and we are advocating for affordable housing there. We also have had youth programs in times past. We've done summer programs. We've done food programs through Arise Community Development. However, this is a relaunch for us. We have recently accessed a building that's in a neighborhood that is in such dire need on the south end of Joliet, a building that has been vacant for several years, has been vandalized, and just a lot of vagrant activity there. And so we want to revitalize that space into a community center. And the community center would provide resources for the residents and for the individuals in that community that is so deserving of much more than what they've been able to get. This area has been so neglected for so many years. And so I want to come in and bring revitalization. We are in the process of renovating the space. It's a 1500 square foot building and we have located contractors that would come in. We have drawings that have been pulled up by the architect. They have been submitted to the city. The drawings have been approved. So we're seeking funding to be able to bring the revitalization that's necessary for that area. I would also like to say that for so many years, there was, even along that strip on Disc Lane Street, there was a speed limit sign that was knocked down and laid on the parkway. for years. Nobody even bothered to reattach the sign. The sidewalks are a hazard where individuals could actually trip and fall. They are all broken up. And so we're looking to come in and bring some revitalization and to provide some resources for that community. We're also looking to establish the Southside Neighborhood Council. which I will serve as the chairperson for that council. And again, being able to inform the residents as to what's happening down there. We will serve as a hub in that area. I didn't even know about this meeting today. I got it two hours ago. Someone, Kathy, called me and told me that the meeting was going on. And so this is the kind of thing that I'm talking about because the residents are not informed as to what's taking place within the city. And I want to bring about a change for that. And that's what will happen through the community development. We're looking to do some training, financial literacy training. We're going to do health and wellness training. We're going to provide some educational advancement for the kids, youth programs for the kids, just a whole sports camps, just a whole gamut of things that we're looking to do in that center. And so the thing of it is, is we have to get it up and going. And we have been working feverishly. Individuals have been donating their time and their resources. in order to help us to bring that community up. The residents want it, the residents need it, and they should be afforded that opportunity. So I ask for your support in that endeavor. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Is there anyone else that wants to speak on an agenda item? Is that Mr. Beavers over there with you? You're good? Everybody's good? I'm good. Nice to see you. Okay, then we're gonna move along to agenda item TMP 9924. Wait, no, I'm sorry, TMP 9925. Staff recommendations for CBDG program year 2026, presented by Bridget Rohrer, CBDG program manager. And just so everyone in the audience knows, we haven't seen who the recommendations are yet. We're going to hear them for the first time, just like all of you.

Thank you. Um, thank you for meeting again. So, um, we can go over the CDB programming and the staff recommendations for program year 2026. Let's see if I remember how to work this thing. There we go. Um, first I'd like to just kind of refresh your memory based on the last committee meeting on, um, uh, the application of the grading criteria. Is there strict? It is based upon the con plan, which you see there. Con plan priority alignment is top priority when it comes to determining if something is eligible and the scoring system that is used. So let's go over that just briefly again. So the con plan is a plan that was enacted last year. So the better part of last year, City of Joliet staff did several public meetings, meeting with not only stakeholders within the community and open meetings throughout the city of Joliet to determine what the priorities were. Some of the main priorities that were mentioned were housing, food security, and basic needs. So that kind of aligns us as to what is going to come up throughout the grading of the application. The next was the low to moderate income. We make sure that all of the projects are either in a low to moderate income area, which means that it services that area. or that the people receiving services are documented as being low to moderate income. And in a minute, you'll see a slide that shows very specifically what those numbers are.

The other thing is target area and redevelopment.

