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"This past school year, 327 students in the Houston County school system were identified as homeless. There are degrees of homelessness, said Jennifer Birdsong, the system's director of federal programs."

"And while poor diet is often a choice that bacon-and-cheese shrouded megaburger is just too tempting it often is imposed by poverty. Low-income folks may turn to unhealthy food because it is cheaper, or because healthier fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, aren't readily available in the "food deserts" in which they may live."

"On average, 48 percent of parents nationwide reported reading to their children every day, according to the 2011-12 National Survey of Children's Health. Among families living below the poverty line, only 34 percent read to their children daily. Higher-income families, who earned at least 400 percent of the federal poverty threshold, did somewhat better: Sixty percent read daily to their youngsters."

"Thousands more students could be eating school lunch completely free starting next fall, thanks to a 4-year-old federal program that is finally expanding to all 50 states."

"A commission on social services and poverty issues Monday urged Suffolk County and New York State to boost funding for child care and pre-K programs for low-income children."

"Some of the neediest children in the U.S. Virgin Islands are not being put at the top of the list to qualify for the territory's Head Start program, a new report said."

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture's head of nutrition programs says a program that offers free lunch to students throughout entire schools or districts that could be coming soon to Topeka has worked well in other school districts with large percentages of low-income students."

"The report finds pronounced differences between colleges that energetically recruit low-income and working-class students -- able kids eligible for the federal Pell grant program -- and those that do not."

"State officials said this week that restoration of cuts to a program that helps pay child care for poor parents won't begin until Aug. 15, more than a month after it was originally planned."

"The program, which started in 1999, is designed to feed low-income children throughout the city during the summer months when they're not in school, said Kathy Walker, food director for the Green Bay Area School District. This year's program started Monday in many area locations."

"Life as a homeless college student eventually took its toll. Burned out and still broke after a few semesters, Menday dropped out of Minneapolis Community & Technical College in 2012. He does odd jobs now, hoping to earn enough to stabilize his life and finish his education."

"Despite an economy that is starting to turn around, the number of children living in poverty in Nevada is slightly above the national average, according to an annual analysis of children's well-being released Wednesday."