This story is the latest installment in a joint initiative by The Associated Press and Associated Press Media Editors on the fiscal crisis facing U.S. states and cities, how state and local governments are dealing with severe budget cuts, and how American lives will change because of it.

CHICAGO (AP) — When the owner of a southern Illinois child care center didn't get the state funding he was promised on time and faced laying off employees and cutting service to low-income children, he borrowed money from family members to get by.

When a suburban Chicago center helping disabled people live independently didn't get its state money quickly, employees waited three months for a paycheck so clients wouldn't feel the pinch.