We look to see if the city of Joliet has determined or deemed an area to take precedent. So that would also gain it extra points. The severity of health, safety, accessibility, and infrastructure. population, the number of people being serviced is also taken into consideration along with the readiness to proceed. So making sure that, you know, if it's a facility improvement that it has any sort of engineering plans or the bid documents, there's multiple bid documents secured and sent with the application. budget realism is something that's also very important when determining eligibility and on the matrix score we want to make sure that for example if you know we're painting a room it's not going to cost you know $20,000 and that's their estimate so we go through and make sure that it aligns with standards past performance and Past performance and compliance risks are kind of tied together, but they are a little different. Past performance is saying, have they been a good partner in the past? Were they giving us monitoring and all the metrics throughout the last time we funded them? And risk compliance can also be tied to financials. So if a, let's say a non-profit submits an application but they show that they're consistently in the red and that they're at risk of closing or they're not financially secure, that can be a big risk to the city as putting money into a facility that might later be vacant within months or even a year. Organizational capacity, there's on the application, we make sure that board of directors, is tied to it and that we've got an idea of, you know, is this a functioning nonprofit? Matching leverage, if a nonprofit is putting their own money behind it or has done fundraisers to supplement some of the costs, that will also get them extra points. Long-term stability and durability is something that we take into consideration, making sure that these are not just band-aid fixes. If this is something that is going to fix a problem that we have right now, that's also going to gain more points along with measurable outcomes. Are these short-term outcomes? Are these long-term outcomes? And how will it measure up to any of the other applicants? We had an outstanding number of applicants this year. We had over double. And then as you can see there, for the total, we had a total request of $2.4 million. And last year, it was $876,000 approximately. So over double the request. And you can argue a lot of our applicants were based in food insecurity. a big, big issue here in the city of Joliet, and a lot of people are focused on that very specifically. So we had a lot of applications in that, and I think that that ties to current situational, you know, the situation that we're currently in. Eligibility must meet one of the national objectives. So it must benefit the LMI, the low moderate income person or area, which I spoke about earlier, or it must meet an urgent need. Also, it could be the elimination of slum and blight. So that category right there tends to mostly be used for demolition of buildings and you know vacant lots and and getting those up to par the rest of them you will find that the majority of everything is in the low moderate income persons or area category and this is the chart that I mentioned earlier the low 80% income limit the very bottom one there at 68,000 that is the that is very specifically the amount that HUD deems to be the LMI amount This year, we were awarded $924,055. And with that amount, we also, you can see it there as the total, $924,055. There is the breakup of it where 20% of that is set aside for administrative costs. whatever is not used there will eventually get rolled into the next year. That's what I wanted to make sure to very much stress. So you'll see that we spent more than the $924,000 this year, but that's because we had, you know, it could be a number of things. It could be administrative dollars that have been rolled over from the previous year, or it could be projects that came under budget, or it could be projects that never actually took fruition and get rolled into the next year. As you see the PS at 15%, $138,608, that is always gonna be 15% of the total allocation. So it doesn't matter if we're spending $2 million, we can only spend that at the absolute max under that category. So this year, it is recommended by staff to fund six public facilities, five public services and two micro enterprises. I would also like to stress, as you could see with the previous, a lot of applications and a lot of very good applications. It was very, very hard. And I've created a lot of applications in the past that these were very, very competitive. And just to give kind of an example of how competitive it can be, you can have two nonprofits, virtually identical, let's use like a food security, you know, two food pantries that are virtually identical. Identical number served identical services, but then one could be maybe like in a flood zone That's gonna deduct points right so they're gonna come in under you could have one that isn't using match funds But one is using match funds. So with all those categories it and that weighted system Is really what determines who gets funded if that if that makes sense and We have some set-asides that we do with this program, one of which is senior snow removal. We funded it for the same amount, or staff recommends funding it for the same amount going forward as we did last year, which was $37,000. Another set-aside was the Joliet owner-occupied rehab program. We did $172,000 and some change. Last year, we're asking that to be funded at $170,000 this year, and we're working on getting that program up and going. And then we have Miracle League, ADA, handicap accessibility for the bathroom, and some other modifications that are needed at the field. Back to public services, staff is recommending CASA, Northern Illinois Food Bank. I'm sorry for the acronyms. It kind of hits me now that not everybody knows the acronyms, but they're kind of standard in the nonprofit world. Northern Illinois Food Bank, ShareFest, and Prairie State Legal Services. scored the highest throughout the major process. At the very end of the presentation, I can go through things more specifically now if you'd like. However, I do have a appendix at the end that does talk more about the very specific services or facility improvements. But I can go through them now if you'd like. But otherwise, CASA is... asking for an advocate supervisor to attend court with children of domestic violence and that are within the court system. Northern Illinois Food Bank has a senior grocery program. They serve five locations here in the city. I did want to mention those locations. One is Mary Press Village, National Hookup of Black Women, Senior Suites, Senior Services, and Victory Center on 29 North Broadway. Let's see. Sharefest is asking for equipment upgrades. They're asking for a pallet jack, a cooler, and truck titers for any of their mobile equipment. Food services because they they assist a lot of the Joliet pantries here for public facilities the United cerebral palsy Has asked four hundred forty thousand you see we only funded them for forty two thousand, but that's because Will County who also gets CDBG funds has funded them for the majority of that project and What they are asking for from us was an additional emergency notification system for children who might have intellectual disabilities or physical disabilities that can't respond in emergency, the traditional emergency evacuation scenarios. So that includes a speaker system and lighting that indicates that there's a problem that they need to evacuate for. Catholic Charities Daybreak has requested much needed a remodel and security within their lobby. If you've ever been there, it's got a lot of exposed wires. It's not very secure. People can go in and out. and it's not really safe for staff, so there would be a whole remodel of the way of when you first walk into the building, how you're received, and then some of the offices would be adjusted to accommodate for staff. And then Trinity is asking for $137,738. It's recommended that we fund that for $135,000, which is three SILAs. The acronym Acronym for CILA is Community Integrated Living Arrangement. Those are homes for people with intellectual disabilities or physical disabilities, and they need ADA. I should also add that HUD also, ADA is a big standard for HUD, and that comes up within our comp plan and our grading system. And then we have two economic developments. We have historically funded LADA, the Latino Economic Development Association. We've reduced that funding going forward and split the difference with the African American Business Association. We have not worked with them in the past. But the applications were, the services are very similar between both. And I think the thought there is that the ability to reach more people. Are there any questions about those or those projects that you'd like to pause for? Go ahead.

