Money Management by Low-Income Households: Earning, Spending, Saving, and Accessing Financial Services

Opening and maintaining a checking or savings account at a credit union or bank are crucial steps for establishing the kinds of relationships with financial institutions that lead to qualifying for credit and developing assets. An estimated 22.2 million households or 56 million adults in the U.S. did not have a bank account in 2002. The lack of a bank account is more pervasive among low -income families than higher income families: 83% of families without bank accounts earn less than $25,000 per year. Furthermore, as many as 22$25,000 -- do not have a checking or savings account. Families in the lowest income group are even less likely to have accounts. An estimated 29.1% of families with incomes in the lowest twentieth percentile ($10,300 or less) are without accounts, which is more than three times the median of 9.1$25,000 had bank accounts in 2001, 53.4% of this income group reported having saved in the previous year. For households in the lowest income quintile ($10,300 or less), the savings rate is 30.0%. Furthermore, the reasons for saving differ among income levels, with families at lower income levels saving for more immediate expenditures such as rent and holiday gifts, compared with the longer timeframe of savings by higher income groups for future expenditures such as children's education and retirement

The Costs and Benefits of School Health Centers: A Fact Sheet Prepared for the Illinois Coalition for School Health

This fact sheet describes the costs and estimates the benefits to the state of Illinois that accrue from thirty-eight School Health Centers that receive partial funding from the Illinois Department of Human Services. The study focuses on benefits from reduced asthma hospitalizations, reduced emergency room visits, and increased immunizations provided for Illinois school-age children

Help to Keep Going as Long as They Need Me: A Report on Seniors Raising Children

This report presents the data from CIR's 2005 survey of 182 Senior Caregivers of DCFS wards, examining the challenges confronting these grandparents and other senior adults as they are increasingly called upon to raise their kin. The findings of this report will assist policy makers and community-based organizations to provide better services, better advocate for their needs of these populations and create better policies and legislating