Tina and Tracy are sisters who entered the Arkansas foster care system when they were 12 and 13. Their mother was in an abusive relationship and could not care for them, and their father and stepmother did not want the girls living with them anymore. The girls were abandoned and placed in the Division of […]
An Update on the Tax and Budget System Now that the Democratic and Republican Conventions are over, Congress is set to return to work on September 8. There are several pieces of legislation that benefit children and families that we hope will receive action between now and the election.
Nearly two out of every five Arkansas school-age children are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight1. Obesity among children and adults has been increasing across the United States since the mid-1970s,2 including in Arkansas, which has consistently ranked above the national average. While it appears that the growth of child obesity is beginning to […]
Arkansas’s economy has followed the national downward slide over the past year or so, though experts still debate whether the “r” word — recession — truly applies. No matter what you call it, most low- and middle-income working Arkansans are feeling squeezed, as salaries fail to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living. As […]
Arkansas’s state and local governments play an important role in providing a wide variety of critical services to their citizens. They ensure that our children and the elderly have adequate health care; that roads and parks are well maintained; and that our public schools and universities are excellent places to learn. During these tough economic […]
Welcome to the third e-brief of Moving Families Forward! This e-brief will provide updates and alerts on state and federal tax and budget issues that impact low-income children and their families.
Over the past few decades, there have been many attempts to pass a state lottery in Arkansas—all of which have been defeated. Under the latest lottery plan, proposed by Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, lottery revenue would be used for scholarships and grants for state residents attending any certified two-year or four-year college or university in […]
Welcome to the second e-brief of Moving Families Forward! This e-brief will provide updates and alerts on state and federal tax and budget issues that impact low-income children and their families.
Welcome to the first e-brief of Moving Families Forward! This e-brief will provide updates and alerts on state and federal tax and budget issues that impact low-income children and their families. Our goal is to give you information you can use to educate policymakers about the importance of adequately funding programs that serve low-income children […]
A state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) would provide tax relief to hard-working, low-income families, helping them close the gap between what they earn and what they need to make ends meet. A state EITC, piggybacking on the federal EITC, would help families and put millions of dollars back into the local economy. In 2005, […]