Publications

Letter Urging Reauthorization of VAWA
In May 2010, the Shriver Center submitted a letter to Illinois Senator Durbin as part of the record for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee to urge reauthorization of The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In particular, the letter expresses the urgency of adding workplace protections to VAWA to assist survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, dating violence and stalking in maintaining economic security.

Comments on Proposed Amendment to Illinois Regulations Concerning
Domestic Violence Victims' Eligibility for Unemployment Compensation Benefits
The Shriver Center has filed comments with the Illinois Department of Employment Security on a proposed and emergency amendment to 56 Ill. Adm. Code 2840. The comments suggest that because domestic violence is such a complex issue, the Department should clarify section 2840.101(d), which describes a few examples of circumstances under which a claimant who voluntarily leaves employment due to domestic violence may be eligible for unemployment compensation.  Clarification is needed to explain that the examples in the amendment are just examples of what is possible, not a limitation on what is allowable under the law.

Are We Home Yet? Creating Real Choice for Housing Choice Voucher Families in Illinois
The Ilinois Assisted Housing Action Research Project (IHARP), a collaboration of Housing Action Illinois, the Latino Policy Forum, the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement, and the Shriver Center, have released this report finding that the majority of the Chicago Housing Authority's 35,000 Housing Choice Voucher households continue to reside in predominately African-American, poverty concentrated communities in Chicago. These communities, which continue to struggle with high rates of unemployment, foreclosures, and above average rates of crime and poor health, do not provide real opportunity for voucher families. The report recommends that the Chicago Housing Authority, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the City of Chicago, housing advocates, and public officials work together towards a comprehensive agenda to advance housing mobility and real opportunities for voucher families, as well as to strategically invest in the communities where voucher families currently live.

An Agenda for Change: An Illinois Perspective on Creating a Better Future for America's Women and Girls
In detailing the issues surrounding women and girls’ continuing fight for equality, An Agenda for Change: An Illinois Perspective on Creating a Better Future for America’s Women and Girls offers specific recommendations that the federal government should adopt to improve their well-being.  By sharing our insight from our efforts to advocate on behalf of Illinois’s women and girls, we hope to inform federal-level policy to ensure that all of our nation’s women and girls are guaranteed quality education and skill development, gainful employment, comprehensive health care, economic security, freedom from violence, and adequate and affordable housing. 

Debt Arising from Illinois' Criminal Justice System: Making Sense of the Ad Hoc Accumulation of Financial Obligations
When a person exits the criminal justice system, the financial obligations he or she has incurred, including fines, fees, and restitution, often converge to create a significant barrier to successful reentry. This report represents the first step in making sense of the financial obligations assessed by the criminal justice system in Illinois. It is part one of a two-year study of how this system works as well as how it compares to systems in other states. This report focuses on identifying the different types of financial obligations that exist within the criminal justice system, any mechanisms that might relieve low-income defendants from debt that they cannot pay, and the devices that government agencies use to collect overdue debt in Illinois.

Irresponsible State Budget Devastates Human Services in Illinois
Illinois legislators failed to make the tough choices necessary to protect the residents of Illinois.  Instead, they passed a state budget that relies heavily on borrowing  and deep cuts in services to the state's most vulnerable. Read the Shriver Center's analysis of the 2010 budget.

Discussion Guide for Children's Issues
This discussion guide, prepared by the Shriver Center and Voices for Illinois Children, contains basic information and suggested questions to ask candidates from both parties on children's issues. The guide also contains a sample letter to the editor and a list of resources for further information.

Members of Congress in States with Highest Poverty Least Likely to Support Anti-Poverty Measures
Members of Congress from states with high rates of poverty are less likely to support anti-poverty measures than other members of Congress, according to the 2007 Poverty Scorecard: Rating Members of Congress, released by the Shriver Center. The Scorecard assigns letter grades to each member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives according to their voting records on the most important poverty-related issues that came to a vote in 2007, including legislation on affordable housing, health care, education, labor, tax policy and immigrants' rights. With the help of a national advisory board and other anti-poverty experts, the Shriver Center identified and analyzed fourteen critical Senate votes and fifteen critical House votes.

