Save Full-Service Community Schools in Illinois!

Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) serve students and families by integrating academic, health, and social services, expanding learning opportunities, and strengthening family and community engagement. The program enables schools to become hubs of support, ensuring that students receive the comprehensive services they need to succeed in school and in life. Each community school is different and responds to the specific needs and voices of the local community and parents.

The House Appropriations Committee proposed eliminating Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) in the FY26 budget, which is currently funded at $150 million. FSCS must be fully funded in order to sustain and scale this important work.

In 2024, ACT Now received two FSCS state-scaling grants to implement this framework throughout Illinois. On December 12, 2025, ACT Now received a Notice of Non-Continuation for both of our FSCS grants, effective December 31, 2025, from the U.S. Department of Education. This means that 32 schools across Illinois in rural, suburban, and urban districts will lose funding immediately, forcing the suspension of programming to approximately 19,000 students and families and the layoff of professionals statewide.

Email your State elected officials, your Congressional representative, Senators, and the Governor today, and implore them to tell the Department of Education to reconsider our non-continuation determination and reverse the decision.