Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families on Wednesday encouraged constituents to consider issues that affect children as they decide who to vote for in the upcoming election.
According to Rich Huddleston, executive director of AACF, only one out of 501 questions in the presidential primary debates was specific to issues related to children. In Arkansas, one in four children lives in poverty; the state is fourth in the nation in poverty and No. 2 in food insecurity, he said.
Patty Barker, director of the Arkansas No Kid Hungry Campaign, said that one in five families struggle with hunger and one in four kids struggle with the same.
“There’s been progress; we’re improving access to nutrition programs like meals at school, but hungry kids can’t learn,” Barker said.
She said one of the programs they have been working to implement across the state is free breakfast at elementary schools.
Also tied in with education is a shortage of quality pre-k and daycare programs for kids. There are 145,000 children under the age of 6 who need quality care, according to Elizabeth Scudder, president of the Arkansas Early Childhood Association.
“If we spend more money on the front end in early childhood education we will have to spend less in the end,” Scudder said. “The most precious resource we have in this state is children.”
Laveta Wills-Hale, network coordinator for the Arkansas Out of School Network, shared similar thoughts on a lack of after school programs. She said there is a fundamental question in the state about readiness for the workplace, higher education and fulfilling a role in the community. Children who participate in quality after school programs are more likely to be successful in school, Wills-Hale said.
She said the three areas where the state needs to improve are in providing three meals a day, providing quality education and a culture of dignity and equality.
“We have gaps in our state but what we can do together to address these gaps is altogether possible,” Wills-Hale said.
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