Screening for Medicaid Eligibility Under the Pickle Amendment
Gordon Bonnyman of the Tennessee Justice Center offers a quick and easy method of screening for Medicaid eligibility under the Pickle Amendment, which requires that an individual be deemed an SSI recipient under certain circumstances.

Issue Briefing
Listen to a podcast of the Shriver Center's June 11, 2007, issue briefing on the Center's federal docket and national agenda to end poverty.

Inside Housing
The 2007 issue of Inside Housing covers redevelopment of public housing on the near west side of Chicago, preservation of subsidized housing, and the safe homes initiative.

Litigation to Improve Access to Health Care for Children: Lessons from Memisovski v. Maram
Memisovski v. Maram, a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of 600,000 Cook County, Illinois, children receiving Medicaid, has led to improved ways of delivering health care services. In a bench trial plaintiffs used the state's own data to show the low level of care that the class received, showed through expert analysis of reimbursement rates how the state discouraged doctors from serving Medicaid children, and gave testimony from the children's parents about their difficult experience with health care. The court rejected the state's argument that plaintiffs had no enforceable rights and ruled that the state was out of compliance with the Medicaid Act. The parties then negotiated a consent decree of multiple approaches, including higher reimbursement rates, to ensure that children have access to and receive mandated health care services. This article, published in the May-June 2007 issue of Clearinghouse Review, outlines the history of the case.

Spring 2007 Accomplishments
Read about how the Shriver Center is leading a national movement to end poverty through policy development and advocacy, communications, and impact litigation.

Reforming State Rules on Asset Limits:
How to Remove Barriers to Saving and Asset Accumulation in Public Benefit Programs
Most states impose limits on the assets that an applicant for or recipient of public benefits may possess and still be eligible. Awareness is growing that such eligibility criteria are counterproductive. Administering asset tests imposes an administrative burden on state agencies, and few low-income households have any assets. The tests also send the inappropriate message that accumulating assets causes problems. Federal law gives states flexibility in setting asset limits, according to this article by Dory Rand, published in the March-April 2007 issue of Clearinghouse Review. A growing number of states are reforming their asset rules, including eliminating the tests altogether in their cash assistance programs.

Comments on 2006 TANF Regulations
The Shriver Center has filed comments with the Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, on the interim final rule for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program published on June 29, 2006.

The State of Poverty: 2006 Congressional Midterm Report
National policymakers must recognize that they represent not only the geographic states of America but also American citizens living in the State of Poverty. We hope that our supporters will use our new 2006 Congressional Midterm Report to evaluate how each congressional delegation is responding to the needs of low-income Americans in every community.

The Path to Universal Health Coverage for Children in Illinois
Illinois's All Kids program provides health insurance to every child in Illinois regardless of income or status. With the passage of this program in November 2005, Illinois became the first state in the country to offer health insurance to literally every child. As other states and Congress consider, in the midst of persistent state and national fiscal troubles, whether to pursue the All Kids strategy to provide helath coverage to all children, the path to All Kids in Illinois may be a useful case study.

The Ensuring Success in School Act: Promoting School Success and Safety for Young People Who Are Parents, Expectant Parents, or Victims of Domestic or Sexual Violence
Young people who are parents, expectant parents, or victims of domestic or sexual violence face particular barriers to completing their high school education. Legislation that advocates are promoting in Illinois--the Ensuring Success in School Act, or ESSA--would require schools and school districts to act to remove these barriers. The legislation would require schools to recognize, rather than punish, students for fulfilling their parenting obligations and to recognize the safety needs of student victims of domestic or sexual violence.

Insecure in Your Own Home
Lockouts, forcible entry, and security deposit disputes are common occurrences for Illinois renters. This report calls attention to the experiences of statewide survey respondents who lack the basic consumer protections for safe, stable, and secure housing.

This new guide describes the inspiration and operation of two high school student-run bank branches in public schools: the Curie Branch of Park Savings Bank in Chicago and the Cardinal Branch of Mitchell Bank in Milwaukee. The guide includes information on both projects, the partners involved, factors to consider, and the costs and benefits of such a project.