COVID-19 Update: Private Student Loan Relief, SNAP Benefit Expansion, Tenant Organizing Workshop, and fresh baked bread.
In today’s briefing, Governor Pritzker shared that the administration’s approach to this crisis has been to wage the war on 2 fronts: protecting the health and safety of the people of Illinois while mitigating the economic impact caused by the steps taken to save lives. He cited several actions taken thus far and went on to add some good news for those hardest hit by the economic consequences of our Stay At Home order. Although the Stay At Home order is set to expire in 9 days Governor Pritzker has made frequent references to upcoming “changes” to the Stay At Home order and will be making announcements related to these changes in the days ahead.

The Governor noted that while the most recent federal relief act included relief for people with federally managed student loans, that left out huge numbers of people who have privately managed student loan debt. Just as our state’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation was able to negotiate with several financial institutions and other regulated industries in the state to pause vehicle repossessions, limit negative credit rating reporting and encourage mortgage forbearance, today’s report was that Illinois has entered into a multi-state collaborative agreement with 20 different student loan servicers which will provide relief to 140,000 borrowers in Illinois. The agreement including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia, New Jersey, and Washington will allow borrowers in these states the ability to contact their loan servicer to get relief including: 90 days payment forbearance, waived fees, no negative credit reporting, and 90 day relief from debt collection efforts.

The loan servicers who have agreed to participate are:

  • Aspire Resources, Inc.
  • College Ave Student Loan Servicing, LLC
  • Discover Financial Servicers
  • Earnest Operations
  • Edfinancial
  • Figure Lending, LLC
  • Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation
  • Launch Servicing, LLC
  • Lendkey Technologies, Inc.
  • MOHELA
  • Navient
  • Nelnet
  • Reunion Student Loan Finance Corporation
  • Rhode Island Student Loan Authority
  • SoFi Lending Corp.
  • Tuition Options
  • United Guaranty Services, Inc.
  • Upstart Network, Inc.
  • Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority
  • Vermont Student Assistance Corporation

If a borrower is unable to access relief after contacting their loan servicer, they should contact the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking or the Office of the Attorney General .

In additional news for people experiencing financial hardship, the state received approval for an expansion of SNAP benefits for 300,000 families with school aged children . Existing beneficiaries began seeing the increased benefits yesterday and families with children who qualify for free and reduced lunch but are not currently SNAP recipients will be able to complete an expedited application expected to be released in the next couple of days. Once the form is available, we will put it on our website in the COVID resources section. Individuals interested in applying can create an account and apply here .

Dr. Ezike reported that the Department continues to monitor healthcare capacity closely. As of last night 4,776 patients were hospitalized with COVID cases, 1,226 patients were in ICU and 781 patients were on ventilators.

Statewide, 30% of ICU beds are open and available. Of the ICU beds in use, 55% are being used by COVID patients. Also statewide, 60% of all ventilators are available for use. Over half are currently being used by COVID patients. Keep in mind that statewide numbers will reflect some areas that are much closer to capacity while including areas with significantly less impact.

Just as in previous weeks, Dr. Ezike shared results of the department’s ongoing work to survey patients identified as having a positive COVID-19 diagnosis on their outcomes. This week’s survey found that of patients diagnosed 2 weeks ago, 54% report no longer having symptoms and recovered and at 4 weeks 77% report being recovered.
COVID-19 Count as of today :

1,551 new cases, 119 deaths today

If you have questions related to COVID-19 you can contact the Illinois Department of Public Health :
Hotline : 800-889-3931
Email : dph.sick@illinois.gov

City of Chicago's Department of Public Health :
Hotline : 312-746-4835
Email : coronavirus@chicago.gov

You can sign up to get updates from the City of Chicago's Department of Public Health here .
Citywide Cloth Mask Drive: Beginning Saturday, April 25 through Saturday, May 16
Today Mayor Lightfoot announced a city of Chicago effort to get masks to communities across the city that need them most. Churches and aldermanic offices will begin collecting masks at specific locations this Saturday between 10am-2pm. You can find the details and the full list of locations to drop off these masks here . If you are creating a mask please follow CDC guidelines to make sure the mask meets standards to protect individuals from the spread of COVID.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois : Grant Opportunity
Blue cross blue shield of Illinois (BCBSI) has launched a multi pronged community response effort to help first responders, nonprofit organizations and residents across a Illinois impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic including a new rapid response funding program.
  • April 15, 2020 – Application opens
  • April 24, 2020 – Application closes
  • Week of May 4, 2020 – Applicants notified of funding decisions
More information and applications for these funds can be found on their website here .
Homes Guarantee Advocacy: Tenants Rights Forum
People's Action is hosting a tenants rights forum to share information on how individuals can organize and better advocate for federal level policy change introduced by U.S. Representative Omar, Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act (HR 6515). You can sign up here to participate.
Baking with the Rep: Almost foolproof no knead bread
Regular readers and followers on social media know that I often turn to the kitchen for comfort and particularly enjoy sharing my baked goods with my colleagues on the House floor. While sharing is a little harder under social distancing restrictions, I’m still finding my kitchen a source of peace and something at least kinda normal in these times that are anything but. My kids have had fun making requests and seeing what I come up with. This recipe, which I originally saw on my colleague Rep. Theresa Mah’s facebook post about her cooking adventures, was an instant hit.

I’ve never done a lot of bread making, at least not yeast breads, so this is a fun new area to explore while we continue to #stayhomesavelives. In fact, the boys asked if we could make challah this week for Shabbat, something we haven’t done since they were very small. The bread is crusty and delicious as is, makes amazing toast and goes quickly! Last night, I made a double batch and let the dough rise overnight so I could get up early and bake the loaves while the rest of the house was just starting to wake up. The recipe can be found here .
Sincerely,

Kelly Cassidy
State Representative, 14th District

Office of State Representative Kelly Cassidy

5533 N Broadway

Chicago IL 60640
773-784-2002(phone)
773-784-2060(fax)