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"Bob Kincaid, co-founder of the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Get Veterans Involved (GVI), has found that it's possible to kill two birds with one stone. His nonprofit helps two groups veterans who struggle when they return from service, and elementary school kids in need of mentors at the same time. How is that possible? While veterans train for new jobs or attend college, the organization pays them to visit local elementary schools each week."

"The money will go toward the program's weekly "Stepping Stones" class, which provides educational experiences for children from low-income families with little or no access to prekindergarten opportunities. The grant will also support the scholarship fund which allows these children to take general PRC classes. These classes include music, arts and crafts, science, sports and preschool classes."

"A Chelsea-based retirement senior living and service group is bringing nursing-home level care to elderly residents in Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale counties. United Methodist Retirement Communities Inc. announced Wednesday, Jan. 7, plans to create the Cascade Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)."

"The Obama administration recently released a draft framework to help students assess the affordability of colleges and their accessibility to low-income students based, in part, by the number of Pell Grant recipients the institution enrolls. This comes one month after The Morning Call published a story about area colleges and their commitment to access based on Pell Grant eligibility of students."

"Michigan's poorest college students are bearing the brunt of cost increases at some state public universities, decreasing the chances Michigan's most vulnerable students will earn degrees. Over a recent four-year period, six of the state's 15 public universities increased the net cost of attendance for their poorest students those from families earning less than $30,000 a year more than for their wealthier classmates."

"Wealthy individuals and corporations have an opportunity to do good this year while they do well, thanks to a new and little-known tax break. Two laws by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Len provide College Access Tax Credits for contributions to the popular Cal Grants program that helps low-income students. These new tax credits are reserved for contributions to so-called Cal Grant B awards that help pay for books, housing and transportation while students attend community colleges or four-year schools. Contributors in turn can use the credits to reduce their state and federal income tax bills."

"Though the Wichita school district has about 10 percent of the state's public school students, it has nearly a quarter of the state's homeless students. And the number of those students in USD 259 and the state has been soaring. Meanwhile, Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP legislative leaders are hoping to circumvent a court order to increase state funding for K-12 schools."

"These interventions could send a significant number of low-income, high ability students to the nation's top colleges, they find. At the same time, their study found that many of the undermatched students have incorrect images of liberal arts colleges and, to some extent, flagship universities, that may deter them from enrolling at these institutions."

"News about the present and future of American K-12 education continues to be discouraging. But a series of effective out-of-school programs is creating a glimmer of hope. If we focus on these, thousands of children can be salvaged from a broken system."

"The challenges of navigating the winter months as a low-income senior are immense. For 6.3 million older adults in the United States, wintertime stretches the term "fixed income" into a reality of fixed poverty. For increasing numbers of seniors who face the multifaceted vulnerabilities of poverty even during the sunniest of days, the winter can cost more than many can afford."

"When it comes to learning to read, educators agree: the younger, the better. Children can be exposed to books even before they can talk, but for that a family has to have books, which isn't always the case. There are neighborhoods in this country with plenty of books; and then there are neighborhoods where books are harder to find. Almost 15 years ago, Susan Neuman, now a professor at New York University, focused on that discrepancy, in a study that looked at just how many books were available in Philadelphia's low-income neighborhoods. The results were startling."