YRC Region 6 Community Council

Find Out How Children Fair in Your State
The Children's Defense Funds released fact sheets that "provide basic stats and rankings regarding poverty, health, hunger, child welfare, early childhood development, education and youth at risk for children in each state. Data related to children at the state and local levels are often difficult to obtain and lack any kind of comparison to surrounding states or a national average. Providing key state and national data in a concise uniform format will enable readers to see how their own state is doing, look at neighboring states and the national average, and then urge their elected officials (at the federal, state, and local level) to do more for children." To access the Illinois fact sheet, click here.

Percent of 16- to 19-year-olds not enrolled in school who are not high

school graduates 5.9%

Averaged freshman high school graduation rate 80.4%

Percent of 16- to 19-year-olds unemployed 25.8%

Number of juvenile arrests 29,961

Number of children and teens in juvenile residential facilities 2,565

Ratio of cost per prisoner to cost per public school pupil 2.3

Number of children and teens killed by firearms: 150

128 homicides; 17 suicides; 4 accidents; and 1 undetermined

Education in Illinois

Annual expenditure per prisoner $20,738

Annual expenditure per public school pupil $9,113

Percent of public school fourth graders:

unable to read at grade level 68%

unable to do math at grade level 62%

Percent of public school eighth graders:

unable to read at grade level 67%

unable to do math at grade level 67%

Number of high school students who drop out of school annually 44,137

Youth at Risk in Illinois