I just want to, so Suzanne and I and Cesar Guerrero, when he was on this committee, right, it seemed to me and us collectively, I believe, that The same organizations always seem, and believe me.

They're funded again and again. Right.

I'm not here to say it's not needed because every single application is needed.

Yeah.

And so the three of us at the time really wanted to... Change that We're the same six seven eight and to keep in mind. This is hot dollars. This isn't Joliet dollars We just have the absolute opportunity here, which is very important to distribute these funds We believe equally right and The the numbers show that we have reached out to and met with applicants, helping them with the grant writing. We're just trying to stretch these dollars. And I think we did that. Maybe not today to the fullest extent that we want to, but... I believe we are making strides in that direction. What stands out to me, and again, every single organization here is very, very important. And I don't want to be in the paper for saying this, but Catholic Charities, I'm just saying, They're billionaires, okay? And their organization is up in Crest Hill. And you can pull calls for service with the police department. The calls for service are through the roof. Our officers bring their people, which are people, City of Joliet residents and others. They're not going to turn away people that are not from Joliet. Over there on Cash Street, But when I look at this column, the columns here, $190,000, which it's all important, right? And I don't want to be that guy saying this, but I think we can maybe subtract what they're receiving and stretch it out to a few others. Believe me, I'm a Catholic, right? My daughter goes to St. Ray's. But I think there's other organizations that can capture some of these dollars. And this is very strict, right? We have a strict protocol here on what can make the list and what cannot.

Yeah. You bring up phenomenal points. And this goes back to... Obviously there's a matrix, and I've already talked about that, right? We talked about that. It is a very strict grading process. I will tell you that smaller nonprofits are at a slight disadvantage within the matrix. And that's not something that we can fix. And the reason why I say it's a disadvantage is because, for example, if we went back, and I can go back to this slide, but if we are going to talk about matched funds, for example, A smaller nonprofit is probably not going to be able to match funds, right? A smaller nonprofit is probably going to come up more risky under the risk analysis, right? You look at their financials, and they're in the red every year at risk of closing. They're going to lose points based on that. So there are some fundamental... challenges when it comes to a smaller nonprofit. I will say this, though. And I cannot speak for the past CDBG program manager. I can just speak for myself in analyzing the current applications. There was a lot of potential. There was a lot of potential. And it honestly is very heartbreaking to me to have to say no to anybody. I wish we had all of those at $2.4 million to hand out to all of them, because there was no bad idea. Moving forward, I do agree that we need to figure out a way, and maybe working with this committee is the way to do it, of how do we help them? I mean, last year we did capacity building. We gave I want to say it was four maybe five nonprofits very small sums of money ten thousand fifteen thousand twenty thousand I think was the max and we said you can use these funds we use our own CDBG admin dollars and we we gave it to them and we said you can use these funds to do things that will help you administratively better your organization and so that you can be more competitive in the following year. One of them was the Recovery Center of Joliet, and they had an amazing application last year. And if you compare it to the year before, it was way better, but they still scored a little low. So it might take them another year or two to be able to get financially secure, to compete with some of them that are more proven with their outcomes historically. It is my goal to work with all the nonprofits. I have been touring and on the phone and just about almost every application I reached out to them and said, can you provide me documentation on that? Because while a lot of them are extraordinary ideas, they weren't professional grant writers submitting documents that would really help serve them or plead their case. I reached out to them. Do you have numbers that show how many people did this? Or can you expand on this? In order to really understand what their program is so that I don't just cut them off because they're bad grant writers. Or not bad. I don't want to sound like that. But not as developed or experienced grant writers. So that is something that I personally would like to work on. And maybe at the committee. can try to better and come up with some better ideas moving forward.

