Women and their families in Arkansas will now benefit from Kansas City-based United WE’s comprehensive research, successful programming and impactful policy initiatives to further their economic advancement and civic leadership opportunities thanks to a Walton Family Foundation grant to United WE.
The grant will fund non-partisan research specifically focused on childcare licensing conducted in partnership with the University of Arkansas Office of Education Policy. The research findings will be used to advise policymakers and other decision-makers to improve the lives of Arkansas women and families across the state.
“Our goal is to generate impact, and we believe this grant will help improve the lives of women in Arkansas,” said Wendy Doyle, President & CEO of United WE. “We’ve worked for years to successfully improve the economic and civic leadership opportunities for women in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma through our research, programming and policy changing initiatives. We look forward to achieving similar results in Arkansas.”
As part of United WE’s Midwest Policy Lab initiative, the organization is working closely with local and state policymakers to spotlight Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas as model states for advancing women’s economic and civic leadership. The Walton Family Foundation grant will fund a 18-month project that will begin in fall 2024.
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Arkansas women continue to face serious obstacles in achieving equality with men. They also are not attaining equality with the average woman in the U.S. In fact, the state is at the bottom third (ranked 39th) of all states for political participation, and Arkansas drops to 50 th in two measures of women’s economic strength: economic autonomy and employment and earnings.
For future updates and progress on the grant, visit www.united-we.org.