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New Partnership in Delta to Focus on Kids in Need

2 min read

Little Rock attorney Bill Waddell is helping organize Monroe County Children in Trust, a one-of-a-kind partnership that will be housed at the Mid-Delta Health Systems clinic in Clarendon.

Waddell performs pro bono work as part of the clinic’s medical-legal partnership. (see Pro Bono Work Can Also Be Good For Business.)

Organizers have not set a launch date for Monroe County Children in Trust yet, but Legal Aid of Arkansas attorney Kevin De Liban said it would probably be up and running sometime next year.

The idea behind the partnership, Waddell said, is to partner with the county’s public schools and identify students who may need extra medical or legal services and even mentoring. The progress of those at-risk children, from kindergarten to 12th grade, will be tracked in an effort to break a cycle of poverty. The goal is for the children to succeed in school so that they lead better lives afterward. Resolving their problems at home will help, organizers believe.

Officials from the Clarendon-Holly Grove School District are already on board, Waddell said, and they have been attending planning meetings.

About 913 people under 18 in the county live in poverty, he said. That may not seem like many, but Waddell hopes that the partnership can be duplicated across Arkansas, helping many more.

“The issues that we’re really looking at are food insecurity, health, housing, how that relates to education,” he said. “We know that there’s a lot of financial management issues.”

Monroe County Children in Trust will need just one person on staff, a social worker to help track the students’ progress. The clinic will provide space and a computer system for the partnership.

Organizers are seeking funding to support the effort.

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