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"The Promise Neighborhood project already has received a $300,000 federal grant to start a neighborhood improvement plan, and organizers hope to capture a $30 million grant this year. If they do, the money will be used to bring together more than 20 service providers and government agencies to help the area's 2,000 children with more learning opportunities before kindergarten and outside of school. The Promise Neighborhood, one of the city's most distressed areas, is a 15-square-mile area in East Nashville where at least 68 percent of the children live in poverty."

"Teachers and education technicians, after-school enrichment programs, preschool for low-income children and vocational training for people with disabilities -- all are at risk if Congress and the White House can't agree on taxes and spending."

"Kids who came from families with a high standard of living populated the college prep, honors or Advanced Placement classes. Those who came from families considered low income were in the low-level classes that weren't preparing them for college. How could that be? It seemed statistically impossible that every single kid, because he or she came from a family without money, was intellectually deficient."

"Executive director Roberta Lamont said the role of a Family Partnership mentor is dual -- to be aware of available resources and options while serving as a support, sounding board and encouraging friend to the client. Our job is not to solve problems or fix their lives,' she said. The big piece is the relational match. Poverty can be very isolating. Someone may want to go on to college but be fearful of the unknown.'"

"The number of Central Florida students like Elian who are considered homeless has risen for a fifth straight year. Last school year, thousands more children were found living in hotels or shelters or crammed into homes with other families or neighbors, according to new data from the Department of Education."

"Since then, Lester has sought to use more effective and innovative methods to teach students in regions affected by violence, poverty and other problems. Now, students at the Richland campus and throughout the WSU system are applying those lessons in the Northwest with students whose hardships have inhibited their education."

"Of the 410 students on Para Los Ninos' elementary campus, 99% are Latino and 96% hail from low-income families. More than two-thirds of the students are not fluent in English. But the school is proving that demographics are not destiny. Its test scores are on par with many suburban public schools. And its curriculum relies on the sort of child-centered approach favored by progressive private schools with five-figure tuition."

"The Health Alliance used its grant to spearhead an initiative to convert medical records from paper to more efficient electronic versions at the Geneseo Parish Outreach Center, which provides health care to low-income residents in the area."

"Glenda then heard of Journeys of Hope. Based in Salem, the nonprofit is filling the gap by serving homeless, and those at-risk of becoming homeless, between ages 18 and 23. Glenda was sharing her story during an assembly at Beverly High School, organized by five members of Distributive Education Club of America, a network that helps prepare students in high schools and colleges to become leaders in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. The Beverly group has chosen Journeys of Hope as its community service project."

"Seniors are now the most financially comfortable people in the United States, with the steadiest cash flow and the lowest poverty rates. Meanwhile, child poverty is deepening and adults under 65 are the poorest they've been in about 50 years."

"Funding for special needs and poor students appears to be most in jeopardy if the nation plunges over the so-called fiscal cliff' - a mix of draconian spending cuts and tax hikes that experts say could push the economy back into a recession."

"Too many of America's children aren't worried about the cost of higher education because they can't even imagine attending college in the first place. To improve educational access, students from low-income communities need the same mentoring, leadership opportunities, and support through the college application process as their higher-income peers. Strategic partnerships between K-12 schools and local colleges are a key part of this exposure."