Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, in conjunction with Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, Community Health Centers of Arkansas and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) joined hundreds of communities around the country in spotlighting the 45 million Americans, including 8 million children who are living without health insurance. In Arkansas, there are more than 450,000 children and adults without health insurance.

A news conference held Monday, May 02, 2005, at College Station Community Health Clinic featured several speakers including: Representative Tommy Roebuck; State Senator Tracy Steele; Kevin Ryan, JD, Associate Director at Arkansas Center for Health Improvement and Assistant Professor at the UAMS College of Public Health; Sipp Mouden, Executive Director of Community Health Centers of Arkansas; and Rhonda Sanders, Director of Health Policy at AACF.

A proclamation signed by Gov. Mike Huckabee declaring May 1-8 as Cover the Uninsured Week in Arkansas also helped kick off the week.

As part of the events highlighting the uninsured, two reports were released by RWJF.