KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Candidate Action for Kane County Board Chairperson and States Attorney

During a virtual Action in September of 2020 we discussed FRVI issues with candidates and shared their ideas to build relationships. All candidates agreed to meet with FRVI within 60 days after taking office. Many also agreed to join us even if unsuccessful in their election bid.

Ending Incarceration of People Experiencing Mental Illness &/or Addiction

Over the next 5 years, recidivism will cost Illinois over $16.7 billion if trends continue. We want to see increased Crisis Intervention Training for law enforcement.

A robust network of properly trained law enforcement officers to identify and de-escalate encounters with people who are suffering from mental illness and/or addiction. Since receiving a commitment from State’s Attorney Joe McMahon and then Sheriff Donald Kramer over 4 years ago Kane County created their own Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) certified training. Since October 2017 170 officers from 26 Kane County Police Agencies have been trained. Sheriff Ron Hain has also committed to FRVI to continue CIT training.

1. Expand and Increase availability of Crisis Stabilization Units (CSUs) where police, EMS, family or friends can quickly offer people treatment and not incarceration or costly emergency department stays.

   Two years ago FRVI leader Ann Alexander stood a few feet from Richard Roehr, and pointing a delicate finger at him asked, “What are you going to do to get a Crisis Stabilization Unit built on the AMITA campus in Aurora?”

   Roehr, then the brand-new CEO of AMITA Health Mercy Medical Center Aurora, recounted that story from 2019 on Monday, June 21, 2021 in front of over one hundred guests and dignitaries as AMITA broke ground on a $3 million construction project to bring the FRVI’s vision of the first in a statewide network of CSUs to fruition, after FRVI helped raise $500,000 dollars to cover half of the capital costs.

   We have researched and related to 7 additional hospital networks throughout the region to better understand their emergency mental health responses and identified key allies interested in crisis stabilization services.

• FRVI along with our sister organizations are working to address the Medicaid reimbursement rate to help hospitals cover the costs of a CSU. In March of 2019 we met with Governor Pritzker on this issue. The following month we met with Deputy Governor Flores and HFS Director Eagleson who made a commitment to address the Medicaid issue by July 1. The Medicaid reimbursement for hospital-based CSUs was increased to >$800/day allowing Holy Cross to re-open their facility in July of 2020..

  -Other CSUs are planning to open after this development including Amita Mercy in Aurora.

  -Stand alone CSUs are still not covered under this reimbursement

• We helped create and coordinate a Kane County Jail re-entry program to link ex-offenders who have mental illness with appropriate treatment and housing resources once they leave jail.

Affordable & Accessible Housing For Individuals, Families, & Young Adults 

• In 2019 FRVI fought and won 48 units of permanent Affordable, Accessible, Supportive Housing (AASH) units at 1212 Larkin Ave. in Elgin. In 2021 those units are now finishing construction and tenants are moving in.

• In October of 2020 the Chicago Metro IAF met with Senate President Don Harmon. Organizations from Cook, Lake, DuPage and Kane counties recognized Sen. Harmon for being active in getting $200 million in Capital Budget Funds for Affordable Housing. We informed him of successes across Chicagoland reclaiming our neighborhoods, housing and CSU reimbursement. We asked his support as Senate President to continue working with us in the future. He agreed to advocate for these issues at the state level and to help us connect with others including Governor Pritzger. Sen Harmon was invited to tour 1212 Larkin in Elgin as well as neighborhoods in North, West and South Chicagoland.

• To expand this effort we are working to create the base of support for housing through our member institutions and allies, identify land and other resources, and cultivate relationships with potential developers to create more housing in the Chicago Metro IAF area.

Do Not Stand Idly By

Our tax dollars buy 40% of the guns in America, which are used by the military and law enforcement. This means we have enormous market power.  Since 2013, United Power for Action and Justice (our sister organization in Cook County) and other Metro IAF organizations have led a market-based campaign called Do Not Stand Idly By (DNSIB) to reduce gun-violence.

Together, we have the power to reshape the gun industry to sell its products through a first-rate network of dealers and utilize “smart" technology, reducing stolen guns, suicides and accidental shootings. Faith based pension funds, municipal funds, and individual investors of American Outdoor Brands Corp (Smith & Wesson) and Sturm, Ruger & Co., passed a shareholder resolution May and September of 2018 that hold these gun companies accountable to the principles outlined above.

• Round 1 of device testing was for a mechanical device for assault rifles that would require familiarity to release trigger, but feedback from police departments sent it back to drawing board.

• Round 2 of product testing has started with 5 additional cities: Lansing MI; Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo OH; Bridgeport and New Haven CT. Each PD receiving two types of locks to test:

  • Reach, a biometric holster that can be attached to furniture or a vehicle

  • Identilock, a biometric trigger lock

• Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain is member of the Gun Safety Consortium and has encouraged us to reach out to large cities in the Fox Valley for round 3, which we hope will begin in March 2021.

• http://donotstandidlyby.org, twitter @DontStandIdlyBy

 EDUCATION & TRAINING

• We published and distributed 1,000 brochures on crisis stabilization for education and discussion on mental health and crisis stabilization in member organizations;

• Send leaders to IAF trainings

• Present mini-trainings to member and potential member institutions.

Become a Friend of the Fox River Valley Initiative.  Please indicate in the "Add special instructions to seller" box that your donation is for Friends of FRVI. DuPage Sponsors is the fiscal agent for the Fox River Valley Initiative.

Current Member Organizations

• The Association for Individual Development

• Bethlehem Lutheran Church, St. Charles

• Christ the Lord Lutheran Church, Elgin

• Congregational Church of Batavia

• Cornerstone United Methodist Church, Elgin

• Ecker Center for Mental Health, Elgin

• Family Service Association of Greater Elgin

• First Congregational Church of Geneva

• Fox Valley Presbyterian

• Full Circle Communities

• Hesed House

How do I participate?

Individuals participate through organizations to which they belong. Current member organizations include: congregations, non-profits, and professional associations. Also eligible for membership are business associations, parent-teacher and student organizations, labor unions, health care and educational institutions and other civic community organizations.

Member organizations provide the leaders that create and shape our issue campaigns. Each member organization has an organizing team of people that are invested in the FRVI’s vision. Organizing teams are encouraged to participate in FRVI activities in a variety of ways, depending on their interests, talents and passions. Member organizations can call on the FRVI staff to help them develop strategies to address issues and help build organizing teams.

Member institutions pay annual dues to the FRVI based on a scale used by other IAF organizations. We believe that power is demonstrated two ways: organized people and organized money. A strong dues base creates ownership among participating organizations and leaders, access to organizer time, professional leadership training, strategy development, and access to a national network of broad- based organizations thru the IAF.

Contacts: Amanda Reilly-Sokoli Ed Manning

reillysokoli@gmail.com ekmanning5@gmail.com