If you weren’t able to make it to our Putting Kids First press conference on Oct. 5, we’ve got you covered. Below, AACF Executive Director Rich Huddleston explains what the upcoming election means for Arkansas’s kids: The November elections...
Earlier this week, we shared with you the first of two major Census data sets showing improvements in national poverty numbers. While poverty data for the nation inched down from 11.6 percent in 2014 to 10.4 percent in 2015, we...
We all have a stake in making sure that Arkansas kids grow up in households that can afford the basics, like a nutritious diet, a decent place to live, and school clothes and supplies. The first of two major...
The first four months of the Arkansas program that screens welfare recipients for drugs has been just as successful as it has been in other states: that is, not at all. Drug screenings for public benefits have proven expensive,...
We ended up with more revenue than we spent this fiscal year, but don’t let the surplus fool you. No one should be proud of the surplus at the end of this fiscal year, because it was on the...
A new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation gives Arkansas some reason to be hopeful: 2014 data shows more young workers are on track to a stable career, many parents are paying a smaller share of their income...
For the first time in six years, the number of Arkansas children living in poverty decreased, according to the 2016 Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT® Data Book. Last year the state ranked 48th, with 202,000 children living in poverty;...
There will always be some people who make more than their neighbors, but when wage growth is concentrated at the top, many lower income families will never get the boost they need to put a down payment on a...
Statement from Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) believes Governor Asa Hutchinson’s five-year highway funding plan, HB1009/SB11, doesn’t address our long-term highway funding needs and ultimately siphons...
Governor Asa Hutchinson’s five-year highway funding plan, which appears on the verge of passing,* is a short-sighted gamble that eats away at funds for our child welfare system, our schools, and other critical services. Because of a refusal to increase...