Introduction Importance of Health Insurance Every Arkansan wants children in the state to grow up healthy, safe, and well-equipped with the resources they need to thrive. For more than two decades, Arkansas has expanded access to child health coverage as a cornerstone of child well-being. Programs like ARKids First have helped hundreds of thousands of […]

Medicaid is the single largest provider of health insurance for individuals and families across the nation. Across all Medicaid programs in our state, more than 850,000 Arkansans receive services covered by Medicaid. In a deeply rural state, Medicaid plays a particularly important role in ensuring access to health care where many residents face barriers such […]

Arkansas state law authorizes courts to assess a wide variety of fees and fines to system-involved youth and their families. Many juvenile judges actively assess fees and fines, citing their role in holding youth accountable and funding underresourced, especially rural, courts. However, in practice, fees and fines are an insufficient source of revenue for courts; […]

See what happened at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in our 2025 annual report, now available. For our list of 2025 donors, please visit aradvocates.org/donors

A Wealth-Building Tool for Families, Communities, and the State Pete Gess Economic Policy Director Executive Summary The median household income in Arkansas now stands at $60,773. But this varies greatly across the state; while median household income in Benton County is $93,506, it is only $34,375 in Lee County. In Arkansas, 44% of families struggle […]

Whether you have children or not, the well-being of our state’s kids is critical to everyone’s future. As advocates, it’s up to us to make sure voters and candidates are aware of the issues that matter most. Election years are an excellent time to call attention to the ways we can make Arkansas a better […]

Preemption is the process by which a higher level of government (usually the state) restricts or eliminates the ability of a lower level (local government) to regulate certain issues. Learn more about how preemption operates in Arkansas, including trends and recent actions eroding local control in our latest white paper.

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 child well-being. ARKids First has helped hundreds of thousands of families access the care they need, […]

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 the results from a recent survey and data request of all the state’s public school districts […]

See what happened at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in our 2024 annual report, now available.