And just to expand on what I spoke about earlier, I'd like to start this process in like January, or even the end of the year, this year, or next year, and then anybody that needs help, which that's what we were trying to do, I believe is try, any applicant needs help with grant writing or anything else, let's get more in this this bag, right? And like, for example, UCP, they asked for $140,000. The county is going to, I guess, pitch in, right? And then we're going to do $42,000. Does the county contribute to Catholic Charities? Daybird?

So this is a good point. So actually, I probably should have said that somewhere. The The county is allotted just a little bit more than we are. I mean, ultimately we're kind of neck and neck with them with allocation dollars. They ended up funding almost all of their public facilities in the city of Joliet. So I apologize. I don't remember off the top of my head. But points were deducted. If the county was funding them for something, then points were deducted or their application was completed. Because I did, under facilities, there were three or four that scored very high that were ultimately taken off because they were funded by the county. And that's kind of an advantage that we have, seeing what the county did first. And then we go, OK, this is what we can work with because they ultimately In a realistic world, all the services and all the buildings are usually here in the city of Joliet. They're not at the south of the county. They're not at the north. They're here. So it gives us an advantage as to getting more funded here in the city.

So do we know if after you're canceling? No, go ahead. I was just saying, do we know that the county, were they able to fund Catholic Charities?

They did not fund Catholic Charities this year. No.

Okay.

But traditionally, we do meet with them, and we go through what they funded, and then we say, oh, you have that same application, and we kind of work with them. This year, we were a week or two behind them, so they made their funding decisions, and then that gave us the advantage to where we were like, okay, this was covered, this was covered, this was covered, this was covered. These are the seven now that... We're not.

I bring up, I guess, the point. We created the downtown construction. And there are downtown businesses there, but they do contribute taxes and other things, right? Maybe that's something we can look forward to someday where the city can fund a couple of these on their own. I'm not saying to this magnitude. But there are a couple other ones that probably need some help. And the pastor spoke earlier, right? And Glenda spoke about how much they have done in the community. And I just hate to leave some of these organizations without any type of help.

Right. So I totally understand what you're saying, Councillor Clement. And as a body of elected officials, you absolutely have the right and responsibility to choose which one you want to fund. So to your point, could we do, could we pull this out and push that in? The answer is absolutely yes. What staff is recommending is right now you have an incredibly defensible and transparent way of how these are scored and you took the top scores and that's how they're allocated, right? You could, you have the right to say I don't like that, I'm gonna do something else. But then it becomes very slippery every year after because then you don't have a way to say I'm really, I would love to fund this but it didn't score. What we can do is we can dial in that scoring again, right? There are some new names on here. We shared our scoring methodology. We can tweak that all year. We can sit down. I know you wanted to continue to meet on a regular basis, Councilor Ibarra. Maybe that's a project that we work on together to see if we can tool that to get the outcomes that you're looking for. In this particular submission that will go to council that we're going to ask you to consider as a body, as a whole, Again, we're not suggesting that we take away your responsibility as elected officials. We are cautioning you that the methodology presented right now is extremely defensible, and it's very open to how we came to these conclusions. When you start picking and choosing based on preference, every year is going to be a pick and choose based on preference. And it's going to be harder and harder to have those tough conversations to say, no, this doesn't work. No, that doesn't work. Because it'll be based on whim, right? Or vibe or feeling. So that remains your choice. I'm not telling you not to do it that way. I'm telling you it's going to be harder for you if you do it that way.

absolutely and for the record I've never reached out to either one of you about any of these look these applicants or any for the record open playing field that's that's what I'm looking for I'm just trying to stretch the dollars and I have all the faith in your your picture I do and I'm not gonna I don't want to take anything away from anyway I'm just trying to stretch these dollars and which are not our dollars. They're HUD's dollars. They're the taxpayer dollars.

