Test test test. Here we are. >> A little bit. Yeah. Start again. Thank you. >> See what happens without. Okay. All right. Exciting. to order. Um, we'll start with a roll call. >> Present. >> Present. present. >> Thank you. >> All right, we're going to start with the acceptance of the journal. We'll start with the journal of proceedings for the community relations commission held on April 10th, 2025. a motion to uh move forward with those. >> We have a second >> motion and a second. Um all in favor? >> Any opposed? >> We'll then move on to the journal of proceedings for May 9th, 2025. >> So move >> second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> We then will move on to the journal for June 12th, 2025. >> So move. Uh, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> Any opposed? We do not have any public speakers tonight, but I do believe we have at least one um of our community members here on the special forum. So, um, just for those that want to chat with us about things that are going on, we do have some letters in front of us and then there are some folks here. Um, we will give you each three minutes in front of the microphone to tell us the issues that you're dealing with or things that you want us to know about. We'll give the commissioners two minutes each uh to kind of ask or not two minutes each, sorry, two minutes total to ask uh questions and then um we'll go from there. So, I know that there's some folks here that want to share with us about some water issues going on in their uh neighborhood. So, if you guys want to come up first and stand behind the podium, the microphone is on. And can I have someone from the city uh time for us? If you all could give your names uh and then share whatever it is that you'd like to share with us. My name is Cindy Hodiac >> and I'm Sue Milner >> and we live on Carriage Green um in Rockford and we have a water problem. We call it our lake carriage green because it floods up to our garages and in some people's houses. Um this has been going on for the entire 10 years that I've been there, but it's slowly gotten worse and I think our drainage is not capable of handling uh sulky lane that comes down. the rest of carriage green comes down to our our culde-sac that's been cut out. Um we have wagonet we have fate in place and now we have Peterson Meadows who has built up their new housing that they've built which then has made a nice wall for that water to fall down into our subdivision. um we are getting almost three feet of water that stands in that area which then comes up to our houses. So the road comes down, our houses come up a little bit and in that middle part we can get about 3 ft of water. Um the the water has eroded our driveways on the end. Um it is also eroding the drainage system all around that. It's caving in the water. um the fire hydrant that sits there. When the lake gets full, uh air starts coming up in big bubbles, which I'm kind of concerned that we might be getting a sinkhole forming underneath that. I don't know if that could happen, but it's kind of interesting that it does do that. Um it's just, you know, getting worse for the now that they've built those houses. It floods quicker. It floods down between our houses. It's just flooding all the way up to our garage, which one of our neighbors had a literal waterfall in his basement because it went through underneath his house and it just made a huge waterfall. So, I was hoping that, you know, you guys, somebody might be able to check into this and there's just not enough drainage. >> One time when it happened, we had to call the fire department >> because somebody was in their car and they had a broken leg and they couldn't get out of the car. So, the fire fire had to guy on the street pole a rope and to himself because it was that deep. It was like up to the waist and pull this guy out of his car. >> So, it's not a little bit of water, it's a lot of water feet of water. And it's a big lake. It's at least the size of this room, >> if not bigger. But last last uh summer when we had a downfall that caused it to flood, somebody drove their car into it and in front of my house then >> as you can see where the car lights underneath the water because it just people don't realize that it's as deep as it is and so they just think they can pass through, but you can't pass through >> up to the up to the windows in the cars. >> Yeah, it's bad. It's really bad. How long has that been going on? >> Years. >> Yeah. At least at least since I've been there for 10 years. It's happened. And it happens at least once, maybe twice through the summers. >> Like probably today. >> I was going to say, what do you think it's going to look like today with this big downpour? >> It's already It's already flooded because one of our neighbors texted us and said it's already flooding. >> Which word is this? >> Yeah. >> Oh, I know. I put it in. >> What's the address? >> 6337 way. >> Where are you sitting? >> The So, when we received this email, oh, that kicked in. Uh, when we received this email, uh, I went ahead and I forwarded this over to our friends over in public works to take a look at this issue. Uh, first things first, the the first question that I asked them was if this if this is something that is consistently happening, is this something that we've received a report on? and uh they searched their records and they haven't received any complaints to the city of this issue. Um but they went ahead and they took a look at it. They sent a couple of inspectors out yesterday to uh review the c the situation. They took a look. There appears to be a drainage basin that's back behind uh near the uh area that uh is designed to catch the uh rainfall from these uh larger outpourings uh these these larger incidents. Says there's a 24-in drain pipe that goes from the culde-sac over that drainage basin. Uh so they took a look at it. They didn't see really any uh obstructions on that drainage basin. They took a look at the manhole and the uh inlets for the water and they haven't seen any obstructions, but that doesn't mean that there's not anything there. They did uh inform me that they're going to set up some monitoring in the area. So, they're going to take a look at it and during regular rain events, if they see that pooling happening again, they're going to go ahead and scope the tunnel to make sure that there isn't anything in that area. But, uh yeah, one uh we shot this email over to public works and they're going to keep an eye on it for you already. >> Okay. Any other questions from commissioners? >> Just just a comment that I'd urge you to reach out to your alderman. Uh make sure that they're aware of it. Um and they can be your advocate. >> Okay. >> As well. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Do we have anyone else in the audience that wants to speak to the commission? If not, we do have a few letters uh that we have received. So, I will just kind of read through those and then we'll pause and see if there's anything that we would like to do with those. So, the first one we have is from Jennifer. It says, uh, "Thank you for allowing us to make suggestions to improve our wonderful city. For now, I have three that I would like to put forth. Uh, we need to add more lighting to East State Street. If you exit the interstate at night and head into town on East State Street at the beginning, there are some lights, but it quickly gets very dark. Since this is most people's entrance to Rockford, wouldn't it be nice if we had a little bit more welcoming and lit up? It is especially noticeable if you have if you come in from Chicago, where almost the entire interstate is lit up between Chicago and Rockford. Goes on to say that for that matter, a few years ago, the city did away with the number of street lights across the city. Perhaps it's time to rethink that as well. The other suggestion is I think we need have street and gutter sweeping more often. I was told that it's two times a year. I'm pretty sure our street often gets missed. To make matters worse, at the end of my block, there are four sewer drains. They constantly get blocked up with leaves, sticks, and debris. Then, of course, they don't let the water drain when it rains. I probably go down twice a month to clear them out. I don't mind helping the city some, but this needs to be addressed. Also goes on to say the city should think about requiring shoveling in the winter. Any thoughts from commissioners? >> I I actually have a comment on this. >> Yeah. >> Piece of road. >> Sure. >> And I've brought it up to other people before. I don't know what decisions we make on what paint we use when we stripe our trees, but when it rains like this in dark, you can't tell what lane you're in on State Street. So, I'd add that to his complaint if I were >> I think this is a super especially number one, a super legitimate comment and I thank her for making the the the point because I mean, we want to be a welcoming city, right? The sign right there says we're a welcoming city. So, we really should the lighting should reflect that. >> Brother Chair, I I think that um we should look at the city's plan on lighting because I know we're talking about the east side, but the west side has been black for the longest. So, I think we need to look at what's the plan in relationship to lighting um throughout the entire city. I've also on previous occasions uh recommended there are a lot of um solar cobrahead lights and I know one of the big issues is the electricity the installation all of that while we went through getting street lights on the miracle mile took us years um I think we need to seriously look at the cobra head solar lights so that we don't have any insulation other than the pole Also, brother Chair, for number two, um, is it true, maybe this a question for city, um, it it probably be for public works, but is it true that the street the street sweepers only come out twice a year? >> I'm going to be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I think she said three, but um even with your lighting questions too, it's sounding like maybe we need to have a session with public works here, >> right? >> And um so I'm writing notes for Scott Sanders, the director, and maybe he could bring Mitch, who's our streets division, >> um that would be looking at lighting and cleaning and a number of the issues that we're talking about here today. So um yeah, I could talk with Scott about that. >> Thank you. And >> I guess my my question for city staff, I know that we all receive these. Have all of these emails been sent to city leadership that would be handling these issues? >> Uh not I don't believe all of them have, but I do have answers for most of them. >> Okay. >> Um with this one in particular, we did go ahead and forward this email over to public works. Again, uh a couple of things to address. First things first, yes, the uh the street sweepers do make this the rounds twice per year. Um the issue that this person uh brought up, the response that I have from one of the uh uh direct the uh individuals in public works that would handle this kind of issue. Uh uh the the uh issue that you brought up about the uh street and gutter sweeping and the items that are blocking the drain. Uh they took a look at this one as well. Uh unfortunately the bottom of the hill uh where this this person was complaining about this particular drain uh is an area where debris collects. So it's not uh so it's not surprising if they get blocked. There is an adopt a drain program that uh residents can consider if they want to. There's a link that the uh person sent over to me that I can happily forward around to all the director or the the commissioners here. Um but if these individuals want to get involved in the adopted drain program, I believe that there are some resources uh that public works has for that particular uh program as well. And then for this last item about uh requiring shoveling in the winter, I do believe that there's a city ordinance that requires any commercial structure with a sidewalk uh or any any portion of it that is offered to uh uh public use uh is required to be shoveled. But I do not believe that we require that have that same requirement in a residential area. >> I actually have the ordinance open >> right now. Um and it and it says the o owner or occupier of each lot or part of lot improved or unimproved to which the general public is invited shall remove all snow and ice by noon the day after the snow. So >> and I believe that currently the interpretation is you know the public invitation portion indicates that it's either a commercial or industrial area not for necessarily for residential use. Yeah, I thought it was >> I thought it was too >> that could we clarify that for the next time? I would love to hear. I always thought the residences were required that it wasn't necessarily enforced, but no. Huh. >> Is so the the issue is whether or not the individual is inviting the public onto their land for use in the commercial commercial or industrial setting. Obviously, that's that's pretty plain blatant that they're reaching out and saying, "Hey, come come talk to us. Come use our parking lot. Come use our sidewalk so that you can purchase things from us." Uh the same argument can't really be made in a residential area where any random person can just be meandering down the sidewalk because it's a public sidewalk and everybody has a right to use it. Um so unless you're doing something where you're intentionally inviting people onto your property for public use, uh the the enforcement of that ordinance would be a little bit tricky. >> So I have a question. If if I walk down the sidewalk and slip and fall on the unshoveled snow, who's liable? Is it the city or is it the uh owner? I do not have the answer to that question immediately available, but I can take a look at it and uh see what information I can provide you. >> That might be