Public Policy Reports Archive
Aspiring Scholars Matching Grant Program: A Successful First Year | Policy Points Volume 33, September 2009
The Aspiring Scholars Matching Grant program was authorized by the Arkansas Legislature under Act 597 of 2007. The primary purpose of the program is to provide an incentive, in the form of a savings match, for low- and moderate-income families to save for their children’s college education using the GIFT College Investment Plan (the Arkansas 529 college savings plan). Read more…
New Laws Benefit Lower-Income Arkansans | Policy Points Volume 34, August 2009
Several significant bills to help lower-income families in Arkansas became law during the 2009 legislative session. These new laws include measures to expand opportunities for Arkansans to access affordable housing; expand eligibility for ARKids First Medicaid health insurance; establish guidelines for scholarships funded by a state lottery approved by voters in 2008; and set full disclosure requirements for high-cost, short-term loans tied to a user’s income tax refund; and create a state task force to recommend ways to reduce poverty and expand economic opportunity. Read more…
The 2008 Arkansas Assets & Opportunity Scorecard | Policy Report, January 2009
As one of the nation’s poorest states, Arkansas’ need to improve incomes receives considerable attention However, the need to improve assets gets much less attention, despite the fact that assets are as critical to prosperity as incomes. This report, an updated version of a publication issued in 2005, measures how well Arkansans are building assets. The 2008 Scorecard also examines state policy from the perspective of providing asset-building opportunities, especially for low-income families. Read more…
From Natural Gas to College Degrees: The Arkansas Promise Trust Fund | Policy Points Volume 32, January 2008
Arkansas historically has ranked at or near the bottom nationally in college attainment. Arkansas currently ranks 49th out of the 50 states in attainment of both two-year and four-year college degrees. This brief proposes increasing Arkansas’ historically low severance tax on natural gas to a rate comparable to that of surrounding states and earmarking the new revenues for an Arkansas Promise Trust Fund. Interest earnings from the trust fund could be used to significantly and permanently increase access to college financial aid and meet other higher education needs. Read more…
Mortgage Foreclosures: A Review of Trends in Arkansas and Strategies Used by States and Communities to Respond | Policy Points Volume 31, December 2007
The rising rate of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures is a growing concern for every state and the nation overall. Data show that millions of Americans have lost their homes or are in the process of potentially losing their homes to foreclosure. This brief examines mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates nationally and in Arkansas and the strategies other states and communities have adopted to respond to this problem to highlight potential options for state and local policymakers and other stakeholders in Arkansas. Read more…
Arkansas’ Working Poor Families: An Assessment of Conditions and Policies to Support Economic Self-Sufficiency | Policy Report, November 2007
A significant number of Arkansas families are working yet remain poor, and face specific challenges that prevent them from achieving greater economic security. One key challenge is low levels of educational attainment among adult family members. This report examines the performance of key state institutions and programs that provide education and training opportunities for adults, and offers policy recommendations to improve the opportunities offered by the state. Read more…
ARHealthNet: Helping Small Businesses Afford Employee Health Coverage | Policy Points Volume 30, June 2007
The rising cost of sponsoring health insurance coverage for employees is one of the most significant challenges facing small business owners, both nationally and in Arkansas. This brief summarizes the main elements of ARHealthNet and explains how this innovative program can help bridge the gap between small business owners’ desire to offer health insurance and their financial ability to do so.
Read more…
New Laws Promoting Asset-Building Opportunities | Policy Points Volume 29, April 2007
The Arkansas General Assembly recently enacted two bills in Southern Good Faith Fund’s 2007 legislative package that will promote and expand the asset-building opportunities for lower-income Arkansans through increased appropriation for the state’s Individual Development Account (IDA) program and creation of the Aspiring Scholars Matching Grant Program. Read more…
An Arkansas Higher Education Trust Fund: Making College Possible for Every Arkansan | Policy Report, December 2006
Arkansas’ economic future has always been tied to its natural resources, including timber, natural gas, agriculture, waterways, and, historically, a low-wage workforce. Although current resources are still important, the changing economy is introducing newer, more critical resources. One such new resource is a better-educated workforce, which a permanent Arkansas Higher Education Trust Fund could help provide. Read more…
Arkansas’ Individual Development Account (IDA) Program: Survey Shows Broad Impact | Policy Points Volume 28, October 2006
A survey of Individual Development Account (IDA) program graduates in Arkansas provides a view of the impact of the IDA program in Arkansas and the many benefits it provides to program participants. Ways in which the program can be improved to provide more Arkansans with asset-building opportunities also are highlighted.