And to that point, I mean, how we structure this in the future, we can say we want to stretch this. We're not going to make an award greater than X, right? Okay. That's a thing that you're allowed to do as well. I mean, we score it, and there's a maximum award number. Maybe it's, you know, $190,000 is a lot of money. For sure. It is. Until there's a project that you really want to give $190,000.

And that one popped out in my head. Just out of all of them.

They're all warranted. They're all warranted. You have a staff here that's technically proficient and sophisticated. You have a department that's willing to do the work alongside of you and take your direction. So, you know, we're here at your pleasure.

And for the record, I don't want to pick and choose and let's take 40,000 away from mine. I'm just that one stuck in my head and There's so many two point something million that people are asking for some qualify some do not and I know you're ready to go. I just thought yeah, I just wanted to Express what I'm thinking here. Thank you.

So what we discussed last year is was to, I mean, let me ask you a question first of all. Who sets the scoring rubrics?

So it's between me and there's a grant coordinator. We kind of run the ideas past each other and then ultimately I sent it to Dustin and then... So does this sit, can you get me a water bottle?

Yeah, and that was shared with you at the last committee meeting. We said, here's how we're going to score this. That was shared with you then.

Yeah. But we didn't have the opportunity to say we want it scored differently, did we?

You absolutely could have. I don't want to put you on the spot, but that's why we shared it with you.

Because what we said a year ago, so I won't vote on this at all, because what we said a year ago was we wanted the small nonprofits to have an opportunity at this money. That's what we said a year ago. And if you look at this list, and I'm not going to answer or address any one of these businesses or nonprofits at all. I'm not going to address that because I don't want to end up on the front page of the Hill News, just like Joe Clement said. I could name most of them that have access to a lot more funds than some of the smaller ones. Did we say we wanted it more of a smaller nonprofit feel? And we wanted more of the smaller nonprofits to finally have an opportunity at some of these funds.

So when you directed us that you wanted to see a wider net cast, you wanted to see more applicants, I think we did deliver that there are significantly more applicants than there have been in the past.

You know, something else I do want to highlight again is use the example of like RCCJ. Like they did receive the, we called it capacity building administrative dollars. They resubmitted their application and they were very close, right? If you look at the numbers and the scoring, they might need one more cycle to show to make their numbers greater or to kind of get them over that hump. I think it's not a next day fast solution because ultimately these are services, right? These people do need it. So if we go from, let's say, Morning Star Mission, they've said that they're doing 350 meals a day. And then I'm taking that money away to support a smaller nonprofit that's only serving 50 meals a day. If we start moving those metrics, and it kind of changed the fundamental theory, I guess, of longevity. And some of these things that we have said are important that were on that very first slide, which I can go back to. that slippery slope begins. Do you understand? So if we can get them to where they are now servicing 100, 200 meals a day, then it makes them competitive with the bigger ones. But it's not an overnight solution. It's really hard for me to like, to communicate it, but I hope that makes sense.

And I would also, oh, go ahead, please.

So LIDA got $75,000, and that is significantly less than they've gotten in the prior years. But if we're being equitable, did the African American Business Association only get $25,000 because that's all they asked for? Because equitable means they need to get half of that equity.

Actually, that's a great question. So we reduced the amount. So LIDA in the past had received anywhere between, it was like $150,000. They asked for, I want to say, $200,000 this year. I don't know why that little box isn't filled in. But I believe it was $200,000 this year. We reduced it to $75,000 because that is still keeping them sustainable, but the African American Biz Association only asked for 80, right? And so we are able to subsidize and give them a little and see what they can. Can they produce the same type of results that Leda has? Instead of just closing off and saying, well, you scored a little lower, You know, this is a good, in my opinion, a very good compromise. This is their first year, right? Their first year, yeah. So I think that that is an example of us reaching out to other nonprofits and giving other ones a chance within the parameter without showing a bias or without, you know, like preference over one organization to another. If that makes sense.

