Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families was founded in 1977 by a group of prominent Arkansans who believed that children needed an “independent force to provide information and education to parents and citizens about our state’s policies toward children and families.” For more than 30 years, AACF has provided leadership, research and advocacy to promote wide-ranging reforms that have improved the lives of Arkansas children, and we have never been afraid to lead the way when the need arose.

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Publications

Every Arkansan deserves to be paid by their employer for the work they’ve done. Sounds pretty obvious, right? It is. But in Arkansas, we make it too easy for employers […]

How Arkansas Educators Lost Their Collective Bargaining Rights

April 3, 2023
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Olivia Gardner

Arkansas teachers lost more employment protections with the final passage of the Arkansas LEARNS Act. But before this bill was even filed, teachers here already had some of the weakest […]

The Critical State Of Black Women’s Health

April 12, 2022
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
CaSandra Glover

The state of Black women’s health is in critical condition, due to the systemic racism, discrimination, and implicit bias that Black women face within the health care system. To combat […]

Healthcare

Unemployment Insurance Helped Create Demand — And Jobs

June 21, 2021
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Bruno Showers

Our improving job numbers in Arkansas are due in part to the effect that $600-per-week unemployment supplements have had as they circulated through our economy. Losing them now would be […]

Unemployment Insurance

State of Working Arkansas 2017

August 31, 2017
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Eleanor Wheeler

Arkansas is a hardworking state. In fact, we have over a million employees who work here. That number has been growing recently, as our unemployment figures hit record lows. That is a […]

State of Working X

A TAX AND BUDGET BLUEPRINT FOR A BETTER ARKANSAS

April 1, 2016
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Eleanor Wheeler

What if Arkansas were a national leader in children’s education and health? What if we had one of the lowest rates of child poverty in the nation instead of one […]

Budges and Taxes

THE STATE OF WORKING ARKANSAS

September 5, 2015
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Ellie Wheeler

Arkansas’ economy is gaining speed. However, low-income groups, minorities, and less-educated workers are being left behind. The new jobs and pay raises mostly benefit people who are already well-off. And […]

State of Working X Unemployment Insurance

MISSING THE MARK: RACE EQUITY AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 2015 SESSION

July 1, 2015
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Bailey Perkins

While there were a few bright spots, it was a tough year for racial equity and opportunity at the legislature. Lawmakers passed policies that will limit opportunities for many Arkansas […]

Worker, Racial, and Gender Justice

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Publications

The State of Working Arkansas

Administrative Win for the Childcare Workforce

Arkansas Should Help Protect Workers’ Wages