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Reducing youth incarceration in Arkansas

In April 2014, when Desha County Sheriff Jim Snyder read a newspaper article about AACF’s report “Why Detention is Not Always the Answer”, he called to let us know this was something he knew about first hand. As a...

AACF Weekly Legislative Update Vol. 7

HEALTH: Next week, the bill to allow local municipalities to determine the fluoride levels of their water system is expected to be presented to the Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee.  This bill, HB1355, establishes a maximum not...

AACF Weekly Legislative Update Vol. 6

We’ve been sending out weekly legislative updates. You can subscribe to those here. Here’s a rundown of some of the major movements in the state legislature this week. See below for a complete list of bills we’re tracking. Follow...

Why #BlackLivesMatter – in Arkansas too

We’ve seen the “Black Lives Matter” hashtag plastered all over social media for the past several months. But what does this actually mean?  It means that ALL lives, including Black lives, matter. It means that when our economy leaves...

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

The health and education of Arkansas children are at risk because of a new bill that would redirect billions of future state general revenue dollars that typically funds programs for children and families and put it towards highways and...

AACF Weekly Legislative Update Vol. 5

With the Private Option and the Governor’s tax cut package out of the way, the legislature is moving on to other business. It was a busy week at the Capitol. EDUCATION: This week Gov. Hutchinson announced the formation of...

AACF Weekly Legislative Update Vol. 4

HEALTH: The Private Option reauthorization overcame its final hurdle yesterday. After passing the Senate last week, lawmakers in the House of Representatives approved continuing the Private Option by a wide margin. AACF applauds the legislature for backing Governor Hutchinson’s...

Statement on Private Option passage

Statement from Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, on the passage of the Private Option: Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) would like to applaud the legislature for backing Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s plan...

Show pre-K some love!

Learning begins way before kindergarten. The experts agree that high-quality pre-k gives kids a strong start toward success in school. But the Arkansas Better Chance pre-K program hasn’t seen a dime of new funding since 2008, which means that pre-K centers...