Well, we can vote. I mean, when's the deadline on this?

I have to go to public comment June 1st to make my deadlines.

Well, I mean, Susanna, for me, I have all the faith in what these guys are doing. We are making headway. Is it going to be perfect today? No. But I would like the other council men and women and the mayor to weigh in on this as well. We're missing one. I would like to move this forward. At least let's have a discussion at a council meeting so the public can hear it. We can talk about it. I'll say the same thing I said today. We are making headway. It's better than it was last year in the year before I believe not is a is a perfect. No absolutely not But I think we're making we're stretching the dollars a little more are the things that we don't know like absolutely But there are things I do like Will if I vote no this still goes the full council because it's

It's an advisory vote to council. Oftentimes, as a matter of courtesy, the staff won't bring something to the full council if the committee voted it no. I think because we have a statutory deadline that's imposed to us externally, a tie vote, we would probably bring it to council.

so if you feel in your convictions that you are unwilling to vote that is a fine thing I will respect that this is nothing personal but this is business and we're the ones that have to face the public we're the ones that answer for this so this is nothing personal at all this is business so if there's any more the presentation you want to give go ahead and then we could take it to a club okay

My next slide, I just kind of wanted to do a reminder of the owner of Occupied Rehab. This, and I love this picture because it does give you an idea of what could happen and what is to come. And this, I believe, is going to be a very popular program, one that we will probably want to keep. And we might actually want to increase funding for in the future. So this is like a, you know, The future is bright. And I believe that this, you know, we will need to work with this committee as well, coming up with like a matrix on how now, how do we get homeowners? How do we rank homeowners in getting these home repairs? And are we going to keep it with exterior? Do we want to do interior public, you know, public safety issues? So this is something to come to keep on your radar. And I have a lot of faith that that's... going to keep you guys busy. The next was Miracle League. We already spoke about that, about ADA accommodations there. And then at the last meeting, we had talked about options for the snow removal program. So we have come up with two options. But if you have any suggestions or ideas, it's definitely workable. The snow program, as of right now, 55 and up or 65 and up? I don't have it up. 65. 65 and up, sorry. And it is first come, first serve. And it has been mentioned that maybe we need to be reaching out to more of the vulnerable population with this and making sure that people who maybe can't afford snow removal are the ones ultimately taking advantage of this instead of a first come, first serve. So there's a couple different options I met with IT to go over. Option one is we could do kind of a point system. That's what we do. Over 80 would be like an extra five points. Disabled, mobility impaired, five points. SNAP recipient, five points. Veteran, three points. Lives alone, three points. As we get closer, if we'd like to set up another committee meeting where we can go over very specifics, I can work up scenarios. But ultimately, that would be kind of an option. Option number two would be just a one and done, are you a SNAP recipient? Because then that would show that they qualify within the low to moderate income category.

And I would also add there's always option three, which is to leave it the way it is, which is not what we're suggesting. But again, respecting the elected officials, you have that right to say, no, I don't want to do that right now.

And can you talk about the back story, how we came to be? Let's change this a little bit. 62-year-old, 65-year-old.

Anecdotally, I had the opportunity to talk to the majority of the folks that took advantage of the service last year. And many people absolutely do need it. And there were many people that called me because we had a poor-performing vendor, quite frankly. It was a source of great frustration for us and the residents. But come to be, there were more than a few people who called and said, you know what, I had my grandson do it. I did it myself. I hired a guy. So that told me that, you know, This is a service that perhaps incorrectly, but I understood to be dedicated to real at-risk folks who can't do that, have groceries delivered to their home, have medications delivered to the home. It's really a lifeline, right? Not a nice to have. That was my impression. So if that was indeed accurate, here are some options to make sure that this service is extended to those people who need that as a lifeline rather than a nice-to-have. That's the background on that.

Thank you. We'll have discussion. Yeah. We just wanted to show some progress on it. Okay. Thank you.