something we want to take a look at because I'm I'm thinking even from the the disability perspective, right? We have folks who are older adults and folks with disabilities who have or right children going to school who have to use our sidewalks because they don't have transportation that is accessible to them. If we aren't requiring those to be cleared by anyone or creating barriers for our residents maybe something we want to take a look at >> we're not welcome. >> Right. >> Getting back to that welcoming conversation. Right. Okay, any other comments on that letter? The next one I will go to is from Arion. It says, "My name is Arion and I've moved to Rockford almost two years ago. I've come to love this city in ways I've never expected. The amount of nature and life here is amazing and beautiful. Walking up the or waking up to Northern Cardinals, strolling down to Japanese gardens, reading at the library on North Wyman. These are all things I've come to cherish. I would love to share this peaceful way of living to a little in Rockford. But when I look up the nearest Big Brother Big Sister program, I'm met with a map full of them that are at least an hour away from our big city. You may know more than me how much our youth of the city needs role models. The drug and alcohol epidemic, gang and street violence, generational traumas that keep children stuck in the same rigged cycle may have a chance of not ruining the child's life with the implementation of healthy adult in their life to show them there is a way, an honest, healthier, cleaner way. A big brother big sister program would be a great way to strengthen our children. Strengthening our generation is crucial, especially with these uncertain times of ever advancing technology, inflated pricing, poor education system. The children will become our future doctor's lawyers, but also future criminals, homeless, and needy. Truth be, if we do our part now, we can help them do better later. So, what do you say? Big Brothers Big Sisters sounds like a beneficial Sounds beneficial to our population overund,000. I'd say yes by a landslide. Again, any comments related to Big Brothers Big Sisters? There are many um programs at our local community centers that are Big Brother and Big Sister related. They did have one at the Y prior and I know that it was discontinued because there was so so many other avenues that are being addressed in and refering. I was going to say I hope that uh person who wrote this letter is watching this meeting tonight because we're about to hear uh results of regrow that many of the programs we're about to hear about directly relate to the um issues that she raises >> and I'm I'm happy to reach directly out to this uh individual after the meeting and share with them whatever resources um are best for them. All right, we have one more from Karen says, "I'm unable to attend the open forum, but there are two issues I'd like to present. I want approval to have up to three chickens. No roosters, just egg laying chickens to help offset the cost of food. I want to support this by saying that nearly every m every municipality in northern Illinois, including Chicago, allows individuals to keep some chickens. This can generate revenue as it can be taxed or require permits. Also goes on to say, I would like to have a noise ordinance for vehicles. I live across the street from Westview Elementary School and virtually every hour of every day and most nights as well, we've experienced very loud vehicles with very loud music playing. The music is so loud it both hurts our ears and rattles our windows. One window is cracking due to the excessive noise. These loud music playing individuals pass my home at night, frankly, all night. And I'm tired of my eardrums popping and my windows rattling because of these individuals. Tired of being awakened at all hours of the day and night because these people cannot hear their music unless it's set to the very loudest volume possible. Please institute a noise restriction minimally after 10 p.m. but preferably please consider a noise ordinance preventing these loud music playing individuals from damaging my hearing and my home. Uh I can go ahead and and chime in right off the bat. Uh city ordinance section 17-27 uh involves the uh nuisance noise and operation of certain vehicles. Indicates that uh any motor vehicle on a public way should not be able to be heard. uh the sound system should not be able to be heard from more than 75 ft away. So that ordinance does exist uh and police officers should be able to enforce that if it is uh such a dramatic problem. >> Could yeah they would want to call the non-emergency number for police or they can use our um complaint portal. That is something that I think they can they can put in there. Um, and then we have to observe the noise. So, we'd have to know about it so that we have police there to observe it or however we're going to take care of that. And then we can we can act on it. So, it's it is important to get it in the official system, one of the two, and then we can follow up on for people. >> Can we have someone from the city reach out to this individual and share that information? I I do not recall if I have already responded to this email or not, but I we had this information immediately available. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Uh and then in in regards to the chickens, I know the chickens were discussed by city council, I believe, less than a year ago at this point. Uh and city council said no. Um not saying that that's not something that can be revisited, but it it was something that was discussed by city council already. We also wanted to bring it to your guys's attention since that's the way that these emails were intended to be received and then get your guidance and feedback plus with city leadership and then we'll be responding after the commission meeting. I felt that that was most appropriate. If you'd like us to do that differently in the future, I'm absolutely happy to do that. Just let me know how you'd like us to address those types of emails. But I thought it would make sense. they wanted it to be shared with you all and then your feedback and that's how we would respond to the to the emails. >> I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think it's personally fine that we're reaching out afterwards. I just want to make sure that if we have answers for them that we're providing them with those answers. >> Absolutely. Quick quick question clarification. the procedure on these then when and and apparently it's after the fact which you know is is fine and perhaps a separate topic but um the alderman in these wards should be copied on these as well because that I would think the the alderman needs to be proactive and reach out to these folks and and let them know and I'll just offer real quick aside um had a very loud Fourth of July in my neighborhood and I did reach out to Alderman Tunberg and he was uh he was very