The Arkansas Coalition for Strong Families held an “Invest in Our Families” press conference at the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock on Thursday to encourage lawmakers to make long-term investments geared toward ensuring resources for Arkansas children and families at the start of the 2024 fiscal session, which began yesterday.
The coalition is composed of 16 organizations committed to ensuring quality of life for Arkansas. During her speech, Syard Evans, coalition co-chair and CEO of the Arkansas Support Network, said the organizations have different priorities but are all committed to helping everyday Arkansans.
With one in five Arkansas children living in poverty and unmet needs for childcare, disability services and other resources needed to be successful, it is important for Arkansas citizens to express to legislators their desire for those services to be funded, she said.
“Now is the time for us to make sure that we’re communicating clearly the need for those investments in everyday Arkansans,” she said. “This is not the time for us to give public dollars back to wealthy corporations and citizens in the form of tax cuts, not while we still have so many unmet needs of everyday Arkansans.”
She added that during her work as CEO of the Arkansas Support Network, she has seen that direct support professionals for people with disabilities are underpaid and underfunded.
“We have a workforce of folks that are working in poverty, and we know that investments in state service systems will not only benefit the people who receive those services, but it will also benefit the Arkansans who provide those services,” she said.
Marianna Mayor Ora Stevens, who began her speech by noting that she spent 14 years working nearby at the Arkansas Department of Education, focused her remarks on the importance of investing in education.
“Every child possesses the potential to contribute uniquely to society, but realizing this potential requires nurturing from all of us — parents, teachers and extremely important are our policy makers,” she said. “When we talk about investment, it’s not just financial; it’s also about investing time, effort and resources into creating environments that support every aspect of a child’s development.”
Education should be holistic and promote not only academic achievement, but social, emotional and physical well-being, she said, adding that investing in children goes beyond the classroom to provide them with safe places to play, access to nutritious food and a caring, protective society.
“The importance of investing in our children cannot be overstated,” she said. “It’s a commitment to a brighter future, a more equitable society and a more prosperous world. Let us all pledge to do whatever we can do to make this happen.”
Elaine Williams, member of Concerned Citizens of Prescott, focused her speech on the importance of rural schools in communities such as Prescott.
“Schools across the state have consolidated or even closed, yet over the past decade … legislators have given over a billion dollars in tax breaks that mostly help the wealthiest,” she said. “We have the money. We just need to make the investment.”
Keesa Smith, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, noted that the statistic of one in five children living in poverty does not account for the many families barely above the poverty line in which parents do not make a liveable wage.
“We need to be having the conversations about what families are actually dealing with and what they need in order to thrive,” she said. “If Arkansans agree that every child in Arkansas should be able to grow up healthy and strong, then the goal is currently being threatened by the negative effects that poverty has on lifelong health, brain development, school performance, and future employment and earnings as adults.”
Although the state’s budget has increased since last year, she said the budget does not include increased funding for needed services such as early childhood education, childcare, mental and behavioral health care for children following the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased access to maternal health care.
“People drive our economy,” she said. “When Arkansans do well, the Arkansas economy does well. When we are healthy, when we get the skills and education that we need, when our children get the foundation that they need, when our communities thrive, our economy thrives. We need a state budget that reflects this and puts people first, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the critical thing to do in order to move Arkansas forward.”
Candace Williams, coalition co-chair and executive director of the Rural Community Alliance, began her speech by asking what attendees would do if they had $10 billion to invest in Arkansas.
“Would you identify programs you could support that would help ensure Arkansas no longer had one of the lowest childhood well-being rankings in our country,” she said, “or would you give away that money that could make sure that our children had the resources that they needed to thrive and instead invest the public dollars in tax cuts that only benefit a select few?”
She added that as a resident of Phillips County, she sees a need for investments in road and water infrastructure that should be made instead of tax cuts.
“The title of today’s event is ‘Invest in Families,’ and it is a call to action to our legislators,” she said. “We must stop giving away these public dollars to mostly benefit that select few and start focusing on the investments that help all Arkansans that you heard about today.”
To learn more about the Arkansas Coalition for Strong Families, visit arstrongfamilies.org.
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