Kid’s Directory
Central Arkansas Family Resource
WINTER 2026
WELLNESS EDITION eett
s es Re R s s s s e e n ln ll el e W W h th y y lt l l l a a e e mii am H H Fa F l r al ta or nt Fo F en e h h c M M c t t ’ ’ s s a a W Kiidd h K o W tto t t e a a h me Tiim W T n n & & W e e e e r cr k Sc rk & S & or p p Wo W e e e e t t l a a Sl S h h T s T ns an la Pl P
Family Favorite for 35 Years | KidCentralAR.com
SCHOOL FOR DANCE NOW ENROLLING!
& Adult Classes
Child
Expert Faculty State
-o -the-Art Facilities
Flexible Schedules A ordable
uition
Scholarship Assistance YAGP Program Costumed Per ormances Fun, Fun, Fun!
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www balletarkansas org/enrolled classes
UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS World-Premiere Cinderella
February 20-22
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www balletarkansas org/tickets
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OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS ACH Nutrition-Expecting Mothers...................................3 Arkansas Advocates for Children and Famlies........14-17 Arkansas Soccer Club.................................................... 30 Ballet Arkansas.................................................................2 Barksdale Federal Credit Union......................................4 Celebrity Attractions- DOGMAN.................................... 32 Central AR Pediatric Dentistry....................................... 10 Girl Scouts........................................................................6 Grow Learning.............................................................. 12 Jacksonville Parks................................................... 12, 31 Jax's Gym...................................................................... 29 Lake Nixon Outdoor Center.............................................5 Little Rock Zoo..................................................................6 Riff's Notes.......................................................................7 Salon Jadore................................................................. 13 Special Olympics Arkansas........................................... 31 The Muddy Pig.................................................................9 The Painted Pig................................................................8 Travel by Chanel............................................................ 28 Youth Empowerment Program.................................... 11
PLUS Family Wellness Reset.............................................18-28
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This Directory is copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without permission of the publisher.
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The debit card and money app for kids and teens. bfcu.org/greenlight The Greenlight card is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard International. Visit bfcu.org/greenlight for more details.
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❧ Girl Scout Cookie Season is Here! Beginning January 9 www.GirlScoutsDiamonds.org/FindCookies 6 • Family favorite for 35 years
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30 • Family Find more at KidCentralAR.com 10 favorite for 35 years
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YOUTH EMPOWERMENT program A Program of The Wolfe Street Foundation
SPRING‘26
JAN - MAY
MONDAY - THURSDAY | 4-7 PM Enroll today to secure a spot in this transformative program and set your teen on the path to becoming their best self!
ENROLLING ALL SEMESTER First Come, First Served
GRADES
7–12
WHY YEP?
Peer Support Staff Skill Building Activities Strengths-Based Curriculum Mental Health Support & Services Safe, Fun Environment Meaningful Connections
Scan the QR code to: Receive updates Request days/times Check out our topics!
SEATS FILLING FAST TRANSPORTATION AVAILABLE
Limited Scholarships 11715 Rainwood Road, West Little Rock, AR WOLFESTREET.ORG/YEP | (501) 712-5391
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The Decker School
Summer Camp 2025
This summer, students can unleash their creativity through art and drama, master life skills like cooking and sewing, develop strategy and teamwork with board games, embrace the great outdoors, embark on an exciting journey across the continents in a travel adventure, and more! With something for every interest, our camps are crafted to spark curiosity, foster growth, and make learning fun!
DATES: June & July AGES: Kindergarten & Up COST: Varies 25706 Hwy 365, Maumelle
Visit thedeckerschool.org for more information and to register. 501.613.7232
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thedeckerschool.org
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Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Why Their Work Matters (and How You Can Help)
Purpose and mission
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) exists for a simple but high-stakes reason: kids do not have lobbyists. AACF’s mission is “to ensure that all children and their families have the resources and opportunities to lead healthy and productive lives and to realize their full potential.” That mission shows up where it counts: in policy decisions that determine whether families can access health coverage, afford groceries, find safe childcare, and rely on public systems that work the way they are supposed to. AACF focuses on “kids-first” public policy across major issue areas that directly shape family stability and child well-being.
