This study tracks Federal block grant monies and their impact on the poor of Illinois. The hypothesis prompting the study was that the state has distributed a smaller proportion of its Federal block grant funds to those counties with the highest proportion of the state's poor as compared with the proportional distribution of Federal dollars under categorical programs. Six of the nine grants allocated by Congress were studied: home energy assistance, community services, maternal and child health, preventive health and health services, mental health and drug abuse, and Title XX - social services. The major findings were: (1) The 28 counties studied comprise 80.6% of the poverty population of the state and received only 66.9% of the Federal funds under the block grant system, compared to 69.8% under the Federal categorical system. (2) Overall, from 1980 to 1984, there were no significant advances toward a fair share for the 15 counties with the largest proportion of poor, either under a categorical or block grant system. (3) While most of the counties studied fall into the fair share range, some received more than their fair share while others received less. (4) Of the two counties having the highest proportion of poor, Cook County fared worse in the block grant years than in the categorical years, a negative difference of 5.5% while St. Clair improved in the block grant years, a positive difference of 1.0%. The body of the report presents and analyzes tables of data comparing and contrasting the two forms of grants. (CG)