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"Sauk Rapids-Rice has boosted its efforts by working more closely with city and county organizations as well as programs geared toward assisting homeless families. We've really made an effort to increase our awareness of that population,' Bittman said."

"Not only is our education system being starved of investment, but many of our children are literally too hungry to learn. A survey of kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers released this week by Share Our Strength, a nonprofit that seeks to end child hunger, found that 6 in 10 of those teachers say students regularly come to school hungry because they are not getting enough to eat at home,' and a majority of teachers who see hunger as a problem believe that the problem is growing.'"

"Virginia's new policy is anything but subtle. For example, under the new rules, schools are expected to have 78 percent of white students and 89 percent of Asian students passing Virginia's Standards of Learning math tests but just 57 percent of black students, 65 percent of Hispanic students and 59 percent of low-income students."

"More than half of Colorado teachers dip into their own pockets to buy food for hungry students, and about one-third spend up to $50 a month, according to a survey released Thursday by a nonprofit group seeking to end childhood hunger. Share Our Strength, which has launched the No Kid Hungry campaign, rolled out a national report Thursday that shows about 60 percent of teachers report kids in their classroom regularly' come to school hungry -- a figure that matches Colorado's result."

"Board members of Hillsborough's leading children's agency signed off on a $20.4 million plan that for the first time requires local nonprofits to compete for contracts to provide such services as mentoring for pregnant teens and education for low-income migrant families."

"Schenectady County Community College's Health Profession Opportunity Grant program [] provides education to low-income residents. The program was funded through a $11.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SCCC was one of just four institutions in New York state and 32 in the nation to receive the job-training funds."

"They, and hundreds of students like them all over Oregon, attend college with financial backing and advising from the Ford Family Foundation. The Roseburg-based charity was created by a southern Oregon lumberman a lot like them: scrappy, smart and determined to do good for others. Since 1994, the foundation started by Kenneth Ford and his wife, Hallie, has quietly helped nearly 2,000 young Oregonians with the grit and brains to succeed."

"Roughly 100 United Way volunteers will join Texas Instruments chairman, president and CEO Rich Templeton Saturday in handing out free school supplies to pre-selected students from low-income, diverse areas of Dallas."

"The partnership between SBISD, KIPP and YES Prep, known as SKY, was conceived to offer students choices, to use district campuses with low populations and to reach low-income students. Students could apply through the lottery for the schools regardless of family income. Both schools have longer school days and more days of instruction, key components of KIPP and YES Prep, created to offer a rigorous alternative with an emphasis on going to college to low-income and underserved kids."

"Some people enter the system with greater barriers to wellness than others. Similarly, some children start their academic journey with significant barriers to success like poverty, poor nutrition, housing instability and limited access to early literacy and enrichment experiences. Those children will need more from our school system and our community to avoid dropping out."

"Any effort to help children pull themselves out of poverty through education would have a way, these days, to improve their access to the Internet, and a Nashville neighborhood has a cutting-edge idea for how to do it. A new proposal would put high-speed Internet connections and Web-surfing devices into 1,200 poor households in East Nashville at no cost to families."

"A school supply giveaway in danger of an incomplete' grade was bolstered by Bay Area News Group readers who came to the rescue with generous donations of new backpacks, paper, pencils and cash. The yearly event organized by Tri-Valley Haven routinely draws more than 400 children from low-income families -- kindergartners through high schoolers -- in need of basic school supplies."