'Joliet Does Not Want To Become A Sanctuary City, Period': Sheridan

JOLIET, IL — Downtown Joliet's Peter Claver Center at 172 S. Chicago St. is one of the key locations listed in Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras' grant application to bring asylum seekers from other countries to Joliet, documents obtained by Joliet Patch reveal.

This week, Contreras will talk more about his plans of bringing an influx of immigrants to Joliet now that he has been awarded a grant of $8.6 million from Gov. JB Pritzker, at Tuesday's 5 p.m. Joliet Township Government meeting. The meeting has been moved to the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park & Theatre, 201 W. Jefferson St.

"It holds 350 people, and that place needs to be standing room-only Tuesday night," Cunningham Neighborhood President John Sheridan told Joliet Patch. "The reason people should come is to let the Township officials understand that Joliet does not want to become a Sanctuary City, period. This will in fact raise your taxes, especially from the Township government.

"The Township government works for us, and they should not be buying up all these empty buildings with taxpayers' money and without the taxpayer's permission. The irony of it all is that if you talk to someone who supports this grant and ask them if they would be willing to use their extra bedroom to house a family, the answer has been 'No' with all kinds of excuses. Then I said would you be willing to throw a couple of bucks into the kitty to help them and the answer varies, but no one would donate their money."

According to Sheridan, "I had my Cunningham Neighborhood Council meeting on October 4th and this proposal from the Joliet Township did not get a warm welcome. People were very upset that the needs of the Joliet resident are not being met, yet the Township wants to help people that have invaded our borders while the Biden administration has done nothing to stop it."

The following information is contained with Joliet Township Government's application to the governor requesting more than $12 million from Governor Pritzker.

The governor liked the application from Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras so much that he awarded Joliet the second highest amount of funding to help asylum seekers coming to Illinois.

The Joliet Township application states that:

• "Joliet Township Government, with partners Will Grundy Medical Clinic, The Spanish Community Center, and The South Suburban Immigrant Project, with support from the City of Joliet Mayor's Office, will work through memorandum of agreement alongside local safety net providers to meet the following objectives for those individuals and families that are, under definition, seeking Asylum in the United States."

The money obtained from Gov. Pritzker would be used for the following reasons:

• Open and operate 3 “Welcome Centers” and 1 “Welcome Clinic” for Asylum seekers in Joliet at:
• 2100 Glenwood Ave., Joliet;
• 309 N. Eastern Ave., Joliet;
• 511 Collins St., Joliet;
• 172 Chicago St., (the Peter Claver Center), Joliet by October of 2023.

According to Will County real estate records, Joliet Township Government purchased the Peter Claver Center property at 172 S. Chicago St. in June for the price of $450,000.

• Hire direct support staff to offer temporary, rapid and responsive economic, health and social services to Asylum seekers, eligible within this program, by November of 2023.
• Purchase needed contractual labor, equipment, medical supplies and diagnostics, shelter nights, transportation, and food needed to provide eligible services.
• Shelter and nights of stay are currently provided at the Mainstay Joliet hotel off of the Larkin exit at Interstate 80 in Joliet. A Memorandum of agreement will exist with the hospitality owners to continue utilizing services for socially vulnerable individuals and providing guidance to triage, resources and services through direct continuity of care planning. This agreement provides protection to vulnerable clients that are experiencing acute or chronic stages of disease, and/or health and social vulnerability.

On Monday morning, Dan Scott of POSH Hospitality Group informed Joliet Patch, that the Mainstay Joliet Hotel along Larkin Avenue is not housing any migrants, and that POSH has no agreements with Joliet Township government to provide shelter for them.

"Our hotel has not been approached or spoke to about housing anyone," Scott wrote Joliet Patch.

Previously known as the Quality Inn, the hotel was renamed Mainstay Inn about a year ago, he said.

