Madam Secretary, I'd like to reconvene the Veterans Committee meeting.

Sorry, ma'am.

So at your recess meeting, you had all members present.

You do have a quorum.

Great.

Thank you.

A quorum is present.

Are there do we need remote participation?

We do not require remote participation.

Okay, the Terror Entertain.

Um, are there any changes to the agenda?

No changes for your agenda.

Okay, and public speakers.

We do have a number of public speakers.

I'm going to call your name if you are in the room.

Please come to the mic.

Eva Marie Duff, Taiwan Sims, followed by George Blake Moore, and then we have virtual speakers.

So Eva Marie, if you're here, please come.

Taiwan Sims.

I don't see him present.

And then George Blakemore.

Tell us your name and please begin.

Good afternoon good afternoon.

My name is Eva Marie Duff.

I am the VFW Illinois District Four Commander, and I am also Veterans Assistance Commission of Cook County at large board member.

Good morning, everyone.

Across this county, outreach efforts are expanding and reaching veterans who previously had no connection to services.

This outreach is working.

Veterans are coming forward and asking for help and trusting the system that has been created to support them.

But without but with that success comes clear reality that we have a demand for services that is growing.

One of the most significant changes we are seeing in this rapid growth is in the women veteran population.

Along with that growth, we are seeing an alarming rise in women veterans facing housing instability and homelessness.

This is not a future problem.

This is happening right now in our communities.

When outreach identifies veterans in crisis, we must have the resources available to respond.

Without the proper funding and support structure, we risk identifying problems without having the capacity to solve them.

Strengthening the budget and resources available to our veterans assistance commission is not simply about expanding the programs.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

George Blakemore is next.

And I've had uncles who served in World War II and history.

Also at the beginning, Chris was ethics of one of the first to die during the American Revolution.

So black people have tangled up and tied up and hung up in the American system.

Our blood, our sweat, and our care of.

So to see another people come into the country illegally.

And get goods, service, contracts, and jobs, and housing.

What about our veterans?

The black veterans.

This country would build on slave label.

Somebody say Mr.

Blake Moore don't continue to talk about Maria Antonet and the 14 system.

And when the Reintonate they feed them cake, they ended up killing her.

We need another American revolution here.

With this democratic racist machine here.

And Trump did not bring it here.

So the black veterans, the black people.

When you go out to Cook County Hospital, and you see all these illegals getting service medical service.

And that's the idea that a white veteran, uh any veteran can't get housing.

Can't get medical care.

One minute.

It's something in un American about this.

So again, it's very important for me and the Mr.

Blake Moore caliber to come to these meetings.

I never served in on my grandfather, Lorenzo Blake Moore.

World War One, my uncle.

32nd.

Clarence Jones and World War II.

Black people have fought and their blood sweat and tear and tied up in America.

Tangled up in America.

And to see how we are treated by so-called Americans.

That's why that motivates me to time.

Dutch de Grouth is our next speaker.

Thank you.

Then followed by Rita Sims and Frank Gutierrez.

It was good morning, but good afternoon.

Chair and commissioners.

And tell us your name again, sir.

And I'll try to simplify what is at stake.

State your name.

Thank you.

Okay.

Recently, a bill was introduced that would have uh effectively dismantled the veterans commissions all across the state, harming tens of thousands of veterans and reducing the flow of federal dollars coming into our state.

While we understand it may be in process of being withdrawn, we must recognize that proposals like this can and likely will resurface.

At the center of the issue is the Military Veterans Assistant Act, which clearly outlines how B BACs are funded.

It allows excluding Cook County up to 0.02% of the tax levy to be allocated.

This is a cap and not a mandate.

Claims that another proposal would raise this to 0.03% are simply totally false.

Equally concerning, no VAC or veterans organization was consulted in the process of this bill, undermining the very transparency that was being claimed.

The law is also clear.

That means funding should be based on real need and justified budgets, not arbitrary limits or political pressure.