uh prompt and complete in his response with me and we had a long conversation and I would just encourage our residents to develop you know relationships with their alderman and perhaps you know that could this could be proactive you know this kind of letter to be proactive in terms of developing those relationships >> absolutely I think that's a great idea and I do want to mention it's not that we didn't respond to them I thank them for their email I let them know that it was going to be read in, but the the response to their like what's going on, their situation, their concerns is going to come from you guys after this meeting. I we did respond to every single email. I don't want you to think that we didn't respond. >> No, I I can tell you all I've responded to a few as well. They've all received acknowledgement. Now, it's just us responding with what we can do as a city to support their need. >> And also, brother Chair, I think that we should just direct the community to the alderman. >> Yes. um so that they can fulfill those obligations. I was actually um on chapy duty on the 4th and majority of all the calls that came through the radio were because of fireworks etc going on and they were responding to them. So uh I think we should uh direct the community to the alderman for those type of issues and see if they can resolve them in that in that manner. So >> thank you. Any other thoughts on those? That is the end of our public forum. That is all of the letters we received and all of the community members who wanted to join us. So now we will move on to the information only regrow report. All right. Well, hello. Good evening. Nice to see you all again. Um, I know you all spent many hours uh at the beginning of the year and end of last year going through all of the applications that came in for tier 1 and tier 2. Tonight's progress report is a combination of all of those uh recipients and a brief update um of where they all are at. Um I'm not going to uh read the whole thing to you because it's pretty extensive. They're all doing a lot of different things. um with their projects and activities, but I'll go through them alphabetically. Um African-American Resource Center at Booker has expended um just under 9,000 as of um today. They've hired three youth staff who are trained in trauma, CPR, uh working on recreation and programming. Uh they did have a little bit of a program delayed start um but they're now on track. Um activities that they're doing include STEM, um kite making, field trips. They're also doing senior programming. Um they've had an increase in um middle school youth enrollment especially. They are working on food programming and lunch delivery. Um and their next up activity is a growth mindset activity um with Blackhawk Learning Center. I don't believe I included them. I got their uh their report a little late. Um but so that is now included. So they have spent they received 10 grand, have spent quite a bit of that. They're still gathering all of their expense documentation for me to continue going through. Um they've cleaned out and gutted the classroom, acquired um some items for that for their learning library. um they've uh sorted through materials um figuring out some labor issues that they encountered and they're also focusing on spending uh towards computers, furniture and books. Um they've seen that the kids are showing an increased interest in learning and the parents are much more engaged. Their next step is to finalize the setup of their learning library and to continue expanding to younger children. For the Boys and Girls Club, they have fully expended their $10,000. With that, they've uh this was their academic success tutoring program. They served over 250 youth, exceeded uh at least an hour a month to two and a quarter hours a month for each. They've seen a 60% improvement in reading and a 73% improvement in math. um they did not have any delays with their programming and expended all funds like I mentioned and are now seeking additional funding to continue that program. The Boy Scouts uh Blackhawk Area Council also received $10,000. They've had a little bit of a slow start but are moving along. They've spent just under $1,000 um but they have plenty of time to finish expending that. They launched a scout reach at Kenrock. 16 families engaged and they had five new volunteers trained. They've um ordered uniforms which has boosted morale and a sense of belonging among the students participating. One setback that they had was at lewis lemon uh a lack of administrative followthrough. So they're partnering with rock uh the Rockford Park District um to coordinate with that. Um, and then they're going to be continuing with summer uh planning and a fall expansion. On to Bridges to Prosperity of Northern Illinois. They received $50,000. So far, they've expended just over 14,000 of that. They've conducted um at multiple sites. They're getting ahead classes. They are planning fall classes at several new sites including Whitehead and with the city of Rockford. Funds used have gone towards staff stipens, workbooks. They've held one graduation ceremony and are expecting to hold more. All right. Brook Road, I believe this um had a small update for you. They've had a transition in leadership, so that is a little bit slowgoing, but again, this was um a $50,000 regrow grant. They do have two years to expend this. Um been in communication with them. I'm excited to see the progress that they're making in implementing those programs. Um and so they're uh continuing on with that and we should see expenses and the peace um uh peace programs and the peace popups I should say start to be scheduled soon. Comprehensive community solutions also received $50,000. Um their funds have mainly gone towards salaries and benefits for their alpha programming. They did hire an alpha coordinator. Um they have seen an increase in attendance as well as community participation and so far they have not had any delays. They're pl uh continuing to plan more life skills classes, workshops and service projects. City foundation with the early birds program. I'm excited they did uh expend all of their funds. That was $10,000. They delivered 136 hours of workshops. 12 students completed the program. Uh they had 100% positive feedback. 