2009 Report on Illinois Poverty

In 2009, a family of four that is poor by the federal government's definition has an annual income below $22,050. A family that is extremely poor has an income less than half the poverty line for their family size -- under$11,025 for a family of four. As discussions continue on the best way to help the nation weather and emerge from the recession, the focus must be on meaningful policy changes that truly lift all boats and make us collectively a much stronger nation. If solutions do not specifically address the needs of those whose lives and hardships are reflected in this report, millions will be left behind, and we will all be left weaker and more vulnerable

2009 Report on Chicago Region Poverty

In 2009, a family of four that is poor by the federal government's definition has an annual income below $22,050. A family that is extremely poor has an income less than half the poverty line for their family size -- under$11,025 for a family of four. As discussions continue on the best way to help the nation weather and emerge from the recession, the focus must be on meaningful policy changes that truly lift all boats and make us collectively a much stronger nation. If solutions do not specifically address the needs of those whose lives and hardships are reflected in this report, millions will be left behind, and we will all be left weaker and more vulnerable

2010 Report on Illinois Poverty

This 2010 report caps a decade of Heartland Alliance's annual reports on poverty. The project was initiated at a time when economic prosperity seemed widespread and the future outlook was infused with optimism. The goal with these reports at that time was simple: to serve as a caution that the rising tide of prosperity in the late 1990s had not lifted all boats and that many in our communities were being left behind.Today the situation is very different. The Great Recession has crumbled economic stability for millions of families in the form of massive job loss, cut backs in hours, the elimination of work benefits, skyrocketing foreclosures and bankruptcies, and the eroding value of retirement investments.The implications of massive service cuts to those experiencing poverty -- many of whom rely on state-funded services in their communities literally for survival, particularly those in extreme poverty -- will be nothing short of devastating. Without leadership to enact a responsible budget, Illinois can expect to see deepening hardship and further entrenchment of social problems

DuPage County, Illinois, Plan to End Homelessness: Progress at the Five-Year Mark and a Blueprint for Moving Forward

The DuPage County Homeless Continuum of Care (CoC) was an early leader nationally and locally in the development and implementation of its 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in 2003. In October 2007, the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty was hired to conduct the evaluation and to facilitate a planning process to inform the update of the Plan.This report documents the tremendous successes of the past five years, outlines the process by which stakeholders were re-energized and re-engaged, and establishes a new blueprint for success for the coming five years. The DuPage County CoC is proceeding from this point even more committed to collaboration and success in ending homelessness in DuPage County

Data Matters: How Cool Are Seniors in Your Neighborhood?

Temperatures in Chicago can reach dangerous levels in the summertime. The Social IMPACT Research Center took a look at the availability of public cooling centers in relation to senior poverty rates throughout the city, to examine what the options are for poor seniors who may be more susceptible to the negative effects of severe heat

Ramifications of State Budget Cuts to Human Services: Increases Jobs Loss, Decreases Economic Activity, Harms Vulnerable Populations

As Illinois struggles to recover from the worst recession in two generations, job growth and increased economic activity are of paramount concern to voters and lawmakers alike. The recent data make a clear and compelling case that cutting expenditures on human services in this environment would be counterproductive. It would be far better for state government to maintain human srvices spending and gain the positive effects on the Illinois economy

Life After Youth Media: Insights about Program Influence into Adulthood

* Do the skills, attitudes, and behaviors imparted in youth programs "stick" into adulthood?* If they do, how do they manifest in career, education, and life decisions?* How do the skills, attitudes, and behaviors that youth programs try to impart differ based on program intensity or levels of engagement?* Do these elements look different for people who went through youth media programs versus people who went through other types of youth programs?These are common questions that youth program providers, funders, public officials, and other leading thinkers regularly wrestle with. This report tells the story of a group in Chicago committed to providing quality youth media programming in the city and how, through a collective evaluation, they were able to begin to answer these critical questions

McHenry County: A Place to Call Home, A Call to Action

The Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty conducted an assessment of the need for and the supply of affordable housing in McHenry County, Illinois. The study found that there is a serious lack of housing in McHenry County that falls in the price range of low and even middle-income families. The need is particularly salient for households with annual incomes below $35,000 and for people with special housing support needs

Need for Human Services in Illinois

This report aims to support the Illinois Human Services Commission in its effort to fulfill its charge to "undertake a systematic review of human services programs with the goal of ensuring their consistent delivery in the State of Illinois" and to "make recommendations for achieving a system that will provide for the efficient and effective delivery of high quality human service" by outlining basic population and demographic trends that impact human services and by diving deeper into seven human services categories to identify who is in need of services and how current realities and trends may impact the level and type of need going forward. The seven categories of human services were chosen based on their diversity, vulnerability in the state budget, and their potential to be impacted by emerging and likely trends. **More than simply a compendium of data on need, this report demonstrates how relatively simple data can inform program and policy decisions, which are far too often made in information voids. With Illinois human services plagued by increasingly scarce resources, cutbacks in services, and program closures in the last few years, such data-driven decision making is more critical than ever. To that end, the report concludes with a detailed account of how all need estimates in the report were developed and practical recommendations for how the state can incorporate this type of analysis into regular planning

Running on Empty: Nutritional Access for Children in Cook County, IL, Executive Summary

In an effort to make informed program expansion and improvement decisions, the Greater Chicago Food Depository commissioned the Social IMPACT Research Center of Heartland Alliance to conduct a study of child nutrition program coverage and child nutrition and hunger in Cook County, Illinois. ** This study examined the geographic coverage of child nutrition programs to identify areas that have the greatest number of unserved children and have the worst program coverage. The study also took an in-depth look at the nutritional lives of children attending summer nutrition programs. Insights in these two areas are vital to helping organizations like the Greater Chicago Food Depository make sound programmatic and expansion decisions that will best meet the nutritional and hunger needs of Cook County's most vulnerable children