We are aware that certain anti-veteran lobbying efforts, along with leadership in some counties, are driving these proposals.

At the same time, costly mandates and legal disputes are emergence.

Many of them could be avoided through basic communication.

Instead, taxpayer dollars are being spent on attorneys, and in some cases, counties are funding the very lobbyists who help create these problems.

Budgets must be justified.

They are reviewed by both the governing veterans' uh organizations and county boards.

We are taxpayers as well.

And we take seriously our duty to safeguard public funds and public trust.

When those budgets are justified, counties should fund them accordingly.

Should be one of partnership.

Veterans are your constituents, and like you taxpayers.

The share goal must be to serve those who serve.

Because of our collective advocacy last year, excluding Cook County, nearly 180 million dollars flowed into Illinois.

We brought that in.

VACs are among the only entities that effectively pay for themselves through benefits that they bring to our communities.

The decisions made in this room resonate in this room throughout the state.

We ask you to lead to ensure that legislation like this does not move forward again.

But meaningful progress remains, requires open communication.

Turning to the Veterans Assistant Commissioner Cook County, our report is transparent.

I want to commend county leadership for recent efforts to improve relations and remove obstacles that were hindering our work.

That said, challenges remain.

Routine processes like acquiring basic software can take six to eight months through the county.

In one case, I'm personally paying for email service out of my own pocket.

We also remain under staff and cannot keep pace with demand.

Even our original modest budget fell short by roughly 25%.

I respectfully ask that we continue progress.

We've made and commit improving at every opportunity.

It is always my privilege to address this body on behalf of veterans and their families.

I thank you.

Our next speaker is Retha Sims, followed by Frank Gutierrez.

Are they virtual?

They are Sims, Frank Gutierrez.

If not, ma'am.

No response.

That does conclude our speakers.

And sorry for the presentation was up, so those on teams could not see the public speakers, but we are done, I believe.

So one more time.

Retha Sims and Frank Gutierrez.

And then Taiwan Sims did not respond.

Ma'am, we are done.

Okay, thank you.

The chair will now entertain a motion from Commissioner Aguilar to approve item number 261055.

The minutes from the meeting of May, second it by Commissioner Daly.

All in favor of approving item 261055.

Signify by saying aye.

All opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

The motion has passed.

The next item on the agenda is to receive and file item number 261013.

Commissioner Daly, could you uh move that and second it by Commissioner Lowry?

And I'd like to call on Superintendent Soto of the VACC to give an overview of this report.

Thank you, Mike.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Elizabeth Soto, and I have the great privilege of serving as a superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commissioner Cook County.

Sir Mike.

Okay.

That was just a test run.

So thank you very much and good afternoon.

My name is Elizabeth Soto, and I have the great privilege of serving as the superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Cook County.

And it is an honor today to present to you the VAC's FY26 first quarter report.

Today, the BAC team and I will walk you through our mission in action that highlights direct impact we've made this first quarter, the services we delivered, and the continued growth of our programs to better serve our veterans across Cook County.

So here's a brief overview of today's presentation.

We will begin with our mission, followed by a detailed look at our emergency services and financials.

We will then move into our veteran service officer operations and conclude with our outreach efforts.

Each section will not only reflect what we do, but how we are continuously improving access efficiency and impacting the veteran community.

So before we get into our report, I always like to take a moment to review the core of everything we do through our statutory mission, which is for the just necessary and needed assistance and services of military veterans who serve in the armed forces of the United States.

This language is our directive and mission per the MVAA, which guides our VACs every decision, program, and very meaningful interaction we have with our Cook County veterans and their families.

One of these programs is emergency services, which continue continues to be a very critical component of our operations.

This is where we meet veterans in moments of immediate need and when their stability is at risk and timely intervention is essential.

In FY26, our emergency financial services continue to focus on core areas of need, which included rent and mortgage assistance, utility support, and transportation related assistance.

