Illinois
Many challenges ahead as Illinois unifies early childhood programs, report finds
Parents of young children in Illinois often find themselves navigating a complex, fragmented system as they try to get quality day care, preschool or services for babies and toddlers with developmental delays.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker created a state agency to untangle this mess. But a new report shows that won’t be easy given the depths of the problems in the early childhood system and the obstacles to improving it.
Come July, the new Illinois Department of Early Childhood will be fully responsible for the state programs that offer home visiting, early intervention, subsidized day care and preschool. It will also license and provide quality ratings for early learning programs. Prior to the agency’s creation, these programs and services, as well as the grants that pay for them, were handled by three different state agencies.
Teresa Ramos, the secretary of the new agency, said that by unifying all these services under one umbrella, “Illinois will be better positioned to address the complex challenges facing Illinois’ early childhood ecosystem.”
The report lays out the state of the early childhood system so the new agency can measure progress, said Lily Padula, a policy and research associate at The Civic Federation who authored the report.
Families found it challenging to navigate their early learning options across three state agencies, Padula said. For example, some parents had to fill out duplicate forms. And several different government agencies and organizations — some local, some statewide — monitor quality, making it hard to get an overall picture of where quality programs exist.
She also points to broader issues that the agency will have to contend with. One of the biggest: Quality day care and preschool programs are not equally distributed across the state. According to the report, almost three-quarters of Illinois counties are child care deserts with no licensed providers. In 2023, licensed providers could only serve a third of children 5 and under, the report said.
The lack of providers can be at least partly attributed to this fact: Early child care providers and their staff are not well-paid. That contributes to turnover. Workers typically do not want to spend money and time getting more education for low-paid jobs, and often leave the industry after just a few years.
Padula said the state has increased the amount of money it is putting into early childhood programs by 40% over the past five years, but there’s still a significant gap between how much government funding child care providers get and the true cost of providing quality child care.
Ramos said states across the country are struggling with many of these same issues around access and workforce shortages. She points out that even as Illinois has increased funding for early childhood programs, the Trump administration is threatening to make child care less affordable. As recently as Friday, a court prevented the federal government from withholding child care subsidies from Illinois and five other states.
Many child care operators run on tight margins and some fear they could go out of business. Pandemic-relief money that helped them offset operational costs is gone, and many rely on the child care subsidies the Trump administration is targeting.
That’s on top of the “complex and overlapping funding streams” that child care providers often have to piece together, according to the report.
The agency also is charged with improving home visiting and early intervention services, which sends therapists and workers to help babies and toddlers with developmental delays.
But there are significant delays in getting children services, particularly in rural areas. White children are far more likely than children of color to have their needs identified and addressed.
Padula said the creation of the new agency should help officials focus on and tackle the many problems in the early childhood system, but “the challenges are real and progress takes time.”
Getting more young children access to better programs and services is essential, she said. When children don’t have access to early childhood programs, it affects their school trajectory. Currently, less than a third of children show up for kindergarten ready in all areas, according to the state’s assessment — a percentage that has been increasing but still is relatively low.
“These kids… are substantially less likely to meet academic standards in the future, and you can see those disparities between race, income, English Language Learner status, disability and geography across the state,” Padula said. “Being able to increase access to services can help kids become ready for kindergarten and increase future academic success.”
Illinois
PPP Loan Scandal Busts Joliet Woman Working For Illinois Department Of Corrections: AG Kwame Raoul Reveals
JOLIET, IL —Attorney General Kwame Raoul issued a press release on Monday is alleging a Will County woman fraudulently received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for more than $20,000 while employed by the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The Attorney General’s office charged Jamilah Franklin, 48, of Joliet, with one count of loan fraud of more than $10,000, a Class 2 felony punishable by up to seven years in prison; and three counts of forgery, Class 3 felonies punishable by up to five years in prison. Sentences are ultimately determined by the court. Franklin’s first court appearance is June 18.
“Federal assistance programs served as a lifeline for small businesses and unemployed Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is unacceptable that government employees would abuse that vital support,” Raoul said. “I will continue to collaborate with other agencies to hold public workers accountable for abusing these programs.”
Attorney General Raoul’s office alleges Franklin was employed by the DOC as a lieutenant when she fraudulently applied for a PPP loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration by falsely claiming she owned a business. According to Raoul’s office, Franklin received $20,516 in 2021 as a result.
The Attorney General’s office is prosecuting this case based on a referral by the Office of Executive Inspector General and following an investigation by the Illinois State Police Division of Internal Investigation.
“The Illinois State Police pursues any state employee committing criminal behavior and will continue to work with Attorney General Raoul’s office to hold employees accountable and ensure justice,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly.
Raoul’s office has prosecuted dozens of individuals for PPP loan fraud and referred other investigations to the appropriate state’s attorneys for further evaluation.
Deputy Chief Jonas Harger is prosecuting the case for Raoul’s Public Integrity Bureau.
Illinois
Thousands of birds could migrate over the Chicago area this week, and here’s how to protect them
Thousands upon thousands of birds are expected to cross over Illinois as part of their spring migrations in coming days.
Thursday night saw the highest migration totals of the season so far, but researchers at Cornell believe that Sunday and Monday nights could see even more avian traffic in the skies over the Chicago area, with hundreds of thousands of birds expected to traverse the area.
According to estimates from Birdcast, Sunday night and into Monday morning there could be “medium” activity for migrating birds, with thousands of birds per kilometer flying over the area.
Even more birds are expected to take flight Monday night and into Tuesday morning thanks to favorable weather conditions, with a “high” number of birds expected to take to the skies over the Chicago area.
According to estimates, up to 383 million birds could be in flight over the central United States during the peak of the migration overnight.
On Thursday night the Chicago area experienced its busiest night of the spring migration season so far, with more than 367,000 birds having been estimated to have passed over Cook County alone.
In all, more than 23,000,000 birds are believed to have crossed the state of Illinois so far during the spring migration.
Among the primary birds expected to be flying through the area are American Redstarts, Magnolia Warblers, Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings, according to researchers at the CornellLab.
As millions of birds continue visiting the Chicago area, here are some steps that residents can take to keep them safe.
When do birds typically migrate?
Peak migration for birds over the state of Illinois occurs in mid-to-late May, with hundreds of different species heading north for the summer breeding season.
Those migration flights for songbirds and other species typically take place in the overnight hours. According to experts, birds typically take flight 30-to-45 minutes after sunset, with the greatest number of birds in flight typically seen approximately two-to-three hours later.
When should residents turn lights off?
One of the best ways to help protect birds is to turn off lights during peak migration times.
According to Birdcast, the best time to turn off or dim exterior lights and interior lights is between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., when most birds are active.
Bright lights can disorient and attract birds, making them vulnerable to collisions and to predators on the ground, according to the website.
Hundreds of millions of birds are killed each year in collisions with buildings, and residents and businesses are being asked to do their part to keep the creatures safe.
In addition to turning off unneeded exterior lights, residents and businesses are also asked to dim or turn off lights in lobbies, and to draw blinds to help keep light from escaping through windows.
Finally, exterior lights should be aimed downward and be well-shielded so that birds aren’t attracted to them.
Are there other steps?
Another key step in protecting birds is to bring pet cats inside during overnight hours.
According to the American Bird Conservancy, cats kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds in the United States every year, and during migration season those impacts can be even more devastating, as exhausted birds typically seek refuge in plants and trees to rest on their journeys, making them vulnerable to attack.
Since cats like to hunt at night, active migrating birds can be a target, leading to experts asking residents to keep animals inside when possible.
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