On April 30, Eimer Stahl, alongside the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Sligo Law Group, filed a motion for preliminary injunction on behalf of two nonprofit organizations challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to discontinue grants they use to provide educational support services to students in high-poverty communities throughout Illinois.
The plaintiffs, Afterschool for Children and Teens Now (ACT Now) Coalition and Metropolitan Family Services, use federal grant funding to provide after-school care, summer camps, STEM programs, tutoring, mentoring, food, health care, and other services that help poor students succeed in school. The grants were awarded as part of the Full-Service Community Schools program created by Congress. In late 2025, the Department issued notices discontinuing the grants just two years into the five‑year grant period, citing objections to language regarding diversity, equity and inclusion used in the 2023 grant applications. The Department has never expressed any concerns about ACT Now’s performance, which has been exemplary.
The motion seeks a preliminary injunction to restore ACT Now’s grantee status pending a ruling on the merits. Without preliminary relief, 19,000 students that ACT Now serves would lose critical services that are already making a positive impact on their school performance.
Read the filing.