August 2023 Legislative Tours Recap

In August, Caritas Family Solutions and Maryville Academy partnered with ICOY to host Legislative Outreach Tours at their facilities in Belleville and Bartlett, respectively. These events enabled state legislators and neighboring providers to visit our hosts’ facilities and see the excellent work being performed in their communities each and every day. These visits stimulated robust conversations allowing staff and administrators to share with legislators. In addition, Maryville celebrated their 140^th year serving children, youth, and families in Illinois!  

The background check policy was a significant point of discussion at both facilities when identifying workforce challenges that confront the sector with a focus around the limitations in getting candidates fingerprinting completed. Legislators were quite interested in how to mitigate this ongoing challenge. Providers also highlighted the need for measures to assist them in retaining their workforce such as loan repayment programs for current employees and additional funding for salary increases to offset the impacts of inflation. These are areas ICOY will continue to bring attention to.  

ICOY would like to extend a huge thank you to all the legislators, staffers of legislative offices, neighboring providers, and other coalition partners who took time to attend these tours and participate in a robust, forward-thinking discussion on the challenges around supporting children, youth, and families in Illinois. And, of course, a big thank you to our gracious hosts for opening your doors to us all and making everyone feel so welcome and engaged!