These newsletters are produced by Voices for Illinois Children, a child advocacy group that works to make kids "count" in Illinois and to ensure that the basic needs of all children, families, and communities are met. The spring 1996 issue provides membership information and network news, as well as articles addressing the following topics: (1) improvement of early education and child care; (2) making communities stronger; (3) preventing problems and bettering the lives of children; (4) welfare reform; (5) Illinois' deficit problems; (6) block grants; (7) early intervention; (8) improving school funding; and (9) preventive health care. The summer 1996 issue contains articles which address the following issues: (1) community state partnerships; (2) children in poverty; (3) early education; (4) at-risk children; and (5) the 1996 state legislative session. The issue also provides results of the annual benefit, membership information, and an interview with a teenager overcoming the odds to succeed in school. The winter 1996-97 issue contains articles on the following issues: (1) Healthy Families America program; (2) education funding; (3) welfare to work; and (4) youth crime prevention. This issue also provides the annual report for the organization, advocacy resources, network news, and membership information. (SD)