91.6% reported realworld application to what they were learning. The mentorship uh con included 14 K through five students. The school district launched a social work pathway inspired by the program which is a huge success. And up next, they're developing a career and college readiness workshop. Continuing on, Club 800 for the financial literacy 101. They received $10,000 for Regrow. They've completed one full session with 16 students and have two more literacy sessions planned. for the pre and post test scores. It improved from 62% up to 76% for financial literacy. He pivoted from four smaller classes to three larger ones um and has a new partnership with Members Alliance Credit Union and in the fall is looking to host uh two more sessions and working on recruiting students for that program. To date, he's expended about half of the grant. The Greater Rockford Music Academy is working on submitting more of their expense documentation. Um, but they launched uh on June 23rd um officially and enrolled 28 students from zip code 61101 and 61102. They hired local staff and a chef providing meals and music instruction. Um they've had a high attendance and positive community impact. And then up next they will be working on their summer program and planning for the fall and family events. Yes. >> Um oh I'm sorry for Greater Rockford Music Academy 10,000. Yes. >> Yeah. Next we have the Music Academy of Rockford and this is their program at Constance Lane Elementary. Music Academy received $50,000. They're preparing for fall afterchool programs and 30 instruments have been purchased. Staff has mostly staff has mostly been hired for this and they are still seeking a cello teacher. The community enthusiasm has definitely been growing. They say they've been seeing that um the challenges they've encountered have just been finding the ideal faculty um for the program. Example, the Aello teacher, if you know anyone. >> Next, they're working to finalize training, host a summer camp through August 4th through a summer camp August 4th through the 8th, and then launch their program on September 8th. To date, they've spent um just over $8,600 of their 50,000. Nearing the end, we're at Patriots Gateway, who received $100,000 in that tier 2 grant. They hired a literacy coordinator. They have moved the library and launched their summer camp program. They've had 32 youth engage. Five teen park players have been employed. Their read reading assessments are underway and the database setup has been delayed unfortunately, but they're hoping to move through that. Up next, they will be working on their field trips, leadership talks, and basketball tournaments. Rays has their human trafficking prevention program. They received 10,000. So far, have expended just under $1,000 of that. Their youth prevention program implemented was implemented was implemented with 94 youth trained. They've developed an adult curriculum called better way for jail implementation. They're pro currently preparing facilit facilitator training in the fall and they are awaiting a jail roll out ongoing youth training and partner engagement. ramp received $10,000. As of yet, they have not expended any of the funds, but they um have plans to expend those in the fall. So, they're well on their way. Um so far, what they have done is they've served 89 youth in Wnebago County, 40 in Rockford. Um and marked an increase from prior year of engagement. And up next, they'll be working on updating materials and expanding their employer connections and growing outreach. >> Can I ask a question on that? >> Yes. >> Do we know that those outcomes are actually tied to the funding? >> So, they have great outcomes here, but they've not spent any of the dollars that we gave them. >> So, the this report theirs would not be for the funding. And it's just more of an overview of the type of program I'm that they do and what we I think can expect in the fall. >> Eric, oh sorry just a just a reminder when RAMP wrote its grant this they did write for a percentage of a larger program. So we like this grant contributed and so in that grant ask they said it would be just a percentage of the work that they're doing but there so the outcomes are showing that that program has been started and that they are starting to achieve more with it and that the 10,000 will carry them through the fall then because we were a percentage of it. >> That's right. for the chair, point of clarity. When we talked about the 10,000, particularly the $10,000 grant, those were quick deploy grants, which meant that it should have been done right then. Those were those were grants that were awarded based upon fulfilling their goal quickly. The 50 and the other grants were those that took a year and uh two years to do. So, I just need to know clarity when we when it was approved, these were the $10,000 particularly were for quick deploy grants for individual that ready to run right then and maximize on that money. So, I'm I'm kind of confused with um the monies not being spent as as they were approved. >> So, the Oh, go ahead. >> Okay. So the um tier one is under a one-year time frame and the tier 2 is a 1 to twoyear time frame for that. Did you want to add? >> Yeah. So to your point about quick deployment um so that is true and that but it is a year right so they do have up to a year. Some of what happens there is is like a program like this. They start the activity. Um, so take I'm just going to use ramp as an example is one of the ones that's taking a little bit longer. We'll probably take more like the year to do it. They've were receiving multiple funds to do that one program. Our 10,000 was to increase the percentage they were serving, but they were going to be doing it with other grants. they have to then over the year which grant has to be expended first and as a city because we want the program with ramp if they have sometimes your other grant funders require some other things faster and we as a city we're local we want them we want that organization successful right so if a different grant is requiring something out of the gate even though this is a quick deployment great grant we still give them the full year because we still want that successful program you guys voted for it resell want it successful as much as possible like some of the choices that we made we made buying equipment for Rockford barbell or all these sorts of things those are those are things you when we were talking about it as a group that obviously is going to happen quicker and it's so concrete and we can you know you can have it like it's just the receipt is the receipt right um a when we phone when we fund something like ramp and there's a couple other ones in there and it's a program that we're taking a percentage age and trying to increase the participation a little bit with our portion. Um, again, we can we have control over our money, so we can give them a little bit of flexibility to make sure the funding sources that don't give them flexibility still come into Rockford and still get used. >> I'm just so so I'm not this is not my first time around this track. The first time that we did the first time, it was very explicit that the $10,000 was a quick deploy grant for for programs that were ready to move. Now, if you're changing it, then it need to be that needs to be outlined because in the first time that we did it, it was very clear that it was a $10,000 quick deploy grant for individuals that were ready to move forward. And we had several uh applications that we looked at based upon them moving quickly. And so if it change just that's fine. We just need to make sure that it's clear that the quick deploy $10,000 grant is you have up to a year to to spend it. That's all that's all I'm ask. >> Yeah, it's to be hon. So let's absolutely consider that when we're doing the next discussion and make sure that you all are comfortable with how we're doing that. I can confidently tell you that this was our second round of funding. Our first round of funding um several of the $10,000 grants took the full year. the the quick deployment name was in it, but the grant agreements um and and again this team wasn't necessarily part of that either, but we modeled and did the same thing in year two that was done year one. And Joselyn had to finish up the expenditure reports for year one, and several of the groups like conscious coaching and some others took every bit of that year to get that 10,000 spent. So, we didn't change anything about the grant, but we can in the future if now we've done two rounds. If this is really not hitting the expectation for what you all wanted to do with this and what you'd like to recommend to city council, we we just have to be more purposeful about um you know, it's called quick deployment in nonprofit world. One year is quick deployment. So, if we want something different, we're going to have to define that a little differently. >> That's fine. Also, the So, What I don't want to do is I don't want to approve anything in the horseshoe and not see what's going on behind the scenes. So if if that's the case and you all are writing those documents, we need to see those documents so that we can actually have uh clarity on what's going on because after we come to this session and we are proving it based upon quick deployment if it's not clearly identified or defined what quick deployment is because again the first time that we did it quick deployment was ready to move quickly and that's literally what the discussion was about that they were ready to move quickly to do X Y and Z. I do know an individual that was in the 13th ward that wanted to do something to beautify the the this the street to do that and it was something because it was a quick deployment. It was it was nothing about the program. It was just something to do something real quick. So again, if we're going to approve it in session, whatever is going on behind the scenes in relation and I'm not saying anything bad. I'm just saying whatever you all are doing with the agreements and all of that, we should be able to be uh able to look at those agreements to see that as well. >> Sure. Okay. Okay, I can take that note and we can make sure that happens. I would like to also just though say um Joselyn doing this today is part of our being more transparent with you on what's happening. So I do want to say be thank Jocelyn for making this step because this reporting was not done in round one. >> She has done a great job of making sure like it takes a lot to wrangle and get this information from people. So we've been trying to make sure we get a report to you. So now we're getting good feedback from you, right? This is great interaction. Now we're learning some things. So, thank you for Joselyn and thank you uh Reverend Martin for bringing that up. >> I'd like to to push back on your your push back a little bit here though because if you read this report on ramp, they started one January. So, they were ready to go and they went they they may not have built it yet, but they quick deployed in accordance with their plan. But if we do go back to when we did it a year ago, one of the things that were was discussed was it might have been a startup or remember we were keeping some >> they were pretty much all startups last year. We did this is this is new ground >> but we were keeping some of the bigger ones that had already were established away from the 10,000 because we were trying to focus on new startups or new nonforprofits. So that's really what the 10,000 was supposed. So that's why that quick deploy came in because they were ready and willing to get started. So I understand what you're saying also, but at the same time I believe that that was one of the things and I know RAMP is a bigger agency. So $10,000 I'm not saying it was not going to help. Just like Eric said, it was supposed to be something that was start. So going back to what Pastor Martin did say was did we take away from somebody else who maybe could have started something and had a quick idea and was ready of gardening. So just keeping that off. >> Oh, it's it's the paradox of the regrow grant program in that council wants us to prioritize sustainable programs, but if you give it to a new startup and it's $10,000, it's guaranteed to not be sustainable. >> That's not the original purpose of the the Regrow Grant. The regrow grant originally, because again, this ain't my first time around. It's track. the the the regrow grant was I was established particularly for mom and pops organizations that could not do it. It was not open for the large community of organizations. It was literally for organizations that could not have a grant writer and all of that and that we would take a look at it. When it came down to the quick deploy grants, the $10,000 grants, we literally held back uh uh we probably blocked grants because it was our thought that the quick deploy grants would be for individuals that were startups that was ready to move right now at day one. Matter of fact, you were the chair uh brother uh Todd when it came, it was literally starting at day one, they were ready to move to spend the money. And so all I'm saying is if that if there was a change from year one to year two, it should be clear. Also, I'm saying that whatever happens with the agreements after we approve it, the contract should come back to us so that we know what is literally going on with these with these programs. >> Thank you. >> Could I have a a point of clarification in terms of what kind of support is available to these organizations as they run into problems? One of these reports referred to labor issues um labor conflicts. You know, this city is is vast and has a lot of staff um capability um resources and perhaps there might be some some support available. I don't know to what extent we're proactive or reactive or or Joselyn, I know this is your your area, so maybe you could clarify what what we do to do we reach out, do we wait for them to reach out, what um we I do reach out monthly mainly to gather expenses and it's a brief check-in. Um, so I have used that as the opportunity or the door to the open door for them to let us know of any issues, but I can certainly be a little more um upfront on that or >> Yeah, that would be great. And and then then another real quick question. Um, and maybe I'm reading it wrong and not being a careful enough reader, but do we is there any point at this questionnaire that we um reflect what they promised? and just and I don't know am I missing it somewhere in here. >> So this was more of an opportunity to and I'll two points. So um this was more of an