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The four-step approach to escaping poverty

By Chris Coffey
06/25/2024
The relationship between family formation and prosperity is accepted across the political spectrum.

TAGS: poverty

Hard look at job rules can pull more Illinoisans from poverty

By Larry Han
06/18/2024
If Illinois used data-driven reviews before imposing job rules, more people could find work and escape poverty.

TAGS: poverty, unemployment

1-in-6 Illinoisans rely on food stamps for Christmas dinner

By Patrick Andriesen
12/23/2022
Illinois has the 6th-highest number of residents buying their meals with nutrition benefits, and the number grew almost 11% from a year earlier.

TAGS: food stamps, poverty, SNAP

79,000 more Illinoisans are in poverty because state can’t fix its culture of corruption

By Orphe Divounguy
05/12/2021
If Illinois could have reduced corruption to the national average, an estimated 79,000 fewer people would be living in poverty, according to an analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute. State lawmakers can help by passing ethics reforms.

TAGS: corruption, economy, ethics reform, Illinois, income inequality, poverty

4 lessons Illinois should learn from Connecticut’s ‘fair tax’ failure

By Vincent Caruso
03/11/2019
Only one state has switched its income tax structure from flat to progressive in the past 30 years. Its disastrous results may explain why.

TAGS: Connecticut, fair tax, income inequality, income tax, JB Pritzker, poverty, progressive income tax, taxes

Progressively worse: Pritzker’s tax push has a dangerous precedent

By Austin Berg
03/07/2019
The last state to take Pritzker’s path should serve as a bright red flag to Illinoisans weighing whether to back him.

TAGS: Connecticut, fair tax, income tax, JB Pritzker, jobs, poverty, progressive income tax, taxes, unemployment

Progressive income taxes don’t reduce income inequality

By Orphe Divounguy, Bryce Hill
03/05/2019
Despite Illinois’ governor’s claims, states with progressive income taxes face greater gaps between rich and poor.

TAGS: income inequality, income tax, JB Pritzker, poverty, progressive income tax, taxes

Front lines of a broken state

By Austin Berg
10/30/2015
ashley goodwin
What happens to a family that can’t afford to leave Illinois?

TAGS: jobs, poverty, unemployment

Illinois’ warped welfare system traps families in poverty

By Austin Berg
06/20/2015
A new report from the Illinois Policy Institute details an insidious poverty trap created by the “welfare cliff.”

TAGS: poverty, welfare

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Center for Poverty Solutions / Research Report

Beyond degrees: Empowering Illinoisans through career-first education


Published June 3, 2025 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The best path to empowerment and success, especially for poor people, is work. Work allows us to prosper while providing dignity, upward mobility, the means to support ourselves and create value for others. It’s how we become thriving members of our community. Central to this process is our education...

View Report

Report Archive

Budget + Tax / Your Story

Allan Luzbetak

Labor / Policy Point

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014
Illinois Policy In the News

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016

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