Why advocacy is not optional in Arkansas
A lot of nonprofit work is immediate and direct: food boxes, shelter beds, school supplies. AACF’s lane is different but deeply connected. They work upstream, where laws, budgets, and administrative rules decide how far direct-service dollars can stretch and who gets left out. Here is what “upstream” looks like in Arkansas right now. 14 • Family favorite for 35 34 years
Child poverty and uneven opportunity
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book highlights that 21% of Arkansas children under 18 live in poverty (about 144,000 kids), compared with a national average of 16%. That gap is not evenly distributed. AACF notes significantly higher poverty rates for Black children and American Indian/Alaska Native children in Arkansas due to historic and existing structural racism in our laws and policies. Poverty is not just a money problem. It shapes housing stability, school outcomes, health access, and whether families can absorb a crisis without spiraling.
Health coverage is slipping backward
In AACF’s September 2025 health coverage report, they noted that Arkansas’s child uninsured rate rose to 6.7% in 2023, up from a historic low of 4.1% in 2016, and that Arkansas ranks 42nd nationally for children’s health coverage. The report also documents how administrative hurdles and month-to-month enrollment fluctuations can break coverage even when kids remain eligible, which translates to delayed care and higher risk for families. This is where advocacy becomes practical: if administrative barriers are driving coverage loss, policy fixes can remove those barriers and ultimately prevent families from losing critical health care coverage.
Food insecurity is affecting families at scale
AACF’s January 2025 SNAP policy report cites 18.9% food insecurity in Arkansas (about 570,000 people) and estimates 168,000 children are food insecure. The report also notes SNAP’s economic impact, citing that every $1 in SNAP benefits generates about $1.79 in economic activity. That is not abstract. Food insecurity and hunger have significant, cumulative and long-lasting consequences on children, families, and communities, so it is imperative to adopt policy solutions that fight hunger in our state.
Education policy intersects with long-term outcomes
AACF’s August 2025 sex education report documents Arkansas’s teen birth rate at 24 births per 1,000 girls ages 15–19, nearly double the national rate of 13 per 1,000. AACF collected district-level data from nearly 80% of Arkansas’s 263 school districts, finding wide variation in the level of sexual health education students receive and linking medically accurate and age-appropriate approaches with better outcomes. Whether or not someone agrees on every policy lever, the data makes one point unavoidable: what kids learn (and do not learn) affects health, graduation rates, and lifetime earnings. Find more at KidCentralAR.com • 15
What AACF does and how it benefits families
AACF’s impact is best understood as public-policy research and advocacy on behalf of children, families, and the people who serve them. Their work generally falls into three connected functions. 1) Research and data that supports better decisions AACF produces Arkansas-specific reports that pull together federal datasets, state information, and policy analysis to show what is happening and what it costs families when systems fail. For example, AACF’s health coverage report draws from sources like the U.S. Census and state and national research partners, then translates the findings into actionable policy implications. 2) Policy advocacy across key family systems AACF focuses on issue areas that show up in daily life: child welfare, early childhood, economic security, education, food security, health, immigrant children and families, juvenile justice, racial equity, and tax and budget policy. Across these issue areas, AACF works to improve the laws and rules that determine who qualifies for help, how benefits are administered, and whether public dollars reach the kids they were intended to support. 3) Community engagement that turns concern into action AACF explicitly invites all Arkansans into advocacy. Their advocacy guide opens with the truth: “Everyone can be an advocate,” and frames advocacy as pushing for good laws and resisting bad ones at the local, state, and national level. It also includes tools and tips for effective advocacy. In other words, AACF does not just speak for families. They help families (and supporters) learn how to speak effectively for themselves and their communities so that we can all work together to create significant and lasting change to make Arkansas a great place for children and families.