opportunity for them to provide as they saw but I'm also curious at the end of this we'll finish going through these but then I would definitely love to know what metrics you would like to hear in these reports. What would you actually prefer they um submit on? um maybe it's them reporting to you instead of me, anything like that. So, we can certainly talk about that to enhance that. >> Also, uh and I don't know if this is for you or director city, uh do we uh now have any type of popup inspections on all of the organizations that have received the grants. So, I know that we're receiving documentation. And I know we have a few pictures and I know we have some of their uh uh achievements, but do we have anyone that's going to these organizations to do popup inspections just to see what's going on? Talk with the executive directors and etc. to see um in regards to the funds to make sure that it's being appropriated and used properly. >> Go ahead, sir. >> Yeah. So, um, so right now we have, um, what Jocelyn said, the monthly check-in and, uh, we're primarily administering the grant. Um, if we were wanting to build capacity and, um, and spend more time with the partners in in a different way, that would have to be a policy decision made by city council. We're not currently using funds to from we do not use regrow funds to fund our staffing right around this. So any if we were to increase what what we were requiring from our staffing around these grants, city council would have to engage with that and decide what funding would pay for that staff. Again, I'm I'm sorry you all tonight, but >> all I'm saying is this for accountability issues. And so if if we're giving out tax funders money to do programs, we I think it's worth the accountability of of doing inspections. Um any organization that you go through, if you're getting grant money, you're going to have popups. You're going to have it from the health department. You're going to have it from whatever department. I I think that we as a city, if if we're saying that we're giving out this much money, it has to be more than some paper documents to to see that the work is being done. I'm not saying anybody's doing anything wrong. I'm just saying that if we're giving out this much money and we approving this much money, there should be something in the budget for a person to come to do some level of inspection to make sure that if the address is 2209, it's 2209. So, I'm from Chicago. We had an individual that got almost $4 something million dollars and had the address at an abandoned building and he's now going really going to jail for misappropriation of funds. So, if we're looking at this, we need to make sure that if we're approving these programs that we make sure that they're doing what they said, even though it's on paper, anybody chat GBT can make this whole program look real good. So, I don't want chat GBT. I want to see someone to give a a physical accounting of what's going on in these >> 100%. Sorry, really quick just to answer that. Um 100% get what you're driving at. I'll answer it two ways. Um first, uh our first so when it comes to the financial component of it, that's we ask for significant we have a documentation list. We are because we're government, we do a little more on that regulatory to make sure that we're collecting and making sure they spent it on what they said they spent it on. Right. So, we're that is um an audit process that does require some administrative burden for these nonprofits. So, I just wanted to keep in mind like it's not like we're just saying did you do it and checking a box, right? They are turning in documentation on the expenses. for your point though about what it produced or the outcomes or these reports and how we're verifying it. Um, again, so I managed a nonprofit for a long period of time. Um, for most nonprofit budgets, $10,000 is not a lot, right? So creating a lot of process for them where they now are if we do more to them to make $10,000 expenditure hard it stands in the way of especially the grassroots startup people from getting started like I'd rather be in a convers I'd rather be having the conversation the other way you guys are framing it which is should we be staffing capacity building and understanding along the than having some sort of audit on-site checklist thing where I'm check it. I'm just trying to figure out the voice of what you want us to do. And I'd rather like because what for what I think you ultimately want and um happy to pass on a recommendation from the CRC for the city council to consider staffing that would address our community organizations and help them build to what they are trying to aim for in a way that they become bench strength around us in a whole bigger greater capacity. This grant, to your point, um, is is well aimed at getting people that are starting out in these conversations started in Rockford and get them their foot underneath them and with some help that could really solidify them and and get some real good good conversation, some longevity. I think we have to build it rather than protect it and come at it. Could I mention something as well for that? Um, for grant compliance, we've been working through a process for all subreients. Sarah's been a key player in that process and all the requirements. One of the things that we are looking to do is provide TA to subreients for city grants and that could expand to um regrow recipients. They're not technically a subreient. It's a grant program, so they're a direct recipient from the city. Um, but that's something that could expand to them as well. And it's not something that we have completed yet. We're still building out our subreient process, but that should be done by this fall. And part of that package is going to be offering TA because a lot of those subreients are smaller agencies. Some are even grassroot agencies. And we know that that's an technical assistance. >> I'm sorry. Technical assistance. Sorry. Um and we know that that is a barrier for them and something I mean for example we have a subreient very small agency on a grant um a program in the mayor's office and they got some funds through there and our grant accountant literally walked them through their first PFR their uh perform or their um periodic financial report and what they needed to submit. walk them through every single step of the way. So, it's not that we won't or can't help. We do when needed, but we would like to offer official technical assistance to those programs. It just hasn't gotten up off the ground yet. Yeah, we um I know this this commission has requested particularly um when it comes down to the grant writing process because we do recognize that the upstarts or mom and pops may not have these professional grant writers. So when you start looking at these larger organizations um they have professional grant writers. So so it looks more you know uh uh appealing to the eye. Um, but what I was looking at and I understand with 