Advocacy

Through the policy team’s advocacy efforts, Southern helped champion the following successes in recent years:

• Enacted legislation for Arkansas Housing Trust Fund (2009)
• Closed all 275 payday lenders in Arkansas (2009)
• Secured state funding for Aspiring Scholars Matching Grant program for Arkansas 529 college savings accounts (2008)
• ARKids First (state children’s health insurance) asset test elimination (2007)
• Opened 75 SEED accounts for children in Phillips County, Arkansas (2007)
• Increased minimum wage in Arkansas by 21 percent (2006)
• Established Career Pathways program (2004)
• Beer Tax for Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) child care program funding (2001)
• Developed Arkansas Assets Coalition (2000)
• Secured state IDA funding for Arkansas (2000)