Arkansas Ranks 45th in 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book

We encourage lawmakers and officials in Arkansas to use this detailed information to unite across party lines and respond with initiatives that invest in young people.

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House Tax and Spending Cuts Bill Reveals Policy Priorities

Early on Thursday morning (May 22), the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved its sweeping tax and spending cuts bill. While details are still emerging and we await the Congressional Budget Office’s overall scoring on the bill, most experts agree that the bill will add $3-$5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Savings […]

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Proposed Federal Budget Cuts would Harm State Budget and Devastate Tens of Thousands of Arkansans

Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP would increase hardship and deepen the effects of poverty at a time when many Arkansas families already struggle to put food on the table and afford health insurance, child care, and housing.

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Arkansas Combatting Increased Summer Hunger with Summer EBT

Arkansas is participating in the Federal Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Program for the second year in a row.

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Why to Advocate Even When You Are Tired

If you’re looking for a “why” to keep yourself going, look around you and don’t forget to look in the mirror as well.

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The Arkansas $11 Minimum Wage is Not Enough

It is once again time for the people of Arkansas to lead by increasing the minimum wage through direct democracy.

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Medicaid 101

Medicaid is an essential health insurance program that provides coverage to hundreds of thousands of Arkansans.

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The Disconnect Between Income and Taxes in Arkansas

The wealthy aren’t paying their fair share, and that hurts programs and policies that help all Arkansans. Our children have been back in school for weeks. Labor Day has passed. And we were teased with cooler weather last week. It feels like autumn is in the air. At this point the start of the 2025 […]

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Lost in Transition: Maya’s Story Highlights the Impact of Medicaid Barriers on Postpartum Care in Arkansas

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is collecting stories from people who are insured through ARHOME, one of Arkansas’s Medicaid programs. Data points and numbers are important because they help us understand the impact, but at the end of the day, numbers are only part of the picture. Storytelling is imperative to understanding the impact […]

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Arkansas Children Are Left Behind by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Child Tax Credit

September 2, 2025

No child should face the crushing effects of poverty, and an Arkansas child tax credit will make a tremendous difference.

Even Public Education Not Safe from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

August 29, 2025

While we have frequently highlighted how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act slashes funding for health care and food assistance, another provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act stands to harm public education: the creation of the federal...

The Overlooked School Supply: Medicaid

August 18, 2025

Earlier this month, Arkansas students and teachers returned to the classroom. Lunches were packed, backpacks filled, and buses rolled out for the start of a new school year. But behind the first-day photos and hallway reunions is something often...

How and When the OBBBA will Harm Arkansans

August 15, 2025

The impact of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will be enormous and wide-reaching in Arkansas. Our higher poverty rates mean cuts to health care coverage and food assistance will sharply increase hardship across the state. The legislation, which...

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Eyes on the Finish Line

September 3, 2025

We Cannot Stop Until Every Child Has Health Insurance All Arkansans want our children to grow up healthy, safe, and supported. For more than two decades, Arkansas has worked to expand access to health coverage as a foundation for...

Sex Education in Arkansas

August 8, 2025

Data Demonstrates Disparity Across School Districts Despite decades of research showing the significant positive impact of sexual health education on children’s long-term outcomes, Arkansas students still generally have limited access to such programs in school. According to analysis of...

2024 Annual Report

June 30, 2025

See what happened at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in our 2024 annual report, now available. For our list of 2024 donors, please visit aradvocates.org/donors

Kids at the Capitol: 2025 Legislative Summary

June 4, 2025

Between January 13 and May 5, Arkansas’s 95th General Assembly passed 1,043 bills. Many of the new laws will impact Arkansas’s children and their families. From fast-tracked Medicaid coverage for certain pregnant women to universal free school breakfasts, our...

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