10,000 I've run a nonprofit myself and within three weeks I had five inspections. So, I mean it's it's part of the it's part of the responsibility of being a nonprofit. Not only that, we want to make sure it's not just for the 10,000, it's for the 50 and $150,000 that we at least have some eyes on what's really going on because again, you can look at documentation and make it look real good, take a couple of pictures and make it shine real good, but at least to have that dialect, that dialogue I should say, with the organization and just to see it um and just to put your eyes on it. So now we have what we have in on paper versus what we have from uh city staff. And again, I'm sure that the taxpayers would not mind uh the expense to have someone to do an inspection on the money that they're ultimately given. >> Can I get in front of the accountability issue just a little bit as I listen to this? Uh this is my first time doing this with this grant. Um but what I noticed on the majority of the applications was uh from a business planning standpoint, uh no itemized budget and no functional schedule of how that itemized budget is going to be met. A couple of them had it and everybody else just said we plan to use it for this. If we're going to have accountability, we need to hold them accountable to what they say they're going to do with the money when they say they're going to do it and that goes directly to your quick deployment as well. Um, I think we need to be a little more rigid and you know, professional grant writer or not professional grant writer, if you ask for a functional schedule of how you're going to spend the money on what, you should be able to provide it. And I noticed that that was pretty lacking. And that made it difficult to judge some of these. You know, it made it much easier for the ones that did provide that information. >> Really good feedback and conversation. I appreciate it. Um, I have two more to get through and then we can definitely have more conversation or more questions. No, you're fine. No, no apologies. Um, we have Rockford Barbell who did complete the grant um, very quickly with their mobile uh, unit. They have so far served 62 youth across 11 programs delivering 469 hours. They purchased equipment um, and vehicle signage. 70% of their um youth showed improvement in social emotional skills and let's see facing they have so far faced some outreach uh hurdles with new schools but are working to overcome that and next they are planning to expand to more schools uh partnering with Lincoln Middle School in 2526 and lastly we have the yes club which was not included that was a late um uh report Um, but they have expended all of their funds um for the Speak It, Sing It project, creating um five music videos and a TV episode. Everything is posted on their website. Um they used the $10,000 for the professional services and stipens as they indicated in their grant. Um they boosted participant confidence and community engagement. They were featured in multiple media sources including WEX and Northwest Quarterly. And continuing their work, they will do more video production and expand their community and global outreach. And uh like I said, that was a $10,000. So there were 10 $10,000 tier one regrowth, four 50,000 and two $100,000. So, any more questions? >> Thank you for a great job. >> Oh, yeah. [Applause] >> All right. So, that brings us then with the regrow report being done, that brings us to commissioners reports. Do any commissioners have a report? I will just say um first of all acknowledge that this month is disability pride month. All of July um July 26 is the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. So I guess I would challenge you all as commissioners to be thinking about for the next few days of the month. What are ways that the work that you're doing has a positive impact on folks with disabilities? And really, we do some outreach to educate those folks that you are serving on what the importance of disability pride is and and what the ADA's means for, you know, one in four individuals in our country. >> At at the risk of being shouted down, I do have one one comment. Um, just one. Um today, uh the city of Rockford had a social media post about the rejection rate in recycling, which is which is way up. Um and it's it's at 50%. So 50% of the materials that are in our big new containers go all the way to it's not Dundee, but I think it's Planefield to a materials recovery facility there. Um and the material that is rejected then comes back to our landfill which has uh less than 10 years before it is reached capacity. And then our city residents are going to be in a in a bad way and very hurt in terms of what it's going to cost us to ship our uh to ship our garbage somewhere else because the county chairman is on record saying he's not going to sight another landfill in our So I think um I I'm with sustain Rockford. That's that's an organization I spend a lot of time with. So, I will be upfront about that. But I also believe that this is a uh this is a topic of utmost city importance and um I encourage us. I know we're looking at it. I know we have a city staff member who is looking at this, but I think we need to spend a as a city need to spend a lot of time building awareness on on recycling because every bit of those rejected materials that are going into our landfill just uh just swallows up more less we're we have less space in that landfill. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other commissioners reports? Anything from city staff? Alderman Bell. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Chairman. Uh, really quick, just want to uh ask uh I see here uh to be determined on the September meeting for you all's uh commission. Uh is that still accurate? Is there a topic being discussed in September on paper yet or is that still up for discussion? Um I believe we have decided I think that's an outdated copy. I apologize. We're going to be inviting um the mental health board and um the programs funded by the mental health board here at the city so you all can hear from them um as well. >> And then I'd say uh in November as well. Is that accurate? >> That one is to be determined. I would ask this commission to uh maybe have a discussion on uh including food insecurity uh for the November uh discussion. Uh city council um on Monday actually passed a framework and approved a framework to uh move forward in addressing food insecurity in our community. Um, I'm a huge advocate for addressing uh and and providing food access to uh underserved communities and neighborhoods in this city. Um, I would ask again this commission to maybe look at uh bringing in partners from the food insecurity task force in which I have the opportunity of meeting with them every month. Um, and so reach out to me. I I can reach out to you all maybe brother chair uh to to maybe move that forward. So, thank you. All right, there's no other commissioners reports.