Title
Joint resolution accepting the Supporting Municipalities for Asylum Seeker Services (SMASS) funds from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) and authorizing an emergency appropriation in the amount of $1,130,238 for grant administration and implementation.
Staff Summary
• In August the County Board approved a grant submission seeking funding through MMC's SMASS program, funded through the Illinois Department of Human Services.
• Lake County was awarded $1,130,238 in pass-through funding for the State's fiscal year 2025 (from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025).
• The funding will be distributed to key community providers to supplement their existing services to asylum seekers in Lake County, as follows: $924,298 to Mano a Mano Family Resource Center and $184,404 to North Suburban Legal Aid.
• Lake County will receive $21,536 to administer the program.
Body
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus made $9,500,000 available through the Supporting Municipalities for Asylum Seeker Services (SMASS) Notice of Funding Availability with applications due in August 2024; and
WHEREAS, these dollars will serve as a funding pass through to support the services of community agencies serving people experiencing homelessness and/or asylum seekers, as defined in the grant; and
WHEREAS, this grant amount totaling $1,130,238 has not been previously appropriated, having been awarded after adoption of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget; and
WHEREAS, the proposed appropriation will be offset by the above referenced items thereby not requiring the expenditure of local tax revenue.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by this County Board of Lake County, Illinois, that an emergency appropriation in the amount of $1,130,238 is hereby authorized in the Community Development budget as identified on the listing of expense and revenue budget modifications attached hereto and made part hereof; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Lake County Board Chair or their designee is hereby authorized to execute the necessary grant and subrecipient agreements.
DATED at Waukegan, Illinois, on October 8, 2024.