Economy of New England close to one another." In 2011, four of the top ten state governments in the country, with budgetary problems prior to balancing their budgets, were in New England: Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. In terms of per capita income, however, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire are also three of the wealthiest states, with Connecticut being ranked first in the U.S. In 2011, three of the six states, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont, were among the ten states with the greatest backlog of foreclosures needing court processing, ranging from an estimated 20 years for Connecticut to 16 years for Maine. The
Invest in US the $750 million total, $250 million was awarded in Education Department grants to these 18 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. And $500 million in funding from the Health and Human Services Department is going to more than 40 states to expand Early Head Start and child care programs. The Invest in US and federal funding combined targeted more than $1 billion in funding for early childhood education. Though praised by early learning advocates, the funding was noted by several sources to be