What Makes Special Revenues Special?

When you fill up your car at the gas station, you pay a motor fuel tax that directly benefits the Highway Department Fund. If a relative from out of state visits and pays for a hotel room in Arkansas, he or she pays a two percent tourism tax that directly credits the Tourism Development Fund. […]

Kids at the Capitol, May 2013

The 2013 session of the Arkansas General Assembly was an historic one. Republican legislators took over both chambers for the first time since Reconstruction. Lawmakers passed sweeping health coverage legislation, known as the Private Option, guaranteed to change the way Arkansans access health care in their communities. But some things were the same as ever. […]

Common Core: The Truth about Common Core Testing and Student Privacy

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) is releasing three documents aimed at helping low-income parents understand Common Core State Standards (Common Core). The documents are written in family-friendly language that is more easily understood by non-education professionals. One of our partner organizations in this work, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, will be using the […]

Common Core: What You Should Know About Common Core State Standards

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) is releasing three documents aimed at helping low-income parents understand Common Core State Standards (Common Core). The documents are written in family-friendly language that is more easily understood by non-education professionals. One of our partner organizations in this work, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, will be using the […]

Common Core: A Parent’s Guide to Arkansas Common Core State Standards

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) is releasing three documents aimed at helping low-income parents understand Common Core State Standards (Common Core). The documents are written in family-friendly language that is more easily understood by non-education professionals. One of our partner organizations in this work, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, will be using the […]

Arkansas’s Private Option: Need to Know Information Sheet

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families recognizes the importance of adequate health care being available and accessible for all children and families. PLEASE SHARE this information with persons who may be eligible for Arkansas’s Private Option health insurance coverage. The Private Option is a new kind of affordable, private coverage for many Arkansans.

Fighting Unemployment Will Boost Arkansas’s Economy

Arkansans have always been defined by our work ethic. We don’t back down from a challenge, and we believe our word is our bond. For generations we have taught our children that working hard and playing by the rules means they’ll have a chance to earn a good living in their home state. Thanks to […]

Why Detention is Not Always the Answer

Juvenile detention – the short-term involuntary holding of juveniles – is often the gateway to longer-term incarceration. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI), the appropriate purpose of detention is to ensure that youth appear for court hearings and do not re-offend while awaiting their adjudication hearing. However, in practice, […]

Crossing into New Territory: Kid’s Health Coverage in 2014

ARKids First and Medicaid provided health coverage for even more children as poverty levels in Arkansas continued to rise while the state recovered from the recession. This affordable coverage ensured that Arkansas’s percentage of uninsured children continued to trend downward, helping families stay healthy and economically secure. Most Americans believe — incorrectly — that the […]