By: Diane Benjamin

This story shows the HUGE increase in funding as shown on the nonprofit tax returns of INCCRRA: https://blnnews.com/2026/01/16/the-local-ngos-tax-return-inccrra/

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Those numbers are MILLIONS – a huge increase from 2019 to 2020. What did they do with that money? At least part was the establishment of Birth To Five.

Illinois was divided into 39 regions. Each region has employees who were tasked with listening to the community. Since information isn’t available by FOIA because this NGO is completely unaccountable to taxpayers, I’ve heard community members were paid to participate in focus groups. The employees then reported their regional finding to the State which created this report:

This in on PDF page 23:

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The Chatham School District had students speaking 42 different languages? 🤦‍♀️

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PDF page 28 and following show the statewide needs and recommendations.

This is the McLean, Dewitt, Logan, and Livingston County report: https://www.birthtofiveil.com/region17

PDF page 2 shows who contributed to the report.

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is only one part of the spending increase.

PDF pages 9 and 10 have letters from State and regional leadership. Pronouns were included with their names.

From PDF page 12:

ECEC in Illinois is made up of several programs, including publicly funded programs such as Head Start/Early Head Start, Early Intervention, Early Childhood Special Education, home visiting, preschool, and center- and home-based child care.

Quotes from PDF page 12 and following:

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I could go on and on about this program. The bottom line is Illinois thinks they can solve every problem. Personal responsibility isn’t required when the State has licensed programs and people getting paid by taxpayers to solve problems for you.

Once government creates a program it can never be abolished without the beneficiaries running to microphones crying funding cuts will kill kids.

Since INCCRRA wouldn’t provide any data, I have a FOIA request pending with the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Much more is in the report that I didn’t cover. Federal and State dollars fund INCCRRA. Illinois created a vast network of programs, Birth to Five is just one of them. Equitable and variations are mentioned 23 times.

According to Grok, the number of State employees increased. I think many of them are in IDHS: