The Week Ahead 2/4 - 2/10

Other Events:

County Executive Candidate Town Halls: More from the N-G

Darlene Kloeppel doesn't have any this week.

Gordy Hulten has one this week:
— 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, Tolono Public Library, 111 E. Main, Tolono. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2101906040041685/

RJTF City crossover: The Champaign City Human Relations Commission, which also may play a strong coordinated effort with County efforts to implement the Racial Justice Task Force recommendations is having their monthly meeting Monday, February 5th at 5:30pm in the City Council chambers (regularly the 1st Monday of the month at the same time/place).

Reminder: CU Indivisible's County Group is meeting February 10th, so members can look forward to an e-mail reminder and agenda earlier in the week.

County Calendar:

The first meat and potatoes meeting of the County Executive Transition Committee starts off the week. The first meeting mostly involved looking at the requirements, setting forth goals and setting a schedule going forward to transition to the County Executive form of government.

The Facilities and Environment & Land Use Committee meetings are both streamed live (link below) if you want to see what that's all about. You can also get a pretty good idea from their respective previous agenda packets that Facilities deals with maintaining the County's facilities throughout and the Environment & Land Use deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction. I'm interested in the "Update regarding Coal Ash in Floodplain of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River" from the Environment & Land Use Committee because that sounded just awful. Seriously, toxic sludge oozing into the Vermilion River (from the Chicago Tribune):

Probably less exciting is the County Administrator Evaluation Committee which, from the previous agendas, you can see looks at the process and paperwork from forms to surveys for evaluating department heads and staff.

The week ends with an RFP Evaluation Review, which given the people present and the recent Nursing Home "request for proposal" opening bids to be solicited from potential buyers for selling the Nursing Home, it's a safe bet this will be about that process.

There's no Build Programs Not Jails meeting this week. They are on new schedule of every other Wednesday which currently lands on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the Month with the next meeting on February 14th.

You might hear about the statutory Early Voting date this week. More information about that and voting by mail here.

The 2018 schedule is up on the Calendar page and the County page. The regular County Board meetings are back to Thursdays until next holiday season.

If you're curious about learning more about how your county government works, it's easy enough to live stream a meeting or go in person: Attend a Meeting.

*Meeting is broadcast live on Comcast Public Access and at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776

Where is Brookens?

Brookens Administrative Center
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, Illinois 61802-4581
Phone: 217-384-3772

After 4:30 the Washington Street side Parking Lot is Closed See Maps for the North East Parking Lot Access

CU Indivisible and RJTF Recommendations

Many local programs and organizations are looking at the New Year to begin work on the Racial Justice Task Force recommendations from their final report (available here with a summary of the recommendations on pages 5-9). CU Indivisible, a local indivisible group (what is this?) is no exception. They have a general meeting coming up this weekend, Saturday January 27th at 3pm at the Champaign Public Library (facebook event page here) where this and other issues will be discussed. Here's an announcement that highlights their current focus/priorities on those RJTF recommendations:

Were you able to attend the Racial Justice Task Force meeting last fall? If not, we have some information about the important points covered in the meeting. [Full report here]

There were two areas that are ripe for possible change: pretrial justice and legalized housing discrimination.

According to the Racial Justice Task Force Report, "64% of the people confined in the jail were African American" (p. 31). Many of the people in jail do not know whether a charge will be filed, dismissed, or resolved. They are often unable to leave because they need to pay a "D-bond" set at about 10% of the bail amount. Others were jailed for failure to appear in court. The Task Force recommends better notice of court appearances, better risk-assessment for release, and improved pretial services. Specific recommendations are described in the full Task Force Report.

A second major issue is legalized housing discrimination. Section 17.4-5 of Champaign municipal code allows landlords in the city to lawfully deny anyone convicted of a forcible felony or a felony drug charge housing until he or she has lived outside of jail or prison for at least five consecutive years without another conviction related to drugs or force. This is exclusive to renters, and it makes it harder for those reentering to secure housing.

This provision was struck from the record in the 1970s and then put back on the books with no explanation in 1994. There was not data or justification provided to support this action. In October 2016, both the Champaign County Reentry Council and the City of Champaign’s Human Relations Commission have advised the City Council to strike this exception from the city code.

