Expansion of Education Organizing in the Arkansas Delta

About this grant

According to recent statistics, Arkansas ranks 49th among the states in college attainment, 50th in the education level of its manufacturing workforce and 49th in science and engineering graduate students. Communities throughout the state have long raised issues related to poor education including low graduation rates, substandard teaching materials and poorly qualified staff. Although these issues cut across racial and income lines, poor African-American communities are hardest hit by these realities. Funding will enable the Arkansas Public Policy Panel (APPP) to implement a program to build a constituency of community leaders working at both the local and state levels to achieve high quality schools in Arkansas. Program objectives include strengthening new community groups working in the Delta; organizing six new groups in 15 Delta counties; developing an organizing and leadership core that can frame education issues, help the community build strength to win on a reform agenda and lay the foundation for a statewide organization; and linking local community groups and the developing statewide organization with public policy organizations, advocacy organizations and researchers to increase their understanding of and influence on public education policy at the local and state levels.APPP, founded in 1962, works to build a citizen constituency capable of participating in the public policy debate on the state and local levels.