Health reform continues to progress through the House and Senate. On Saturday, November 7, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009 bill by 220 votes. AACF thanks Arkansas Representatives Marion Berry and Vic Snyder for voting for the bill. Our latest analysis offers a look at the House […]
In the last two decades, during a time when Northwest Arkansas has grown more prosperous and gained a national reputation for its booming economy and quality of life, poverty has taken a stronger foothold. In Northwest Arkansas, the number of people in poverty is growing faster than the population, and the number of children in […]
Health reform legislation and its impact on Arkansas’s low- and moderate-income children and their families remains at the top of AACF’s advocacy agenda. This issue of Moving Families Forward outlines AACF’s top concerns with Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus’ revised proposal released this week.
Arkansas working families are losing as much as $110 million every year because they don’t claim the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a significant loss in federal dollars to the hard-pressed Arkansas economy. They spend another $100 million on expensive, and unnecessary, tax preparation services and refund anticipation loans, according to a new report […]
In public debates on taxes, it is often forgotten (or ignored) that the poor pay taxes just like everyone else. Not only do low-income working families pay a vast array of taxes—from payroll to sales taxes and from property taxes to driver’s license fees—but as a percentage of their income, they also pay far more […]
Even during the August recess, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has been closely following Congress as it continues to develop legislation that will have a profound impact on Arkansas children and families. Newly released 2009 federal budget deficit projections underscore the need for healthcare reform, which will continue to dominate discussion in both the […]
The Task Force recommends that Arkansas take the following actions to support expanded access to quality after-school and summer programs across the state. Promote quality by: Using the framework for quality standards and all of its elements in program expansion, evaluation, and training for after-school and summer programs. Expanding the capacity of state agencies to […]
Half of 3,700 Arkansas children recently surveyed said they were unsupervised after school on a regular basis, according to a new report by students from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. The report on the demand for after-school programs in Arkansas public schools also found that a majority of the children surveyed […]
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, ending welfare as we had then known it for several decades. The Act replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with an employment-oriented program with time limits for eligibility, known as the Transition Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is closely following Congress as it continues to develop legislation that could have a profound impact on Arkansas children and families. Healthcare reform and climate change dominate discussion in both the Senate and the House.