• State not paying bills: Social services in doubt, By Andre Salles, November 18, 2009, Geneva Sun: “Every day, Cindy Worsley looks through her mail, hunting for a check from the state of Illinois. And every day, she comes up empty. Worsley is the executive director of Fox Valley Older Adult Services. The not-for-profit company, based in Sandwich, has been providing help and care to seniors in the Fox Valley for 37 years. It operates three adult day care sites — one in Aurora (called Rachel’s Place), one in Sandwich, and one in DeKalb — and provides in-home care, meals and transportation services to more than 200 seniors each day. But now, Worsley is preparing for the worst. The services she provides are dependent on state funding to continue, and those payments are months late. She did receive a check from the state about six weeks ago, she said, which paid the state’s obligations through June. But she’s essentially been operating since July with no state cash at all, and she’s owed about $140,000…”
• Budget cuts will imperil state’s poor, By David Abel, November 17, 2009, Boston Globe: “Maria Bonilla - who has trouble walking because of a congenital heart defect - feeds, houses, and clothes her two young children with $942 of state and federal cash assistance every month, though it barely covers her rent, utilities, and everything else her family needs to survive, from diapers to subway fare. But in a few months the 27-year-old victim of domestic violence expects to be homeless. The Bonilla family is one of thousands of low-income families who will suffer from steep budget cuts. The state estimates that the children of 9,100 families with parents so severely disabled that they qualify for federal Supplemental Security Income benefits will lose their state cash assistance as a result of the $600 million in budget cuts that Governor Deval Patrick announced late last month. The $15.8 million reduction of the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, on top of $8 million in cuts made earlier this fiscal year, means families who receive the assistance will lose an average of more than $400 a month…”

Program based on Harlem initiative shows promise, By Cassandra West, November 4, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton famously drew on an African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ to explain her vision for American children more than decade ago. Now the Obama administration is looking to another village — local urban communities — to serve the educational and social needs of children in poverty with its Promise Neighborhoods, an initiative modeled on the transformative and widely touted Harlem Children’s Zone. For two days next week representatives from the Chicago communities of Chicago Lawn, Logan Square and Woodlawn will be in New York attending the conference, ‘Changing the Odds: Learning from the Harlem Children’s Zone Model.’ The forum is a first step for advocates and community groups interested in replicating the New York City-based endeavor, which President Barack Obama has called ‘an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck anti-poverty effort…’”

Illinois school test scores: Income-based gap proves hard to close, By Tara Malone and Darnell Little, October 30, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Surrounded by sports fields and suburban lawns, Hadley Junior High School could be the envy of the state. Nine of every 10 students at the Glen Ellyn school passed state exams in reading and math, according to the 2009 Illinois School Report Card made public Friday. But average scores belie a widespread problem the federal government has spent billions trying to fix nationwide: While at least 95 percent of Hadley’s well-off students passed the eighth-grade reading and math tests, about half of their low-income classmates met the same goals, revealing an achievement gap that is as persistent as it is pernicious. Seven years after the federal No Child Left Behind Law ambitiously pledged to eliminate such disparities and invested nearly $6.2 billion in Illinois schools alone, the progress has been modest and isolated. While the performance gap between advantaged and disadvantaged grade school children narrowed in Illinois since 2002 — in math, the margin shrunk by at least 13 percentage points in third, fifth and eighth grades — the divide among high school juniors actually widened slightly in math and reading…”

• D.C. weighs welfare cut as budget gap looms, By Henri E. Cauvin, July 26, 2009, Washington Post: “The Fenty administration wants to save several million dollars by cutting back on welfare benefits for people who are not working or using the city’s help to find a job.  The monthly benefit, which for a family of three is $428, would be cut in half for any recipient deemed employable who does not meet the work requirement for six months. If the recipient were to go another six months without complying, the District would be prepared to cut off benefits altogether, the city’s human services director told advocates for the poor last week…”
• State budget cuts leave safety net strained, By Ray Long, July 26, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “Illinois might have a working budget in place, but there is a broader story behind the numbers: Real people are hurting.  If they have not lost care, they worry the thin reed of stability provided by non-profit, community-based organizations will disappear without state support. Cuts at social service agencies are tearing holes into safety nets for the state’s most vulnerable residents…”
• Parenting programs take big hit from budget cuts, By Dean Olsen, July 18, 2009, State Journal Register: “Hoping to become a cosmetologist someday, Theresa Mercado says she has drawn inspiration from fellow single mothers in a support group that met weekly at the Family Service Center of Sangamon County…”

• Minimum wage increase a mixed bag, By Tony Manthey, July 12, 2009, Arkansas Democrat Gazette: “Some companies will see their expenses rise and many workers will see bigger paychecks when the federal minimum wage increases 70 cents, to $7.25 from $6.55 an hour on July 24. The increase - about $112 a month for 40-hour work weeks - is coming during a long and deep national recession…”
• Winners and losers of the minimum wage hike, By Lisa Scherzer, July 10, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Millions of American workers are about to get a federally-mandated raise, but the recession has left many wondering if and how the economy will benefit. The raise, which will go into effect on July 24, represents the final wage hike in a three-step boost to the federal minimum wage increase passed by Congress two years ago. The minimum wage will rise 70 cents — or about 11% — to $7.25 per hour from $6.55…”
• Minimum wage goes up, By Erin Calandriello and Steven Ross Johnson, July 14, 2009, Elgin Courier News: “As the nation attempts to work its way out of the worst economic recession in decades, local employers say they are concerned over how a mandated increase in the state’s minimum wage will affect their own prospects for recovery.  The state’s minimum wage went up by 25 cents on July 1, to $8 an hour. It was the third of four such planned raises signed into law in 2006 by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich that eventually will boost the pay rate to $8.25 by July 1, 2010…”

• Federal wage hike set for this month, By Ry Rivard, July 1, 2009, Charleston Daily Mail: “About 26,000 West Virginians will find a bit more comfort in their paychecks later this month when the federal minimum goes up by 70 cents an hour…”
• Minimum wage in Illinois raised to $8 an hour, July 1, 2009, Belleville News-Democrat: “Despite the current recession, a lot of workers in Illinois are getting a raise Wednesday.  The state’s minimum wage has increased by 25 cents an hour…”