This is a Civil Rights violation, specifically the Fair Housing Act. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released an advisory against this practice in 2016, read that report here. The report argues that since higher than average incarceration rates exist among Hispanics and African Americans in the U.S., the use of criminal records to deny housing can cause a “disparate impact” on these races. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2015 population estimates for Champaign County, 41.5% of African Americans have incomes below the poverty level compared to 17.2% of white people.

The CUI and the CUI County Board group will be working with other local groups and activists on this issue. If you would like get involved, contact Grace Hebert (contact info here)

Getting started on these issues can feel like a daunting task. Fortunately there are many amazing people who have spent years and sometimes their whole lives fighting for justice and reforms and there are many organizations and programs already in the fight every day working to make our community a better place. The first step is to grab a notepad (paper or digital) and find out what's already happening. A good start for you may be your local indivisible group, but there are many other starting points as well.

Here are just a few starting points. If any of them sound like they may interest you, all you have to do is show up with an open mind and a willingness to learn:

Build Programs Not Jails has been fighting for years to encourage alternatives to the criminal justice system and care for citizens in need here in Champaign County. They have regular meetings you can attend and find out what they're up to.

Champaign Human Relations Commission and the Human Relations Commission of Urbana: The respective city HRCs serve their communities by offering programs against discrimination, dealing with cases of discrimination, and working to improve community relations for all citizens with their government and policing agencies. They have regular meetings you can attend as well.

Champaign County Community Coalition is a local group that works with "local government; law enforcement; juvenile justice; behavioral health; education; child welfare; and community based service providers. This network is designed to identify critical community issues that impact the lives of youth and their families." They have a meeting coming up February 14 at 3:30pm at the Champaign Public Library if you want to learn more.

Taking the first step may seem overwhelming at first, but everyone who got involved had to start somewhere. Usually at a meeting with strangers trying to figure out what they're talking about, taking notes so you can find answers to all the new questions you may have.

These are by far not the only starting points... a more comprehensive chart for this site is in the works of various local government and community organizations and programs surrounding our criminal justice system. These range from prevention, services, diversion and assistance programs, to programs all the way through the criminal justice system and back again. This includes re-entry assistance, regaining/protecting your rights, and building a livelihood after. I'm shooting to have it linked up and looking spiffy by this weekend... so the weekend after next is probably a safer bet. I'm still learning too.

Racial Justice Task Force Meeting Coming Up October 12th

CU Indivisible Pointed out an upcoming meeting:

⭐ Racial Justice Task Force meeting⏰ 6:30 - 7:30pm @ Lyle Shields Meeting Room Brookens Administrative Center

Their main page is here: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyBoard/meetings_RJTF.php

It seems obvious now, but I missed the upcoming schedule the first couple scrolls through it. It was under the Extended Term Meeting Schedule link for the most recent schedule:

Regardless I'm going to try to attend and get more information to help present more information on about what it is, what it does, and accessibility. For other folks who want to check it out:

Meetings are live streamed at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776 This is an offsite linkThis is an offsite link.

Older meetings appear on a YouTube link off the above link, but not recently updated: https://www.youtube.com/user/ChampaignCountyIL

10/7/2017 (First!) Meeting Notes

First meeting! Introductions and charting a course on how to help unwind county government ourselves to understand it better for ourselves and help inform others on the issues, the players and possibly even to run for office someday.

We divvied up some initial tasks including:

• Attending meetings in person when available (on the Calendar link or County Board's page)
• Catching up on missed and some previous meetings available here (link updated on the Calendar page): https://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/countyboard/meetings/minutes)
• Updating this website with more information on candidates including pictures, issue positions, voting history, and helpful tips and notes.
• Updating this website on the issues with links to organizations and informational links to understand the major issues facing the Champaign County Board, including the new Executive position.
• Connecting open County Board races with potential candidates and the support and information to be successful.
• Election information for both voters and potential candidates on open seats, election schedule and the lay of the political land for those districts.
• Reaching out to local organizations already invested in County politics for information on upcoming votes, information to help people support them more effectively, and upcoming input/votes that need to be amplified.
• Contacting some current office holders for more direct questions on how the County Board works now versus how it will operate with the new Executive as well as the Administrator.
• That's the gist...

A lot of work to do over the next month. Hopefully we'll be able to work out the kinks as we figure it out ourselves. Over the next few weeks this skeleton of a cheat sheet should plump up a bit more, bit by bit, until it's user friendly and informative and handy for everybody wanting to get more involved in county government.

Special thanks to CU Indivisible for the idea and bringing some of us together for some wonky democracy in action.