Dr. Joan Lombardi is the Director of Early Opportunities, LLC and currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Over the past 40 years, Dr. Lombardi has made significant contributions...
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has always done a good job of changing with the times. As we’ve watched the political climate in Arkansas shift over the past couple of years, we’ve responded with our own changes as well.
May Day started in 1886 as a fight for an 8 hour work-day, but what if you work 8 hours and only get paid for 7? Some hard working families in Arkansas are victim to employers who violate a variety...
AACF is looking for Arkansans to tell us their stories about why pre-K is important to them. If you’re a business leader, a college student, a member of law enforcement, a prosecutor, a teacher, a member of the clergy,...
Arkansas has the nation’s weakest laws on tenants’ rights and in some cases even criminalizes renters. State law puts those who pay rent – most often the lower income residents in Arkansas – at a disadvantage in dealing with...
An essential component of the American success story is the value we, as a nation, have placed on education for all citizens. As early as April 23, 1635, the Boston Public Latin School, the first public school in America,...
While the health care system has been the target of many of the proposed bills filed during the legislation session, one important issue has practically gone unmentioned—access to adequate behavioral health services for children. These gaps continue to make...
On April 16 we remember and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his call to action in the Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He warned, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the...
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) would like to publicly thank the U.S. Senate for passing a bill that extends funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), better known as ARKids First here in Arkansas. Arkansas’s delegation, both...
Despite the desperate need for pre-K funding, lawmakers sank their teeth into a nice, juicy capital gains tax cut for the rich this session. Fighting to keep state coffers adequately filled with tax dollars feels like announcing the tired...