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"The fact is that older Americans are doing pretty well financially - by some measures, better than the rest of us. Only 9 percent of Americans older than 65 had incomes below the poverty line in 2010, according to a Census Bureau report in November. By contrast, 13.7 percent of the general population was living in poverty - including 22 percent of children younger than 18. The elderly poverty rate is higher under a different statistical definition designed to reflect seniors' greater out-of-pocket medical costs, but it still remains slightly below that of the general population."

"Strategic staffing was supposed to be the key to making the new combined elementary/middle schools successful, even though national researchers had warned such mergers haven't proved effective as a turnaround tactic for high-poverty urban schools."

"Economic inequity is the great conundrum schools and minority families face. If it were purely about racism, there is a clear remedy in the court system and in the Constitution. Instead, the need is for new funding partners for schools that have high numbers of low-income students. Continually pouring money into the same, already affluent school year after year is of limited value if that school shares a district with many struggling schools."

"Like roughly half of the district, the North Charleston school has a CORE team of school staff members who identify children who aren't doing well and find ways to help them. Like only four others in the tri-county area, Hunley Park Elementary has been recognized as a state Reward Schools for Progress. Qualifying schools were required to serve a majority low-income student population, and about 80 percent of Hunley Park's students fall into that category."

"The U.S. Department of Education reinstated the program's funding for the next five years. Upward Bound, which prepares low-income students for college, will receive just more than $414,000 from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, 2017."

"Albuquerque Public Schools will cover the full cost of breakfast and lunch this year for about 7,000 low-income students who normally pay a discounted price for meals."

"Hannah's Treasure Chest, a Centerville-based children's charity, partnered with Sogeti USA and 12 other local business partners to provide school supplies for underprivileged children in the Dayton area."

"Educators closest to the classroom, in partnership with their local community, are best able to determine how to educate all students and reduce the achievement gap that now threatens the futures of English learners and students who live in poverty. When designing a weighted pupil formula, it's important that the weights given to students challenged by poverty or English learning be large enough to make a difference."

"Unacknowledged in the attack on public schools is a growing body of research showing a direct correlation between poverty and school performance. Poor people cannot afford private education, even with vouchers, and the distractions of poverty inhibit disciplined study habits and good test scores."

"These supplies mean so much to our schools and to the students,' said Orange County school Superintendent Barbara Jenkins. We ended last school year with nearly 5,000 students whose families were homeless, and that number will likely climb in the coming school year. Other families are struggling to make ends meet, so school supplies can't be their priority.'"

"So he did what any entrepreneurial fifth-grader would do: He founded Robots 4 Everyone, a nonprofit that provides a free robotics camp for at-risk or low-income kids. The goal is to foster a love of science and provide an escape route from boredom and poverty."

"Private success so often depends on grants, loans, subsidies and infrastructure provided by all of us.It also requires talented people, a resource that is sometimes in shorter supply than it needs to be. The rest of us have something to do with that as well. The congressman, Chaka Fattah of Philadelphia, introduced the bill that created GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), almost 14 years ago. The program puts more low-income students on a track toward college and prepares them to succeed there."