These services are designed to stabilize households and prevent crises before they escalate.

And I would like to note that our gas and work attire programs were recently evaluated, and we have found that there is not as grave a need as we originally anticipated, and so we have shifted resources to other areas of greater need within the veteran community.

Well, in addition to housing and utilities, we also provide support for essential daily living needs.

This includes food, hygiene assistance, and burial and funeral support.

Now, turning to our FY26 first quarter financials, December through February.

During the first quarter, the BAC distributed a total of 273,892 and 43 cents in direct emergency financial assistance.

This is roughly an average of about 90,000 per month in essential support directly provided to our veterans facing significant financial challenges in these high cost times.

At this rate of disbursement, it is notable that the VAC is poised to exceed $1 million in total direct financial assistance by the close of this fiscal year.

This will represent an increase of approximately 28% over the 849,000 provided at the end and close of FY25.

The top three areas of financial assistance provided were rental assistance at $56,835.81 cents, food assistance at $50,800, and burial and funeral assistance at $57,330 and 17 cents.

In total, this emergency financial assistance supported 907 Cook County veterans, which included 150 individuals who are new to the VAC entirely.

During the same period, the VAC also handled more than 1,853 phone calls.

And we would now like to hand the floor over to Justina, who is the manager of our veteran service officer program.

Excuse me, to Mr.

Derek Giffin, who is the manager of our veteran service officer program at 1100 South Hamilton Avenue.

Good afternoon.

This slide represents our fiscal year 2025 operational impact.

976 total claim actions.

Good afternoon.

This slide represents our fiscal year 2025 operational impact.

976 total claim actions were completed on behalf of veterans in Cook County.

That includes 388 powers of attorney, four uh 248 intents to file, and 198 new disability claims, in addition to 142 appeals and higher level reviews.

These are not just numbers.

Each one represents a veteran connected to benefits, access, and support.

This entire output was produced with only two VSOs who had access to VA systems and one additional staff members still pending access.

We operated with a single primary access point into these systems for the lion's share of fiscal year 2025.

So while the results are strong, this is not full capacity, this is constraint capacity.

The demand is already proven.

Veterans are coming to us, outreach is working, trust in our organization is growing.

But our ability to respond is limited by staffing and system access.

If we expand accredited VSO staff staffing and increase access points, output will scale immediately and significantly.

This means more claims filed faster, more timely support for veterans, and more federal benefit dollars returned to Cook County.

So from an ex uh executive standpoint, the takeaway is clear.

This is a high performing model operating under limitation, not at scale.

With the right investment and capacity, we can significantly expand both access and impact.

This slide highlights our Q1 operational activity and direct financial impact for veterans in Cook County.

And just this quarter, we attribute we achieved 319 powers of attorney, 294 intents to file, 203 new disability claims, and 147 appeals and higher level reviews.

That's over 900 claim actions initiated in a single quarter.

This level of output was produced by only two VSOs with access to VA systems, two people.

And they were not just processing claims, they were operating under NAC VSO accreditation standards, which require full claim development, evidence review and strategy, veteran counseling and expectation setting, accuracy and compliance with VA regulations.

This is not administrative work.

This is skilled regulated representation, which means every single action you see here was done thoroughly, correctly, and in alignment with national VSO standards.

Now let's look at the financial impact.

For December of Q1, we had $91,889.

January was $97,960, and February was 121,949.

That's a Q1 total of over $311,000 directly delivered to veterans.

And more importantly, over $13 million annually is currently being paid to Cook County veterans represented by the Veterans Assistance Commission of Cook County.

Two VSOs generated over 900 claim actions and contributed to millions in benefits delivery.

That tells us two things.

The demand is there and the model works, but it also highlights the gap.

We are operating at maximum effort, not maximum capacity.

These results required pushing workload limits, prioritizing cases carefully, and in some instances delaying how quickly we could serve every veteran.