Who AACF serves and advocates for
AACF’s work is statewide and policy-based, which means it serves a broad array of community members: all of Arkansas’s families – those with kids and without kids too. However, AACF’s data consistently emphasizes that the biggest burdens fall on families with fewer resources and communities facing longstanding disparities. If you have ever wondered, “Who is actually watching out for kids in the fine print of state policy?” The answer is AACF.
How to support AACF (beyond good intentions)
AACF makes it easy to support their mission in concrete ways, whether you are an individual, a business, or a community group. Give financially AACF encourages: • Monthly giving (recurring support that helps sustain ongoing policy work) • One-time individual and corporate gifts • Asking your employer about matching gifts • Planned giving or bequests 16 • Family favorite for 35 years
AACF supporters can receive electronic newsletters and legislative updates by joining their e-newsletter and action alert lists.
Attend (or sponsor) Soup Sunday 2026
Soup Sunday is AACF’s signature fundraiser and a real “show up, have fun, fund impact” kind of event. Central Arkansas Soup Sunday 2026: March 1, 2026, 3:30–6:30 PM at the Jack Stephens Center (UA Little Rock). AACF welcomes sponsorships from businesses, organizations, families, and individuals. To sponsor Central Arkansas Soup Sunday, please email Fran Carter fcarter@aradvocates.org.
How to get educated and stay connected to AACF’s work If you want to do more than repost headlines, AACF offers multiple on-ramps for learning.
Start with their research library AACF’s reports are built to be readable and usable, not just academic. Learn how advocacy works (without needing a political science degree) AACF’s advocacy guide is written for community members with jobs, families, and limited time. It states plainly that even small actions matter and provides a framework for building an advocacy plan. Invite AACF into your community AACF also offers a way to request a speaker for meetings and events (with instructions to contact them via email). Invitation: Make 2026 the year you show up for kids If you are looking for one event to put on your calendar that combines community energy with serious impact, make it Central Arkansas Soup Sunday. Come for the soups, the family-friendly energy, and the “souper casual” vibe. Stay because the proceeds support AACF’s mission to ensure Arkansas kids and families have the resources and opportunities to thrive. If you cannot attend, sponsorships, monthly gifts, and matched donations still move the mission forward. Statistics and report resources
AACF: https://www.aradvocates.org/ • Donate / monthly giving / other ways to help: https://www.aradvocates.org/donate/ Central Arkansas Soup Sunday 2026 event page:| • https://www.aradvocates.org/events/central-arkansas-soup-sunday-2026/ AACF health coverage report (Sept 2025) – “Eyes on the Finish Line” (PDF): https://www.aradvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/Finish-Line.webfinal.8.29.25.4.pdf AACF SNAP policy report (Jan 2025) – “State SNAP policies are failing Arkansas’s kids and families” (PDF): https://www.aradvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/SNAP-report-webfinal.1.15.25.pdf AACF Sex Education report (Aug 2025) – “Sex Education in Arkansas: Data Demonstrates Disparity…” (PDF): https://www.aradvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/AACF-sex.ed_.data_.webfinal2.8.5.25.pdf Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT: 2025 Data Book pages referenced in this article: https://www.aradvocates.org/the-2025-kids-count-data-book-economic-well-being/ https://www.aradvocates.org/the-2025-kids-count-data-book-child-poverty/ • AACF Advocacy Guide (Jan 2023) (PDF): https://www.aradvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/AACF.advocacy.webfinal.12.21.22.pdf
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Dog Man: The Musical is a hilarious production based on the worldwide bestselling series from Dav Pilkey, the creator of Captain Underpants and Cat Kid Comic Club. Best buds George and Harold have been creating comics for years, but now that they’re in 5th grade, they figure it’s time to level up and write a musical based on their favorite character, Dog Man, the crime-biting sensation who is part dog, part man, and ALL HERO!! How hard could it be?
February 4th • 6:30PM
Robinson Center CelebrityAttractions.com • 501.244.880 Groups of 10+ call 918.796.0220 REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF DAV PILKEY