And then as we move forward, this is the this looks probably familiar from the last packet. These were the ones that were part of the recommendation and description of the service that was being offered and In the original packet that I gave you had all of the applicants So I think that's a really good way if you need me to reset it to you I'd be more than happy to reset it to you But these are the ones that Were up for staff recommendation. So if you have any questions specifically about about them I'd be more than happy to answer any of those questions I would like to stress I'm not an expert in any of them because it is an application and it's they were 33 of them so there's a lot what is the percentage of share fest clients that are served from the city of Joe yeah that's a good question I don't have at the top of my head but I can tell you that I can't tell you that I have met with almost every food pantry here in Joliet. I focused on that when I was at the county. I ran a garden program, so I was at all the food pantries pretty consistently. And one shared consensus is if we didn't have ShareFest, I don't know what we would do. Because they help all the food pantries. So they're not categorized as like a, as a Northern Illinois food bank. They're not classified as that type of infrastructure. But Gary, very much, they, yes. And part of their request that they asked for were tires for their truck, which helps them, you know, service the local food pantries that we have.

Do you have any questions?

Oh, and one more thing about ShareFest specifically, because that is such a great question, because we've added this, you know, it's very, lots of debates go on in our department, you know, funding. Something that's really interesting is they did ask for, you know, shelving and some things that were more like building, and then that's when, you know, we're like, We've got to draw a line because we're not here to fix their building. We're here more of a service. So what is a service? What will help them serve Joliet, not their building? So that's a discussion that if approved, we would ultimately, when we dropped up our scope of work, we'd be very, very specific that you can only do this, this, this, and this with the funds that serve only Joliet. And then these are the facility ones, same like, and that is all that I have for you.

Thank you.

Motion to approve.

Before we do that, I just want to say thank you for all your hard work. I do believe we are heading in a better direction than where we were in regards to helping others, other organizations out. We're not where we need to be by any means. You know, the city has to throw in some dollars at a later date, but we're not where we need to be. But I'm happy where we're going. We're not there. I mean, I would like the other, you know, we are a committee. I would like the other councilmen and women in the mayor to weigh in on this. But I would make a motion. We have a deadline. I don't want to jeopardize any other organization from June 1st, but I would like to move this to full council to have more discussion. So those are my thoughts.

Could I just say something?

You can at the end. Okay. Public comment. Okay. Respectfully, thank you. So I would make a motion to move with full council so we have discussion. We won't, I don't believe, can fix it here. Those are my thoughts.

So, Councillor O'Bara, if the motion is just to move it to full council, you're not voting to approve it. You're just voting to move it forward. So, if that makes a difference in how you want to express what you believe.

Because this is no disrespect to all the work you did. This is no disrespect to the time that is put in. This is no disrespect to the agencies that are there. I do think this is a discussion. It would have helped to have a third person. So my vote is just to pass it up and let all of us decide what discuss it collectively because my comments are the same that they were last year and the year before that is that I want if you're saying we can change the matrix then we should change the matrix because I would like smaller nonprofits to have an opportunity at this I have there is no disrespect I have the greatest amount of admiration for people who serve but if you serve and you have access to a lot more money than these smaller nonprofits. That's something that we had communicated the last year that we wanted to see and we didn't. So my vote is not to approve all of this. This is just business. But my vote is to sign it up to the full council to have more of a discussion about it because this is not what I envision. We all take a lot of heat about these dollars for some reason. These dollars generate a lot of interest. And, you know, some of the interest might be for the fact that I probably – texted 40 or 50 different agencies to say hey these dollars are coming up because it was kind of 11th hour when I found out there was less than 10 days left for this so next year that we definitely need to start in January start getting them ready so they are fully prepared for this so they know it's coming up so they can you know take a grant writing class or get some kind of instruction within this either with us or outside of us so they can learn how to do this because grant writing is just storytelling and if you can tell the best story and then show your numbers or show whatever is involved in this I am not happy it is not what I asked for but I will make a motion did you make a motion then I'll second that to send it up to the full council and let us all have more of a discussion And like I said, it's nothing personal. It is just business. So do you want to call the roll? And we'll go ahead.

Councilman Clement?

Aye.

Councilwoman Ibarra?

Aye. To send to the full council and we'll discuss it more. Yes. So motion passes. Is there any public comment? This is the time for public comment. Okay.

It's the system.

It's the matrix. It's not right in any sense of the word. Come up to the mic so we can hear you.

