Introduction

On June 25, 2019, Illinois joined the growing list of states that legalized adult recreational cannabis use through statute 410 ILCS 705. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act was passed to establish an equitable legal cannabis industry and repair the harm in communities impacted by economic disinvestment and historical overuse of criminal justice responses. The Act also created the Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) program. Supported with cannabis tax revenue, R3 seeks to:

  • Directly address the impacts of economic disinvestment, violence, and the historical overuse of criminal justice responses in communities with resources to support local design and control of community-based responses.
  • Substantially reduce gun violence and concentrated poverty in the state.
  • Protect communities from gun violence through targeted investments and intervention programs.
  • Promote employment infrastructure.

This report details the R3 program implementation process during the program’s inaugural period of performance, June 25, 2019, to January 31, 2022.

Grantmaking Process

Notice of Funding Opportunity Development

In developing the first R3 notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), the R3 Board established guiding principles for the program. The key themes in these principles involved equity, collaboration, uplifting community voices, and supporting organizations. Additionally, an equitable grantmaking working group developed the following recommendations:

  • Providing grants for assessment and planning and service delivery.
  • Allowing organizations to apply for funding to address multiple issues and regions.
  • Establishing a diverse application reviewer pool.
  • Incorporating participatory research practices in the evaluation of the program.
  • Funding activities in economic development, violence prevention, youth development, reentry, and civil legal aid.

With these recommendations and additional discussion, the R3 Board created 12 regions, designating grant funds that were proportionate to the population of that region’s R3-eligible areas. R3 eligible areas were determined through analyses conducted by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The Board also decided to prioritize organizations that demonstrated:

  • Service to high-need areas, defined as census tracts that fall above the 75th percentiles of gun injury, child poverty, unemployment, and state prison commitments and returns.
  • Ties to the communities they serve, including being located within the community, employing local staff, or collaborating with local partners,
  • Community involvement and embracing solutions that incorporated the knowledge of perspectives of local community stakeholders.
  • Restorative justice values, by describing how their programs and/or collaborators reflected and promoted them.

These priorities, later referred to as equity points, were directly incorporated into application questions that were released in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Through working group discussions and parameters set forth through legislation, ICJIA researchers identified areas eligible for R3 funding. Eligible R3 zones were identified through an analysis of community-level data on gun injury, child poverty, unemployment, and state prison commitments and returns at the census-tract level. A total of 769 tracts were eligible for R3 grants.

Notices of Funding Opportunity Release

R3 assessment and planning and service delivery notices of funding opportunity were released to the public on May 18, 2020, with a deadline of July 20, 2020. ICJIA and the Lt. Governor’s office implemented a robust community engagement and communication strategy to notify organizations across Illinois of the opportunity.

Notice of Funding Opportunity Awarding

All accepted applications were scored by a minimum of two external reviewers. These external reviewers received training on the review and scoring process and on implicit bias. Reviewers returned completed score sheets to ICJIA on October 21, 2020. As indicated, several questions within the grant application, called equity points, were intended to represent how well applicants reflected the community they intended to serve. These questions covered applicant location, collaborator location, location of staff, service area, community involvement, and focus on restorative justice. ICJIA research staff provided verification of data used to assign equity points during the scoring process to ensure that organizations provided accurate data in their application.

The R3 Board established a Grant Review subcommittee to conduct a blind preliminary review, or equity scan, of the highest scoring applications in each region to verify that the recommended organizations embodies the R3 Board’s goal of prioritizing local, restorative programs. The subcommittee voted to recommend all but three of the 80 highest scoring applications for R3 funding. The R3 Board convened to vote on the funding recommendations. After discussion from the members, a majority voted to recommend funding the 77 programs approved by the Grant Review Subcommittee, as well as the remaining three highest scoring organizations, for a total of 80 programs.

On January 27, 2021, the ICJIA Board’s Budget committee reviewed the R3 funding recommendations. A majority voted to approve $2,637,875 in R3 grants to 22 assessment and planning applicants and $28,331,266 to 58 service delivery applicants.

Grant Review

Reviewer Characteristics

ICJIA created an online Qualtrics survey to collect contact information from individuals interested in reviewing R3 applications. ICJIA received 234 complete responses from interested reviewers. Most survey responders indicated they lived in an R3 zone, had expertise in youth development, were female, Black or African American, and between the ages of 35 and 44.

Reviewer Feedback

Upon completion of the R3 application review process, ICJIA researchers conducted a voluntary feedback survey of those who completed the form expressing interest in serving as an application reviewer. The purpose of the survey was to learn from community members’ perspective and gain feedback to improve the external review component in the future. The survey sample included individuals who did and who did not review applications. Survey responders that reviewed applications reported having a positive experience. Sixty-four percent of respondents indicated they were very likely to volunteer again to review grant applications (n=57). In addition, 18% said they were somewhat likely and 9% said they were somewhat unlikely or very unlikely to volunteer again. Based on the feedback, researchers determined communication, scoring instructions, and team review were areas for future improvements.

Grant Applicants

Applicant Characteristics

ICJIA received 407 applications during the state fiscal year 2021 round of the R3 funding opportunity. The majority of applications (83%, n=338) were for service delivery grants. Most applicants (70.8%, n=288) reported locating in an R3 zone. Most applications (64.1%, n=261) were from single organizations. Most applications also indicated they were serving R3’s Cook-Chicago Southern Region. Most assessment and planning applications were proposals for economic development activities, while service delivery applications were more likely to propose youth development programs. The most requested funding amounts were between $100,000 and $499,999.

Applicant Feedback

After the application deadline passed, ICJIA researchers asked applicants to complete a voluntary, anonymous online survey to gather information on how applicants experienced the process to inform program improvements. Applicants received a link to the feedback survey from ICJIA grant staff. Survey results indicated R3 grant applicants were satisfied overall with the R3 application process; however, quantitative results indicated some respondents experienced difficulty with writing the application, meeting GATA requirements, and understanding the application. Based on this feedback, researchers determined that future grant cycles should enhance application instructions and encourage attendance at state grant workshops.

Funded Organizations

In its inaugural award, the R3 Board awarded 80 organizations with R3 funding, including 22 for assessment and planning activities and 58 for service delivery. The Cook-Chicago Southern R3 region received the most funding (n=11) and most of the funded organizations proposed providing youth development services (n=47). Nearly half of organizations that proposed service delivery programs (48.3%, n=28) received grants of between $100,000 and $499,999, while over half of the organizations that proposed assessment and planning programs (63.6%, n=14) received grants of less than $100,000.

Conclusion

This report describes R3 program implementation from program inception to the conclusion of the inaugural R3 grantee cohort’s first performance period. ICJIA is conducting a broader process evaluation of the R3 program and process evaluations of several R3 program sites across Illinois. ICJIA also plans to conduct outcome evaluations of the program sites and examine the overall impact of the R3 program.