ACT Now Illinois Files Preliminary Injunction to Halt Unlawful Federal Decision to Discontinue Community Schools Grants
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2026
Contact:
Jaclyn Driscoll
jaclyn@sgstrategies.com | (217) 371-7373
Zindy Marquez, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
zmarquez@clccrul.org | (312) 202-3657
**Media Interviews Available Upon Request**
ACT Now Illinois Files Preliminary Injunction to Halt Unlawful Federal Decision to Discontinue Community Schools Grants
Without court action, 19,000 Illinois students stand to lose vital services on July 1 as funding runs out
CHICAGO — ACT Now Illinois and Metropolitan Family Services filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction yesterday in federal court seeking to block the U.S. Department of Education’s unlawful non-continuation of two Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) grants totaling $18.5 million. The filing marks the next critical step in the coalition’s ongoing legal fight to protect funding that supports nearly 19,000 students and their families across 32 schools in Illinois.
The motion, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, comes as the temporary agreement that has kept programs afloat is set to expire June 30. Without preliminary relief from the court, ACT Now will be forced to cease all FSCS operations on July 1, terminate staff, end contracts with partner schools and community organizations, and dismantle a statewide network built over two years.
“We are at a breaking point,” said Susan Stanton, Executive Director of ACT Now Illinois. “Without this court’s intervention, on July 1, our schools will be forced to lock the doors on the food pantries, shut down the afterschool programs, fire social workers, and tell 19,000 kids that the place they have come to count on simply isn’t there anymore. This Department broke the law when it chose to discontinue the grants Congress appropriated and approved, and we are asking the court to stop the harm before it becomes irreversible.”
In December 2025, the Department of Education abruptly issued Notices of Non-Continuation for both FSCS grants — two years into a five-year project period — citing only that the plaintiffs’ 2023 grant applications included statements about diversity, equity and inclusion that the current administration found objectionable. The Department took this action without considering ACT Now’s actual performance, despite two full years of strong, documented results. As a result, more than 277 staff have already been laid off or reassigned, and over 700 student and family programs have been cut or scaled back. ACT Now relies on these grants for approximately 96% of its annual operating budget.
What the Motion Asks the Court to Do
The motion, filed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(a), asks the court to:
Preliminarily enjoin the Department of Education from enforcing the Notices of Non-Continuation and restore plaintiffs to active grantee status as of December 31, 2025; and
Preliminarily enjoin the Department from further non-continuing the grants while the case proceeds on the merits.
The accompanying memorandum lays out the case for why preliminary relief is warranted.
“The law is clear: the Department cannot discontinue multi-year grants mid-stream because it now disagrees with language in an application it approved two years ago,” said Josie Eskow Skinner, Partner at Sligo Law Group. “Congress created this program to deliver food, healthcare, tutoring, mentoring, and afterschool care to children in high-poverty communities, and our clients have done exactly that — with measurable, documented success. A preliminary injunction is the only way to protect those students from irreparable harm while this case proceeds.”
“Every day this unlawful action remains in effect, schools and community partners are losing the trust, the staff and the infrastructure that made these programs work,” said Michael Ortega, Program Counsel at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “We are asking the court to stop further harm to these children in rural and urban communities across Illinois who will pay the price if these programs collapse on July 1.”
What’s at Stake on July 1
The motion is supported by declarations from ACT Now leadership, school superintendents, Community School coordinators, and partner organizations across Illinois detailing the imminent and irreversible harm of allowing the Department’s action to stand. If the court does not grant preliminary relief:
ACT Now will be forced to cease operations, eliminate core staff and dismantle its statewide technical assistance, compliance and oversight infrastructure.
Schools — which cannot contract with plaintiffs while the non-continuations stand — will end their partnerships and lay off Community School staff.
Summer camp programs that keep children safe and allow parents to work will disappear.
Food pantries, on-site medical services, dental and vision screenings, mental health supports and family services in 32 schools will go dark.
19,000 students — many in Illinois’ highest-poverty rural and urban communities — will permanently lose services keeping them safe, healthy and focused on school.
Even if funding were later restored, the filings explain, the programs could not simply pick up where they left off. Hiring, background checks, training, restoring community networks and rebuilding service delivery infrastructure would take months or years — a timeline children do not have.
“When the federal government pulled the rug out from these kids, we lost their trust,” said Rebecca Kinsey, Community School Supervisor in McLean County. “If we lose this funding for good in July, we don’t just lose programs — we lose the safe place kids count on, the meals they rely on, the mentors who know their names. You cannot rebuild that overnight.”
“Our Community Schools have been a second home to thousands of students,” Stanton said. “In just two years, we cut chronic absenteeism by more than double the statewide rate, increased family engagement and helped students feel safer at school. The Department had every report it needed to see this work is succeeding. Instead, it tore the program down because of words in a two-year-old application. We are asking the court to stop this.”
ACT Now Illinois is represented in the case by Sligo Law Group PLLC, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, and Eimer Stahl LLP. The case is Afterschool for Children and Teens Now (ACT Now) Coalition and Metropolitan Family Services v. U.S. Department of Education, No. 1:25-cv-15704.
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ACT Now is a statewide coalition supported by afterschool providers, families, business leaders, school districts, community advocates, youth organizations, and policymakers.