SPRINGFIELD – Applicants for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) grants may soon see faster turnarounds on their approvals, thanks to a new initiative led by State Senator Javier Cervantes.

“Grant applicants and workers are suffering from the burden of relying on volunteers to grade ICJIA grant applications,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “With this legislation, both parties will see a faster turnaround time, and not need to deal with unnecessary stress.”

Currently, ICJIA is required to utilize volunteer workers to score grant applications, a rule intended to keep the process unbiased. However, this can lead to lengthy delays due to dips in volunteer work, or unreliable expertise levels in the grading process.

SPRINGFIELD –To ensure dental patients do not have to pay the bill for their visits out of pocket until their claim is processed, State Senator Javier Cervantes is working on legislation that would require insurance to cover visits immediately.

“Patients should not have to worry about a shelling out a majority of their paycheck from visiting a dentist when they have dental insurance,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “Thanks to this measure, their visits will be automatically paid by insurance, without making patients go through the reimbursement process.”

Without this legislation, dental insurance carriers would only be required to cover the cost of the visit—but it is unspecified if they need to pay the providers directly, or just reimburse the patient for their visit. This means many insurance plans do not immediately pay for a patient’s treatment, and leave them to cover the bill after the visit, only to reimburse them months later.

CHICAGO – State Senator Javier Cervantes will be moving his Chicago office to a new Berwyn location —and invites local residents to pop by for the grand opening.   

“The Berwyn location has been a long time coming – and I’m excited to get it off the ground,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “This new location is centrally located and is right on the Metra BNSF line so we can better serve our community.”

To celebrate the new office Cervantes will be hosting a Grand Opening and Block Party on Thursday, April 17 from 4:30-6 p.m. The address of the new office is 6729 Stanley Ave., 1^st Floor, Suite A in Berwyn.  

SPRINGFIELD – With an underrepresentation of BIPOC mental health providers in Illinois, State Senator Javier Cervantes led legislation through committee to encourage students of color to enter this important field by establishing a scholarship program.

“If you do not feel comfortable to open up and be vulnerable in therapy, you will not be able to make much progress—and many people do not feel comfortable explaining their struggles to someone outside of their racial or cultural background,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “This bill is all about reducing the barriers for people of color to access and benefit from mental health care.”

According to surveys conducted by the Behavioral Health Workforce Center, there is a drastic underrepresentation of people of color in Illinois' mental health workforce. Additionally, nearly 75% of providers offered services exclusively in English. This negatively affects mental health outcomes of people of color by deterring them from seeking service out of fear or previous experiences with a provider not being able to offer the most helpful coping strategies, as they do not fully understand their lived experiences and root causes of trauma. Barriers in understanding due to language or cultural background can also cause issues in effectiveness of treatment.