Illinois continues to welcome asylum seekers with care, compassion, dignity and respect

Janary 26, 2024  – In the interest of aiding the people of Illinois and local municipalities impacted by the arrival of asylum seekers, in October of 2023 the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) awarded funds to five municipalities for new arrival support and services. The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC), under contract with IDHS, is managing the distribution and administration of the Supporting Municipalities for Asylum Seeker Services (SMASS) grant. A second round is currently open for $11 million in new funding. Interested municipalities can respond to the Request for Information online.

Timeline

  • RFI Submittals: Municipalities are encouraged to submit RFI responses as soon as possible and no later than January 31, 2024.
  • Eligible RFI Respondents will be invited to work with Caucus to finalize a detailed work plan and budget proposal.
  • Award Announcement: February 15, 2024
  • Grant Term: January 16 – June 30, 2024

Eligibility

Only municipal governments outside of the the city of Chicago are eligible to submit an RFI response. For the purpose of SMASS funding, municipal governments are defined as any level of public government within the State of Illinois.

While grants will be made directly to lead municipalities, these funds may be made available to other municipalities and/or organizations (e.g., non-profit organizations, academic institutions, community health centers, etc.) that partner with the lead municipality.

  • Disbursement of funds to sub-grantee partners will be at the discretion and responsibility of the lead municipality. Lead municipalities are not limited in the number of sub-grantee partners with whom they can choose to work.
  • Municipalities are encouraged to coordinate with any local “overlapping” units of government who may also be interested (e.g., a county and a town within the county) to ensure that duplicative responses are not submitted. Support from any overlapping communities is required.
  • If municipalities choose to respond to this RFI in partnership, any municipality involved can choose to serve as the lead municipality. There will be no additional funding or administrative overhead for lead municipalities.
  • Grantees must be GATA compliant

Use of Funds

Available funding is restricted to the following services directly impacting asylum seekers. “Asylum seeker is defined as “an individual who crossed the Mexico/U.S. border on or after August 1, 2022, with the intent to stay permanently, and who does not possess any permanent or interim U.S. legal status (which does not include being in parole status), such as legal permanent residency, a student or work visa, etc.”

  • Shelter and Housing Support
  • Food
  • Wraparound Services
  • Legal Support
  • Healthcare

Municipality staff’s time dedicated to coordinating direct service provision to asylum seekers can be considered eligible expenses and included in budget requests. These expenses are expected to be kept to the minimum amount necessary to support operations, and priority will be given to funding for direct services.

Press Release: Gov. Pritzker Announces Additional Funding to Municipalities to Support Asylum Seekers

Please see our webpage for more information.