* We talked about this looming two-week January funding gap more than a month ago. From the Sun-Times back then…

Citing further “delays” in the city’s procurement process, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration on Friday said it would chip in an additional $2 million to feed asylum-seekers in Chicago through the end of the year.

Another $2 million will be matched by the Chicago Food Depository, which has already been providing meals to migrants since June, in partnership with 15 minority-owned restaurants in Chicago. […]

The request for further funding came this week, and the state agreed to help until the end of the year with an understanding the city will assume the cost in January. […]

Mary May, a spokeswoman from Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said in a statement the deadline for an RFP for the food contract closed on Friday and was delayed because the city received more than 200 questions from applicants. May said the new contract is slated to begin Jan. 15.

It’s unclear who will be funding the food between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15, when the city said its contract would begin. The city did not comment on that gap.

* Well, as we should’ve suspected, the city didn’t finish in time. So the governor’s office issued a press release last week which included this passage…

In December, the State and the Greater Chicago Food Depository announced a $4 million investment to provide meals to asylum seekers at City of Chicago shelter sites through the end of the calendar year. The funds were announced as the City worked through delays in its procurement process. Due to continued delays in this process, the State is further extending its shelter-food contract through January 15 at an additional cost of $2 million. On January 15, the City will assume responsibility for feeding asylum seekers in City shelters.

Notice the use of passive voice in the “continued delays in this process” phrase. The state is being awfully kind here.

* Meanwhile, the city appears to be having trouble moving the asylum-seekers from the “landing zone” into shelters. Sun-Times…

Hundreds of migrants are now spending their first nights in Chicago aboard buses at the city’s designated “landing zone” for new arrivals, where many say they’re getting little food or medical assistance. […]

The city’s “landing zone” became an effective temporary shelter for migrants in late December after the city largely stopped housing them at police stations. It’s quickly grown to house more than 500 people in buses, including over 100 children, according to the city, as the number of people arriving has outpaced the city’s ability to place them in shelters.

Gov. Pritzker was asked about this backlog today…

Well, again, we work every day with the City of Chicago as they identify locations that we can set up shelters. As I said one shelter is opening just today and we’re moving more than 200 people, families and others into it [in Little Village] … And I actually visited yesterday. It’s phenomenal what we’ve been able to do in a relatively short period of time and and to accommodate very young children. You know, early childhood education is very important to me, making sure these young children have a place that they can play even in a very difficult situation that’s been put into this site. It’s well managed and I think that you know, I feel good about the the opportunity there. And again, we’re continuing to try to identify, working with Cardinal in the Catholic Church, to make sure that if there are locations that we could take over and and put funding forward at the state level to do exactly that. Progress is being made.

* Pritzker was also asked about the prospects for a supplemental appropriations bill to formalize his budget maneuvering to pay for his November decision to spend another $160 million on the problem. The General Assembly returns next week for a few days, so does a supplemental need to be passed right away?…

It does not need to happen right away. But suffice to say I’ve brought this up to leaders, they haven’t wanted to bring it up yet. I do think it’s going to be important for you to deal with the costs here that are rising all the time, or at least the toll is rising, and we’re all working together to try to meet the demand.

…Adding… Press release…

A new State-supported shelter is beginning to serve asylum seekers in Chicago today. The location is the site of a former CVS in the Little Village neighborhood. The shelter will be part of the City of Chicago’s existing asylum seeker shelter system and will house approximately 220 people as they transition to independent living.

The shelter development is part of Governor JB Pritzker’s investment of an additional $160 million, via the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis presented by the arrival of over 34,000 asylum seekers from the U.S. southern border.

The State saw an uptick of new arrivals over the holidays and created a temporary shelter at a Chicago hotel. Those new arrivals are now transitioning to the shelter in Little Village.

With the cold weather and continued arrival of asylum seekers, the State is committed to partnering with the City of Chicago to take the necessary actions to keep people safe and help them on their path to self-sufficiency.

“This new location will offer dignity and respite to asylum seekers who have travelled thousands of miles to find safety,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I’m grateful to IDHS and New Life Centers for getting this site operational and for the wrap-around services they will be providing to help migrants achieve independence.”

Available beds at the Little Village shelter will be prioritized for families and individuals with disabilities. The site will offer sleeping spaces as well as meals, hygiene facilities, and wrap-around services.

Along with IDHS and its partners, New Life Centers is supporting community-care services including conflict resolution, onsite communications, community engagement, and connection with local resources.

“A large part of meeting our new arrivals with dignity involves meeting them where they are at – and that involves a variety of supports. Traveling great distances and overcoming adversity to make it to the U.S. often involves trauma, which can be detrimental to mental and physical well-being,” said Matt DeMateo, Executive Director, New Life Centers of Chicagoland. “We are grateful to continue to partner with the State to address these emergent needs.”

* More stories from Isabel…

* The Record | Highland Park organizations unite for care-package program to support migrants. Here’s how to help: The City of Highland Park has teamed with the local rotary club, park district and nonprofit SaLT to build “Take Care” packages for migrants arriving to Chicagoland. The organizations are asking residents to drop off donations at any of a number of locations in Highland Park. From there, SaLT volunteers will package the items into care packages and distribute them to migrants who arrive in Chicago or to the migrant intake center in Chicago.

* CBS Chicago | Advocacy group’s mission to help Chicago migrants starts in storage unit across from Greyhound stop: One group isn’t waiting for a plan from the government. They’re helping on their own, and it starts in a storage unit across the street from the Greyhound bus stop in downtown Chicago. Among aisles and aisles of locked doors, something waits behind each of the steel gates inside; stacks of bottled water, bins of snacks, racks of clothing and shoes, and other donations for newly arrived migrants.

* Patch | Deerfield To Consider Migrant Bus Ordinance At Next Meeting: Mayor: In a Monday message to the community, Shapiro said the Deerfield Village Board will consider an ordinance at its Jan. 16 meeting that would potentially place regulations on any buses that leave people in Deerfield unannounced. The meeting, which has been moved to Tuesday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day the previous day, will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Village Hall, 850 Waukegan Road.

* NCR | Church must remain steadfast in its advocacy for migrants, El Paso bishop says: Seitz, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, told OSV News that he is “certainly concerned right now about the negotiations that are going on and what is likely to result from them.” He said one of his concerns is that no legislators from the border region appear to be directly involved in the negotiations. “The church’s concern is always with the human person,” he said. “It’s always with the person who is vulnerable and in need.”