And I don't understand how you could think the matrix is correct. If you're like me, I work in the continuum. I work with, along with Catholic Charities, the Mission, everybody up there is deserving of the money. But it's gotta be a way you can take some of that money and help the small non-profit. Imagine how I feel if I've done this for 20 years and see what goes on. We will never, if I could have the best grant writer on the planet, But if you're doing this and your matrix is the way it is, I would never give a dime. I could be 95 and still won't get any of these funds. Ours, we service a smaller population. So you're gonna be more at risk. It's the way the system, the matrix is. You guys have to change and fix that. How can you think I can serve the veterans, which is a nice piece of the pie from Catholic Charities, when they get veterans, they come to me. If they're at the mission and they're disabled and homeless, they're going to come to me. I have to service them with a smaller staff, smaller funds, and make sure we can give them the best care. And every time I would apply for any of these funds from the city, you don't get a dime. And you'll hear the same story, and it's the same people, because they're serving a bigger population. So they're going to get a bigger pie. But that pie has to be changed. There's no way anybody sitting here tonight can think that's right. It's frustrating, very frustrating. I'll be turning 70 if I live next month. I've taken money. Thank God I was blessed to have a business. I've ran a home health. I'm a real estate investor. There's no way I would let my business go down. I work very hard and tirelessly, and my staff does, because I'm very passionate about veterans. My son was a veteran, my family, my husband's family. My husband lost his brother in the service. Next year, I plan, and I've worked with developers, and we're going to do 80 homes for veterans. If that's the last thing I do on earth, I'll make sure they get good service and care. Because if I'm going to wait for this BEOG or the funds from the city, I can forget it. Because the system is not working. And it's up to you guys to change this matrix. Because it doesn't work. Everybody up there is deserving on that list, including us in here. She's deserving. I'm deserving. We're doing the same work. It's just frustrating, very frustrating. And you hear the same thing. And I know my grant couldn't have been that bad. Like I said, I could have the best grant writer, but I'm going to be more at risk. I'm serving a smaller population. So I would never qualify for any of those funds. And it's not right. It's you guys got to change it. You got to make it right so everybody can benefit. It's not fair. So if you can think that's right, that's crazy. That's insane. You know, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be out of line. But it's just not right. It's not right.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you for your comments.

I just want to say, we can always schedule appointments too.

But we don't have anybody.

So if you want to say anything.

To talk about why they didn't get it. Exactly.

If you don't mind me speaking. Go ahead. There are parameters because they're not Joliet dollars. So that is one reason why probably some, like they did last year and the year before, did not qualify, which I'm sure is part of it. But you make a valid point. In the two up here, Dustin and Bridget, they're not the boogeyman woman, right? Oh, no. Right. I know you're voicing your frustration.

I'm just voicing my frustration. Over in Wheaton, they serve a lot less veterans than I do. I get a lot of their clients because ours is low-bearing, people with more issues, veterans with more problems, substance abuse, alcohol, whatever. We get a lot of their clients. They get funding off through a roof. the city their city donate money for homes for them 200 000 every year it's just unbelievable and they serve they have more funding in that area is what they tell me yeah but i can't be i can't believe we don't have enough funding here in joliet to help out i'm very confident with the team we have

And that's what I said earlier. It's a lot better. I believe we're outreaching a little more. The dollars are being stretched a little more. I think we can do better. I know we can. Bridget spent her like five months. No, a month. A month. she has a wealth of knowledge at the county dustin has a lot i i believe with us all this working together we can get there i just it's not perfect yeah they have to change the matrix it's not nothing against the people right the way you have it set up and i don't know the matrix because i don't know what your application said or didn't say right i just i just want to stress remember we had twice the applications last year it was very very very competitive

And if you're a small organization like us, you're serving tons of people. So it is what it is.

Well, I only have one comment on this that I'm trying to think of the word. It's not allegedly, but it's... hopefully not for me because i voted no but hopefully the data center will be bringing 100 million dollars and i'm confident joe that we can figure out a way to distribute some of that money through the through um Channels that haven't been funded up to this point I don't think I think that's a city manager decision along with the council city manager and mayor But I know that's a lot of money.

Well, I just think that's many years down the road. Yeah, I think um Just me personally. I believe we waste more money sometimes that we could Maybe help all their organizations. Oh, okay. I'll leave it at that.

Okay any other comments? No. Do we get a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. So moved. All in favor, aye.

Aye. Thank you, everyone.