On the topic of food, Joliet Township's Asylum Seeker grant application included this information:

"Funding will also be allocated for prepared meals for individual dwelling units and family units. Joliet Township Government intends to work with partners, such as Meals on Wheels and donor sponsors to offer additional meal planning opportunities. Food distribution, delivery and curbside pick up methods will be utilized to get food to the program population. The Spanish Community Center pantry intends to increase its order of food to Northern Illinois Food Bank and provide a drop off distribution to housing facilities of Asylum seekers twice a week through follow up and case management services. Spanish Center clients, Will Grundy Medical Clinic clients and Joliet Township Government clients will be offered prepared and unprepared food items. The program will offer two hot meals per day per person and provide twice per week grocery boxes with meal kits and nutritional items and supplements."

On the topic of legal assistance:

"Spanish Community Center will be hiring 3 Paralegals and accredited Department of Justice representatives to provide legal screenings and assistance, referrals to other legal service providers, and asylum clinics. The purpose of these clinics will be to educate individuals who are seeking asylum on the process, how to begin, and what to expect. Asylum cases are notoriously complex and take years to resolve, however, these clinics will allow clients to take the important first step in beginning their cases. These legal professionals will also provide referrals to other valuable resources offered by SCC as described above, such as ESL classes, which are offered both in-person and telephonically."

Welcome Clinic at 2100 Glenwood Ave.:

"Conveniently situated near Ascension St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet. Will Grundy Medical Clinic contracts with Ascension Hospital to provide lab and diagnostics to those uninsured patients of the Will Grundy Medical Clinic, at limited charge to the clinic.

"The Clinic will offer health diagnostic services to program participants including but not limited to, Hemoglobin and Hemoglobin A1c, Lipid Panel, Urinalysis, Urine Microalbumin, Reproductive examination, Vision exams and frames, basic dental cleanings and preventative services, medication prescription and adherence, and referral to additional specialty care services through a network of free clinic physicians and specialists. Will Grundy Medical Clinic will utilize funding from this grant to cover a portion of clinic rent, clinic personnel, labs and diagnostics fees, equipment and medication costs and assistive devices. Patients' medications costs will be covered; such as but not limited to insulin and metformin, antibiotics and antivirals, beta blockers and vasodilators, statins, and antipsychotics and SSRIs through access to the free clinic specialty physician and psychiatrist network. Patients will have access to transportation to the Welcome Clinic and Welcome Center sites through the Joliet Township Government transportation program and/or funded PACE, Uber and Lyft trips."

Marketing:

"Joliet Township Government and partners will work directly with those organizations looking to place Asylum seekers in needed support services to assist in providing transportation to get individuals to the Spanish Community Center located at 309 N. Eastern Ave. Individuals' information will be handed off and maintained confidential. Housing sites, services and resources for the target population will not be disclosed in the public media."

More Government Jobs Created:

"Joliet Township Government intends to provide funding for the Welcome Clinic establishment, which will include the addition of 17 personnel to operate and manage clinic resources and services, including community health navigation. These full time staff include a family nurse practitioner, medical assistant, care coordinator, medical technician, licensed clinical social workers, and a hygienist. Part-time staff will include a staff nurse, 2 additional medical technicians, 2 patient assistants, an IT consultant, and the clinic directors. This brings personnel total to $684,000 to include employer tax fringe and benefits contribution, to include pension. The Welcome Center at the Spanish Community Center will include the hire of personnel to include employer tax fringe and benefits totaling $366,244.

"This total also includes the cost of hiring 3 full-time Paralegals at $27/hr. The total costs for personnel for the Welcome Center and Welcome Clinic will total $1,050,244.02. These costs make up roughly 8.63% of the total budget costs."

How the money will be spent:

"Client resources totaling $10,360,000.00 will comprise the bulk of grant expenditures, totaling roughly 85.27 percent of the total budget costs. This includes food resources totaling $600,000 based on calculations of prepared and food bank meals, nights of shelter totaling $9,000,000, transportation, over the counter products, clothing and direct services totaling $700,000 and $60,000 in uninsured lab diagnostic panels to meet the objective demands for the target population."