CALL TO ORDER
ACTION ON MINUTES
Approval of Minutes from the meeting held on September 16, 2025.
Approval of Minutes from the meeting held on November 18, 2025.
PROGRAMMATIC REPORT COMMUNITY SERVICES
Community Services Programmatic Report
PROGRAMMATIC REPORT HEAD START
Head Start Programmatic Report
PROGRAMMATIC REPORT FISCAL
Fiscal Programmatic Report
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT
OFFICERS REPORTS
GUEST REPORT/PRESENTATION
GENERAL DISCUSSION
NEW BUSINESS
Proposed 2026 Community Action Agency Board Meeting Schedule
APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS
Appointment of President
Appointment of Vice-President
Appointment of Secretary
ADJOURNMENT
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Jeff Bailey arrived at 12:15pm and Faniqua Hughes arrived at 12:31pm.
Excited to be fully seated and able to tell our primary funder Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). Welcome all new members.
Gina DelRose announced that United Way in Belvidere is looking to relocate into a larger space in the Park District facility. The YWCA is looking at daycare funding cuts and watching the potential domino effect. The school expansion is absorbing the school closures.
Steve McMaster expressed his concerns about the left hand is not communicating with the right hand. Council does not know Community Action exists. There was a $250,000 gift given to the Rockford Brake Manufacturing which is great but Head Start needs a building. It seems City feels like Head Start building is less important that Rockford Brake Mfg. I believe that should be given to Community Services 1st. Community Services exists for citizens and there is a need for Community Action to be accessible to community/public. Also, would like to make sure the calendar and information is being updated so public is aware of meetings, etc.
Jaime Salgado was wondering if there’s more info about the charts (programmatic) on a website. He doesn’t want us to have to do any more work to gather info because the minutes do provide context.
Motioned by Jeff Bailey. Second by Alan Zais.
All in favor. Motion carries.
End time 1:10pm. Total time 1 hour 2 mins.
The next Community Action Agency Board Meeting is taking place on 12:00pm March 17 at City Hall Conference Room B.
Will be scheduling training through Illinois Association of Community Action Agency (IACAA). They lobby for us at the state and national level and help with strategic planning.
Our department will continue to work closely with both Fire Department and EMS.
1. The Executive Director explained the information for the reports are gathered together from our office and from throughout the community. A key as to what the programs actually look like could be created.
Gina DelRose was wondering if there is an update to the process and utilization of Respite Program.
1. The Executive Director specified that 1 Male & 1 Female are utilizing the program at this time. The program is for those not sick enough to stay in hospital but not well enough to stay in shelter or the streets. This is through Illinois Public Health Department (IPHD).
Jaime Salgado was wondering if we heard anything about the threat to sanctuary cities getting their funding taken away as of February 1st. Also asked what would we like the council legislative to have our lobbyists help with.
1. The Executive Director asserted that we’ve had no direct communication about any specific cuts and are not sure what it may look like. HUD looks like the most targeted. As of last week, we still are looking okay. We would like to be able to remove the prohibition between Early Childhood Centers and Head Start partnerships.
2. Jaime Salgado expressed the thought of establishing a foundation with tax-deductible donations for our division if this would be allowed.
The Head Start Director announced Head Start just won the lawsuit they went into with other States. Some wording in the lawsuit covered making sure agencies get their grants/awards in a timely fashion due to the impact the shut-down had on grantees.