With just two accredited VSOs, we are producing over 900 claim actions per quarter to reiterate, deriv delivering more than 9.3 million annually to Cook County veterans.

But this is being done under constraint, limited staff, limited system access, and operating at full workload capacity.

Now on the right is a conservative projection with five VSOs.

We would scale to over 9,000 claims, claim actions annually and more than 23 million in annual compensation delivered.

That is more than double the impact without changing the model.

Because the demand already exists, the outreach, the outreach is already working.

The only limiting factor is capacity.

So I'm gonna turn the latter half of this uh you know uh presentation over to the other uh VSO manager, Justina Barry.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good day, everybody.

My name is Justina Barry.

I am a VSO manager.

I will provide a quick update on our VSO operational access and stopping staffing progression, which directly ties into our ability to serve our Cook County veterans.

Starting with operational access, both myself and Derek Giffen have full access to VA systems.

That means that we are fully credentialed.

We are operating under the National Association of County Veteran Service Officer Accreditating Standard, and we are actively representing veterans through the full claims process from intake to submission to evidence development and of course to appeals.

We are functioning at full operational capability with our staff.

Now on training and expansion, our VSOs uh care Ferris CARADAS.

Um, he has completed the National County of Veteran Service Officer Basic Benefits course.

He's also completed the VA trip training, and he's currently in the process of obtaining access to all VA systems to better assist our veterans.

Once this system is accessed from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Ferris will become fully operational, and he'll be able to submit claims, develop evidence, represent clients with their appeals, and provide direct benefit counseling.

So, what this means from an operational standpoint is we are actively expanding capacity, and we're not starting off at zero.

Every VSO we bring on will have full access and will directly increase our ability to deliver these results.

As Derek previously mentioned, we already demonstrated what two fully operational VSOs can do.

The next phase is scaling that impact by bringing in additional VSOs, expanding their system access, and increasing service availability across the county.

We're not building capability, but we are simply activating it.

And as access expands, so does our impact.

Next, I really want to highlight one of our most important initiatives, which is the Military Sexual Trauma Claims Clinics that was launched in December of 2025.

This program is led by myself as the women's MST coordinator, and Derek Giffin as the male MST coordinator.

At its core, this initiative is about access, trust, and removing barriers.

We know that many veterans impacted by military sexual trauma do not report their experiences in service.

They face significant challenges navigating the claims process and often delay or avoid seeking benefits and care altogether.

So this program was designed to meet those veterans where they are.

What we are doing that's different is that we provide the trauma informed one-on-one claims assistance in a confidential and supportive environment.

Currently, the physical location of these claims clinics is at 69 West Washington, suite 1420.

But in order to reach all of our veterans, we also offer uh virtual options so that we definitely meet the veterans where they are on their time schedule also.

So again, this is not a standard outreach event.

This is a specialized structured access point for a highly vulnerable population of veterans.

Also, from an operational standpoint, these clinics reduce barriers to entry, they increase access to VA benefits, they strengthen connection to VA health care, and they support long-term stability for our veterans.

We are reaching veterans who may never come forward otherwise, and we're helping them take the first step.

So now I will pass the mic to Connor Interest to talk about outreach.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, everyone.

To begin, some of you who might not be familiar, at least with our outreach program, it's pretty simple.

Our responsibility is to try and reach veterans, both through physical outreach marketing materials, or online presence to bring them through the doors either to talk to our VSOs or to receive emergency financial services, or if necessary, connect them with partners across Cook County who can help them with a myriad of other services that we might not provide ourselves.

Now, just to dive into it, we want to kind of reiterate what we did in FY25.

Um, our metrics are broken down uh as follows.

We conducted at least 200 outreach events across Cook County, assisting directly 899 veterans and interacting with almost uh 3200 of them.

To clarify what that means, 899 of these veterans we provided direct assistance to through connecting with our VSOs, our EFS, or our partner resources.

