Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Founded by future New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and nine other concerned Arkansans, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has been the state’s only multi-issue child advocacy program for more than a quarter-century.

With a 16-member staff, approximately 100 volunteers and an annual budget of just over $1.1 million, AACF has a mission of protecting and promoting the rights and well-being of Arkansas children and their families.

“AACF believes every child is entitled to grow up in a family; every child is entitled to a safe and stable home; every child has a right to grow up healthy; and every child is entitled to an education,” Executive Director Amy Rossi said.

While its values seem to be the kind that would enjoy universal agreement, economic and political forces sometimes work against it.

“In every state there are systemic issues that aren’t working in the best interest of 100 percent of the children, and in every state there are some children who are going to be dependent on the state,” she said. But because of the relatively low economic status of many Arkansans, the problems here are more widespread.

“In some states, where they have better resources and better education and fewer children living in poverty, resources aren’t as hard to come by and you don’t have quite the same level of need,” Rossi said.

AACF has honed in on three primary areas: early childhood education for families earning up to 200 percent of the poverty level; availability of health care in a state where “Medicaid may by default become a universal carrier for children”; and fair taxation, an issue where “families have typically not had a voice.”

Said Rossi: “This is not the day for the weak of heart.”