Democratic state Sen. Paul Faraci of the 52nd District discussed Project Success and data centers with the Illini Democrats at its meeting Tuesday.
Project Success’s aim
Project Success, formally SB3080, is a bill Faraci proposed to the Illinois Senate in January. The bill would create a pilot program of the original Project Success, initiated by the former Gov. Jim Edgar.
The project aims to improve child and family well-being by providing community services and resources to those in need, according to Faraci.
“What we want Project Success to do is, under one umbrella, as a wraparound service, be able to identify those families and those kids who need the help … and bring those resources to them,” Faraci said.
Faraci said if the pilot program was successful, it would show his colleagues that the program works and could be reinstated statewide. He pointed to statistics on third-grade reading proficiency levels to demonstrate the importance of early education.
If a student cannot read the appropriate level in third grade, they are four times less likely to graduate from high school before 19 than their proficient peers, according to a study. The study also says that if a student also faces poverty, then they are 13 times less likely to graduate high school before 19 than their proficient, wealthy peers.
“One of our biggest issues, at least in this district, is that we don’t have enough kids getting the resources they need to be able to be successful and ultimately have a third-grade reading level at the third grade,” Faraci said.
Faraci asked the Illini Democrats to examine the bill, analyze the families they know and share what else the current legislation should include.
“I know that sounds crazy, but the only way this works is if we identify every potential, specific case that holds a student back from having (a) third grade reading level,” Faraci said.
He said the bill is meant to solve the root problems underlying student struggles, not just “band-aid” the effects. It’s currently in the Assignments Committee, but Faraci said he is hoping to advance the bill now that the Senate is back in session.
The history of the project
Edgar’s iteration of Project Success began in 1992 with six pilot projects, ranging from a Chicago location to a rural southern Illinois one. The project aimed to identify and solve the issues facing school kids.
Schools helped identify which students needed help. Then, a local governing board helped those students access the resources needed to combat the issues.
Six years after its founding, the project received more funding and expanded to all Illinois elementary and middle schools.
According to Edgar’s website page on the project, participating schools showed increases in attendance and greater parental involvement.
While the goal of each local project was to improve student success, they took distinct approaches to best suit their individual issues. Some solutions looked like volunteer playground patrols, babysitting or computer labs.
Faraci said he hopes to reinstate similar programs if the proposed pilot project in his bill is successful.
On data centers
Data centers have been a topic of discussion in the Champaign-Urbana community; there was public comment at a Data Center Activities Task Force meeting on Aug. 31. There is also a student-led protest against them this Friday.
The POWER Act, first introduced in February, is a bill intended to regulate environmental, water and energy usage for hyperscale data centers.
It would mandate that hyperscale data centers finance their own energy costs and would require their energy to be renewable. The act would also demand that the data centers assess their potential environmental impacts on the local community.
“(I’m) keeping my fingers crossed that we come up with some compromises that effectively moves us in a positive direction for how we deal with things,” Faraci said.
The act has some support from Illinois legislators, but there are some who still have hesitations. Currently, the POWER Act is in the Assignments Committee.
Faraci said he hopes the Illinois Senate will have a form of legislation — with the necessary compromises — done by November or the start of December.
“Hopefully, everyone can at least start to … agree,” Faraci said. “We’re never going to agree on everything, but we do need to get the parties together. … We have to make sure we’re protecting the people.”
Faraci has not yet co-sponsored the bill. He said some of its language still needs to be ironed out before he will add his name.
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September 24, 2026 at 11:10AM