Uh but there were some events where we didn't manage to interact with every single veteran, so 50 may have attended, but we directly assisted 10.

So we do mark on both in that aspect.

And for the 200 outreach events that we conducted, it was handled by just two outreach staff with some assistance from the VSOs when we were short to be able to at least fill in the gaps.

Uh but with that, that is just a snapshot of what we did in FY25.

Okay.

So to break down how we focus on strategic objectives, we generally um do it through data analysis.

Uh we conduct traditional outreach out in the field.

We also conduct uh online marketing, social media interaction to try and at least hit a wide swath or cast a wide net across the community.

Um the focus here is to try and also just expand access to veterans uh from all uh generation uh all generational uh access in this case, older veterans who may prefer more interaction in person to younger veterans who are working with families who may have uh little time to really interact with us.

We do whatever we can to ensure that everyone is reached to try and at least get the services that they have earned in this process.

Uh, just as a snapshot of Q1.

So we'll use Q4 as an uh comparison from previous year along with what we're currently doing.

So this uh quarter, after three months, we conducted at least 85 outreach events.

Uh 42 of them being VECConnect, 32 being resource, one vet talk, and 10 ceremonial events previously.

Uh we had uh 67 outreach events conducted in the previous quarter with 30 events attended uh office hours or at least with 37.

Uh with the breakdown in regards to the numbers, the those we assisted directly were at least 282 for this quarter, with uh total interactions being 695.

Um previous quarter, it was 482 directly assisted with at least over a thousand that we were interacting with.

To clarify a point here, uh the majority of our events that we conducted for this quarter were mostly office hours or vet connect events directly working with our partners, elected officials.

Uh what that would look like is generally uh veterans coming into those locations to talk to us directly.

It's not a traditional resource fair, which previously we conducted far more resource fairs and larger events that we would see a lot more veterans' interactions in that capacity.

But that's just a clarification, at least why the numbers look different, at least in these two quarters here.

Um, just a breakdown of at least our metrics and data here.

So, one thing that we initiated last year was kind of a QR code tracking.

Um, so basically, we've created uh multiple different QR codes for many different forms and services that we offer, whether it's connecting with our social media, our intake form, um, generally with our website, and we kind of splattered across all of our marketing material.

Every time someone scans that QR code, we're able to see in what part of the county that that scan was made so that we can track our outreach efforts to see where the majority of these requests are occurring so that we can see if we need to bring in outreach uh services to those locations.

Uh but this is just kind of a breakdown.

Over the time that we've uh conducted this program, we've had at least over a thousand unique scans, with over at least 418 going to the web page, um, 382 going over to our social media, and then 131 going to our main website.

Uh this is the data breakdown of our intake form.

So last year we actually developed an intake form which allows veterans to actually request services, not just directly with us, but with our partners.

And we've modified it quite uh extensively over the past few months to try and create more automated systems so that they can get those direct assistance uh as quickly as possible from us and our partners.

Uh any requests for our office, like emergency financial services or VSO services, they're directly contacted by our team.

Anything that is a partner-related request, um, say mental health, uh car repair, or something that is outside of our purview, we direct them towards partners, usually just automating the email to those partners who then follow up with that veteran directly so that they get those services in an efficient and effective manner.

Um we're still modifying this, growing this, and developing this, and we'll be rolling out um a new intake form here within the next quarter or so to try and improve that system and automation uh that we're integrating into it.

Uh but right now, this is a snapshot of this.

Uh we've had at least 641, is it at least uh the end of Q1 because we've had some more at least for Q2 already, what we're not noting here.

Uh 641 veterans we've directly assisted with over 2,600 unique requests for each uh veteran.

So a veteran might request several different things on the intake form, which we track those individual requests.

Uh this is a breakdown in regards to Q1 of last year and then, or excuse me, Q4 of last year and Q1 of this year.

