Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative (ACPI)
SGFF piloted the first career pathways program in partnership with Southeast Arkansas College and the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges in the summer of 2003. The pilot represented a new model for delivering post secondary training to lower income adults. In 2005 SGFF initiated and helped lead, along with the Governor's Office, Arkansas's participation in a National Governors Association policy academy which eventually provided state funding to replicate career pathways programs at eleven colleges in Arkansas. ACPI is now a state-funded $12 million per year initiative of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education with 25 colleges and technical institutes participating.
www.arpathways.com
The Aspiring Scholars Matching Grant Program
Based on a proposal from SGFF, the Arkansas General Assembly authorized this pilot program which provides a state match to the savings lower-income families deposit into 529 college savings accounts. These accounts can be used to pay for qualified college expenses and investment earnings are not subject to federal or state income taxes.
Learn more about the Aspiring Scholars program
Individual Development Accounts (IDAs)
SGFF played a major role in the creation of the state's IDA program. IDAs are matched savings accounts for working poor families who are trying to buy their first home, make improvements to their home, pay for postsecondary education, or start their own business. SGFF successfully increased IDA funding from $550,000 a year to $1.7 million a year during the 2007 legislative session, which should enable statewide access to IDAs. Adding the latest Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Assets for Independence match, and tax credit dollars, IDA funding is now over $2 million.
Need-based Financial Aid for Adult Students
SGFF in collaboration with several key higher education policymakers helped increase funding for the Arkansas Workforce Improvement Grant program from $500,000 a year to $3.71 million a year during the 2005 legislative session. The program provides scholarships to working adults who are at least 24 years old, are enrolled at least 3 credit hours, and demonstrate financial need. See the Arkansas Department of Higher Education for more information.
Minimum Wage Increase
SGFF was part of Give Arkansas A Rai$e Now, a coalition of faith, community and nonprofit organizations that successfully advocated for an increase in the state minimum wage. Arkansas’ minimum wage increased to $6.25 an hour effective October 1, 2006—the first increase in the minimum wage in nine years. An estimated 127,000 Arkansans benefited from this wage increase. Arkansas was the first state in the South in which the Legislature increased the minimum wage to a level higher than the federal minimum wage. Arkansas’ minimum wage remained higher than the federal minimum wage until July 24, 2008, when the federal wage increased from $5.85 an hour to $6.55 an hour. Employees subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws are entitled to the higher minimum wage rate.
Payday Lending
SGFF was a founding member of the Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending (AAAPL) coalition that has played a central role in raising awareness of payday lending issues in Arkansas since 2004. Michael Rowett of SGFF’s Policy program has served as the coalition’s Chairman since January 2007. On March 18, 2008, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel ordered payday lenders licensed and regulated in Arkansas to cease operations based on two Arkansas Supreme Court rulings which indicated payday lending violates the Arkansas Constitution’s cap of 17 percent annual percentage rate on consumer loans. The number of payday lenders in Arkansas declined by 43 percent (from 237 to 136) in the months following the order, and the Attorney General has stated his long-term goal is to eliminate payday lending from Arkansas.
www.StopPaydayPredators.org