Read more…
The Southeast Arkansas College Career Pathways Program | Policy Points Volume 27, June 2006
The Career Pathways program is an innovative workforce development program aimed at increasing access to higher education by the adult workforce, especially low-income adults, developed collaboratively by Southeast Arkansas College, Southern Good Faith Fund, the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, the state Adult Education program, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and the Arkansas Transitional Employment Assistance Board. Read more…
Helping Arkansas’ Katrina Evacuees Rebuild Their Lives | Policy Report, February 2006
Hurricane Katrina displaced hundreds of thousands of New Orleans residents, many of whom were low-income or poor, and many fled to neighboring states including Arkansas. This report proposes several strategies the state could adopt to help the families who choose to settle in Arkansas permanently. Read more…
Expanding Access to College in Arkansas: A 529 College Savings Plan Match Policy| Policy Points Volume 26, January 2006
There is a great need in Arkansas to improve higher education attainment, particularly among lower-income households. The social and economic benefits of doing so are immense. State policy should support this goal at every opportunity, and a 529 college savings plan match policy presents such an opportunity. Read more…
The Next Frontier in Adult Education: Adult Education to College Transition Programs | Policy Points Volume 25, December 2005
An emerging area of practice within the national adult education field is adult education to college transition programs. This brief discusses various kinds of transition programs, presents statistics on their success, and makes policy recommendations that Arkansas can adopt to promote them. Read more…
2005 Legislative Session Highlights: New Laws Affecting Low-Income Families in Arkansas | Policy Points Volume 24, August 2005
This issue highlights new laws that will have particular impact on low-income families and other laws that while noteworthy will need to be strengthened in the future.
Read more…
Arkansas Assets and Opportunity Scorecard 2005 | Policy Report
As one of the nation’s poorest states, Arkansas receives considerable attention for the need to improve incomes, but the need to improve assets gets much less, despite the fact that assets are as critical to prosperity as incomes. This report measures how well Arkansans are building assets and examines state policy from the perspective of providing asset-building opportunities, especially for low-income families. Read more…
Review the associated data sources: Business Development Outcomes; Education Outcomes; Homeownership Outcomes; Financial Security Outcomes; 2005 Scorecard Data.
Continuing the Investment in a Competitive Workforce and a Brighter Economic Future for Arkansas: A Policy Agenda for Investing in Arkansas’ Working Families | Working Families Project Report, August 2003
Arkansas has an ambitious investment plan to develop the state’s economy and increase the living standard of all Arkansans. Still needed is an investment in Arkansas’ working families, particularly those who are struggling to meet their basic needs and achieve economic self-sufficiency, which is vital for a competitive workforce—increasingly the most critical resource for economic success.
Read more…
Boom, Bust, and Beyond: The State of Working Arkansas | Working Families Project Report, November 2002
The economic boom of the 1990s has ended, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, have created uncertainty about the country’s security, the stock market has seen significant declines, corporate accounting scandals have rocked the economy, and investor confidence has tumbled. In Arkansas, unemployment rose during 2001, layoffs of Arkansas workers were commonplace, and wage growth flattened out.
Read more…
Assets in Arkansas: Building Wealth for Economic Security | Arkansas Assets Coalition Report, October 2002
Arkansas fares well on some measures of asset outcomes (financial assets, homeownership capital, human capital, business capital, and asset protection) but there is room for improvement. Read more…
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in Arkansas: An Assessment of Performance and a Vision for the Future | Working Families Project Report, August 2002
In the wake of the Arkansas Supreme Court decision on the Lake View school funding case, state policymakers have engaged in a vigorous debate on public education reform. What is missing in this debate is that part of the state’s education system that provides educational opportunities for adults who are or want to be in the workforce. This part is often called workforce development. Read more…
Welfare Reform in Arkansas: Making It Possible for More Parents to Work and Support Their Families | Working Families Project Report, May 2002
Although low unemployment and increasing household income are cited as evidence of a healthy economy, these figures mask economic distress that thousands of Arkansas families continue to experience. Read more…
Public Opinion & Legislative Response: Working Families in Arkansas | Working Families Project Report, June 2001
A recent poll of Arkansas voters sheds new light on issues facing the state’s working families. A major finding: programs funded by the state could be doing more to help children and working families. Read more…
Working Families in the New Economy Executive Summary: How are Arkansans Faring in Today’s Job Market? | Working Families Project Report, October 2000
Although low unemployment and increasing household income are cited as evidence of a healthy economy, these figures mask economic distress that thousands of Arkansas families continue to experience. The report How Families Are Faring in the Booming Economy: The State of Working Arkansas, issued earlier this year by the Arkansas Working Families Project, showed that many families are not doing well despite the good economy. That report, while illustrating many of the problems facing working families, only scratched the surface. Read more…
Part 1: Do Working Arkansans Have Adequate Incomes?
Part 2: Is Arkansas’ Economy Creating Enough Jobs?
Part 3: What is the Gap Between Jobs and Arkansans Seeking Work?
Self-sufficiency: Assets as Critical as Income | Working Families Project Report, July 2000
Income inequality receives a great deal of attention by researchers, advocates, and the press. But financial well-being is about much more than income. Families also need wealth; assets such as homes, savings accounts, and retirement accounts. It is these assets that help families move ahead to and stay in the middle class.
Read more…
The Struggles of Getting By and Getting Ahead | Working Families Project Report, June 2000
Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families and Southern Good Faith Fund conduct a series of focus groups in Helena-West Helena, Little Rock, and Springdale to explain low-income working families’ struggle to meet their basic needs. Read more…
The State of Working Arkansas: How Families are Faring In The Booming Economy
| Working Families Project Report, April 2000
The 1990s have been prosperous economic times for many Arkansans. Historically-low unemployment, a skyrocketing stock market, record corporate profits, and dramatic innovations in technology and communications have made Arkansans and businesses wealthier than many could have predicted at the start of the decade. Not all Arkansans, however, are sharing in the state’s booming economy.
Read more…
Breaking the Cycle | Policy Report, June 1999
In August 1996, Congress passed legislation that eliminated the
old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and replaced
it with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block
grant program. Read more…