So as you can see, a lot of our outreach events uh were kind of scattered across Cook County, but we had taken a focus on trying to get more into the South side as well, since that per data shows a lot of the veterans living down in the locale seem to be underserved.

Uh so with that, we've worked with many elected officials as well as with uh different municipalities and um different VFW and Legion posts down there to try and bring those services more effectively out to those communities.

And we've seen at least a massive increase, and a lot of veterans have been using that service.

Uh with that in mind, again, I would like to reiterate this is even more events conducted in this quarter than we did the previous quarter.

And again, this is being handled by two outreach uh coordinators, basically myself and uh uh Julian as well.

Uh with that in mind, the spread has been a little bit more evenly uh provided across the community, as you can note it here.

So the objectives for our next quarter are twofold specifically, or three if this case if I want to expand on it.

First is to try and um reorganize our website.

So the website we've been using have been has been fantastic for the past couple years that we have used it.

It has served its uh purpose in providing at least connections for veterans to understand how organization works, including meet the legal obligations of the state to ensure that uh we are being as transparent as possible about all the information that we as a commission and as an office are like conducting.

Uh with that in mind, with us integrating new forms, new systems, new tracking data, new marketing materials.

We want to make it more accessible and usable by veterans so that they can go on there, use our intake form effectively, connected with our partner resources.

Be able to see what our office does in an efficient and effective manner, make it more user-friendly.

Uh with that, that is one of the main goals that we have for this quarter is to try and restructure that internally.

The second portion would be for um more or less integrating a new power app system into our office.

So currently, right now, a lot of the tracking is somewhat rudimentary in regards to how many veterans we interact with.

For example, if I go to an event and I interact with five veterans, I would have to basically handwrite in like the names, information, tracking data to be able to track how many veterans I directly assisted at that location.

And usually it's easier for us to provide just hard numbers in the parts of that.

But with a new power app system we're integrating, we would be able to see one, uh, what veteran or who the veteran is that we directly assist and how many times that veteran had used the services in our office, not just from outreach, but as the VSOs and our emerging financial services.

So we can track that data more effectively.

And if we were audited, we could show exactly how we're assisting the veterans and having actual data to show that more effectively in this context.

Right.

Um with that in mind, we're always going to be continuing to expand our outreach efforts and our operations.

As you've been seeing uh from previous years, we started when I first started here as an outreach.

We were probably averaging maybe 36 outreach events a quarter.

Uh now we've been averaging at least 40 events each month.

Um and with that, we've been constantly expanding and improving the system.

And we'll continue to do so.

Um with that in mind, uh, I'll save any questions for the end and I'll hand it back to our superintendent for further conversation.

Well, thank you.

That is our report.

Okay, thank you for those updates.

It sounds great.

Any questions from any commissioners?

Commissioner Lowry.

Thank you, Chair.

I don't have questions.

I just want to thank you for a very comprehensive report.

Thank you for your good work.

Thank you.

Commissioner Aguilar.

I just want to thank you, and I want to thank Elizabeth Soda for her uh quick response to my district's veterans, and also want to welcome and uh other veterans that are here.

Uh, you were very honored of your presence here.

So thank you very much, and thank you for your service here.

Yes, yes.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

No, that's great.

Thank you.

Well, and I just want to say thank you all for the work that you're doing too.

I mean, we've definitely seen an increase, and thank you for your leadership.

And um, I just want to give a shout out to my staff too for our veteran outreaches that we've had.

Thank you to Sam, who's been putting those together across the sixth district.

And it's paying off.

So thank you all for your updates.

Okay.

So hearing no further discussion, all in favor of the motion to receive and file item 26-1013, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All opposed say nay, an opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.

This motion is approved.

Um, Commissioner Lowry moves to adjourn, seconded by Commissioner Aguilar.

All in favor of adjournment, say aye.

Aye.

I'll oppose say nay, the ayes have it.

The motion carries, and this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Morrison.

Will you please call technology?