After a month of preliminary budget hearings, it came as a surprise this week to see a proposal that would cut more than $20 million from the state budget for fiscal year 2013. Rep. John Burris (R – Harrison)...
The National Center for Youth Law and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency released a report today released a report today detailing efforts to transform the juvenile justice system in Arkansas. The gist? Efforts by government officials, advocates, judges, service providers, youth,...
Statement from our executive director, Rich Huddleston: President Obama’s budget proposal for FY2013 addresses deficit reduction, calls for increased revenues and investments in the future, and largely protects programs that benefit children and low-income families. While the budget...
We are less than a week away from the convening of the 2012 General Assembly. Lawmakers return to Little Rock this month for the “fiscal session” in which they are to consider budget bills to fund state government through...
The Corporation for Enterprise Development released their Assets and Opportunities Scorecard recently, and the news is not great for Arkansas. On balance the state ranks 44 out of 51 (all U.S. states and the District of Columbia), but the...
We may have mild temperatures right now but February should bring colder weather and thoughts of your favorite soups. Plans are underway for our 2012 Soup Sundays, and both lineups are looking quite appetizing. The Little Rock event will...
AACF releases study showing that more Arkansas kids are being covered by health insurance, yet many challenges remain. The number of uninsured children dropped in Arkansas even as families continued to feel the effects of the recent recession. Our...
Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families (AACF) is excited to announce it has hired a new communications director. He is Gerard Matthews, formerly an associate editor with the Arkansas Times and director of development with Independent Living Services in...
The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) has released a state-by-state Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI). While evaluating the different factors that impact child well-being at the state level, FCD found that higher taxes mean more revenue for vital...
The Economic Mobility Project, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts, recently released a report on the impact of a family’s structure on a child’s absolute and relative economic mobility. Family structure is believed to be an important factor...