Illinois

"School districts reap rewards for enrolling as many students as possible in the lunch program, in part because those numbers help determine funding tied to poverty levels"

"Jarvis, like thousands of other students in Chicago Public Schools, is homeless. He is just one of more than 10,660 students who were homeless at the beginning of the school year. That's 1,466 more than at the same point in the previous school year, according to a CPS tally."

"The biggest issues, advocates say, are Medicaid reimbursement rates in Illinois that are among the lowest in the country for specialized care and administrative hassles that go along with treating low-income patients. Dentists say they can't make ends meet."

"But as a low-income renter, Carter has limited options. And as a gay black man, he's concerned his choice of senior living facilities might be narrowed further by the possibility of intolerant residents or staff members."

"States also are required to offer recognition or even financial rewards for schools that largely serve low-income students and show the most improvement. States also must adopt the learning standards to judge whether students are ready for college and put in place teacher and principal evaluation systems that measure educators, in part, on the academic progress of their students -- both steps that Illinois has taken."

"The City Colleges of Chicago will announce Monday that it is partnering with private industry and academic institutions to provide mentors, train faculty and develop curricula to help prepare its students for jobs in aviation, hospitality, health care and information technology and other industries that are in need of job candidates."