August 2018

About 40 members of the Arkansas Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience Workgroup attended a planning workshop July 25 at the Hillary Clinton Children's Library in Little Rock. The workshop was facilitated by Mike Craw, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas - Little Rock School of Public Affairs and coordinator of UA-Little Rock's Center for Public Collaboration. The workgroup has adopted the Collective Impact framework for change, and the workshop is the group's...

Timmy Wimberly, a graduate of Bauxite High School and now one of its football coaches, shared his story of childhood adversity and its effects on his learning and achievement at a professional development session for Bauxite teachers last week. The video of his story has been shared on Facebook more than 7,000 times. Despite a childhood filled with poverty, neglect, and hunger, and becoming a father himself at 15, Wimberly credits the guidance and support of his teachers as the factor that...

School officials are considering expanding a social and emotional learning program districtwide as part of safety and security efforts. Incorporating the Choose Love Enrichment Program in every school is one of many recommendations made by the Fayetteville Safety and Security Task Force to the School Board last month. Scarlett Lewis founded the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation and has worked with educators, researchers and others to create the program. She began her work after her...

When most people think of foundations, they think of deep pockets. That’s understandable, since the popular public perception of philanthropy has been shaped by the creation of multimillion-dollar foundations by titans of old, and enforced by the glamour of new foundations launched to much fanfare by today’s billionaires. In rural communities, the creation of big-dollar health conversion foundations garners media attention and sparks public awareness. But as with their mammoth cousins, these...