Low-income students who drop out—or are pushed out—of school without a high school diploma face long odds in their search for a path to a successful and stable adult life. In Birmingham, Ala., a former public school teacher is waging a fierce campaign to give such students a second chance. Gin Phillips reports on the World of Opportunity School.

Child poverty is changing, as more low-income parents enter the workforce yet remain impoverished. The Urban Institute has a team of researchers investigating why work is no longer a ticket out of poverty, what that means for kids, and what kinds of programs might help. UI's Gregory Acs, a senior research associate in the Income and Benefits Policy Center, offers this overview.

The Northwest Area Foundation will sponsor the 2006 Grassroots & Groundwork Conference to examine what communities are doing to get out of and stay our of poverty.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) hosts Score More: Championing our Youth in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families (GCYF) are holding an important meeting at the Skillman Foundation in Detroit, Michigan, to learn how addressing poverty can strengthen philanthropy’s response to the needs of vulnerable working families.

College students (and their parents) need to brace themselves: interest rates on federally-subsidized student loans will go up dramatically this summer. Student aid has also been cut. Connect for Kids' Martha Pitts spoke to David Smith of Mobilize.org about the changes, and about the Mobilize.org campaign to raise awareness.

Voters feel Congress is out of touch when it comes to funding education—that's according to a new national poll from the National School Boards Association (NSBA). Of 1,200 respondents, 74 percent said Congress does not do a good job of setting priorities for the federal budget and spending—and needs to change these priorities. A majority (59 percent) said they'd be less likely to vote for a member of Congress who voted against funding No Child Left Behind and Special Education programs to their "authorized and promised levels." Voters aligned with both parties supported restoring this funding.

As of March 2006, an average of 18 million U.S. families a year face out-of-pocket medical care costs that strain their budgets (and qualified as "high" relative to their income). These families are more likely than others to have trouble getting needed care and paying for it. The share of families struggling under the burden of these costs is up from 1996—and according to this Commonwealth Fund report, more families are likely to spend a larger share of their budgets on health care in the coming years.

We like to think to that all kids, no matter their race or their family income, have a fair chance at getting ahead. Natasha Santos, one of the young writers at Youth Communication in New York City, doesn’t buy that. Santos has a lot to say -- about her anger at being one of the have-nots, and how meeting with some middle-class suburban teens helped. This story is reprinted with permission from Youth Communication.

Predatory mortgage lending in the sub-prime market (for those with bad or no credit, who cannot qualify for prime interest rate loans) is a serious problem for low- and moderate-income families. Twenty-eight states have passed comprehensive reforms or enacted regulations to curb specific predatory practices. This report from the Center for Responsible Lending study finds that state reforms not only cut down on abusive practices, but also increase access to loans for people who need it most.