In spring 2023, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the Arkansas LEARNS Act into law. The LEARNS Act is comprehensive, creating a suite of changes that affect the state’s education system. One of the requirements within the LEARNS Act is to improve the experience of families and providers by establishing local early childhood lead organizations. LEARNS calls for local early childhood leads for each locality in Arkansas who is funded to make and execute the plan for their area on how to use available resources to best prepare Arkansas children for Kindergarten. These organizations are charged to: 

• Support access to early childhood programs
• Identify gaps in services
• Foster local partnerships
• Create alignment among public and private providers and agencies within the community
• Establish a comprehensive, locally supported plan for providing early childhood programs and services. 

The second cohort of local early childhood leads has been selected! The Office of Early Childhood in collaboration with the Arkansas Department of Education selected 13 organizations to represent an additional 36 counties across the state. Alongside cohort 1, local leads now cover 65 of the 75 counties in Arkansas. These organizations will be responsible for establishing a comprehensive, localized plan to ensure children and families can access high-quality early childhood education in their communities. Please see below for which organization covers your county! If you do not fall within a county selected for Cohort 1 or 2, a final cohort will be selected by the fall. That means every county will have a local lead by October 2024.

The 21organizations will cover the following catchment areas:

 

Local Early Childhood Lead Organization	Counties Served	Contact	Email
Arkansas River Education Cooperative	Jefferson, Arkansas, Cleveland, and Lincoln	Cathi Swan	swanc@aresc.k12.ar.us
Arkansas State University, Child Care Aware	Chicot, Desha, Woodruff, Saint Francis, and Lee	Elizabeth Coakley	ecoakley@astate.edu
Child Care Aware of Northwest Arkansas	Benton	Destiney Baxter	dbaxter@nwachildcare.org
City of Little Rock	Little Rock	Jennifer Glasgow	jglasgow@littlerock.gov
Conway School District	Faulkner	Keisha Jefferson	jeffersonk@conwayschools.info
Crowley’s Ridge Education Cooperative	Craighead, Poinsett, Crittenden, Cross, and Jackson	Wendy Green	wgreen@crmail.k12.ar.us
Dawson Education Cooperative	Clark, Pike, Hot Spring, and Grant	Shasta Pentecost	shasta.pentecost@dawsonesc.com
DeQueen Mena Education Service Cooperative	Montgomery, Polk, Howard, Sevier, and Little River	Karen Garner	karen.garner@dmesc.org
Guy Fenter Education Cooperative	Crawford, Franklin, and Logan	Gwen Couthren	gwen.couthren@wscstarfish.com
IMPACT Independence County Foundation's Excel by Eight Collaborative	Independence	Jamie Rayford	jamie.rayford@batesvilleareachamber.com
Mississippi County Arkansas Economic Opportunities Commission, Inc.	Mississippi	Shirley Pulliam	shirley.pulliam@sbcglobal.net
National Park College, Child Care Aware	Dallas, Garland, Perry, and Saline	Brandon Massey	brandon.massey@np.edu
Northcentral Arkansas Education Cooperative	Fulton, Sharp, Izard, and Stone	Sandy Massey	sandy.massey@northcentralcoop.org
Northeast Arkansas Education Cooperative	Lawrence, Randolph, Clay, and Greene	Chrissy Sain	csain@nea.k12.ar.us
Ozarks Unlimited Resources Education Service Cooperative	Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Marion, Johnson, Newton, and Searcy	Anne Cowie	acowie@oursc.k12.ar.us
Russellville School District	Pope	Jenny Barber	jenny.barber@rsdk12.net
South Central Arkansas Education Cooperative	Calhoun, Ouachita, and Union	Zephonia Avant	zephonia.avant@scscoop.org
Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative	Hempstead, Nevada, Miller, and Lafayette	Katlin Niemeyer	katlin.niemeyer@swaec.org
Washington County Collaborative	Washington	Brandy Wolfenbarger	bwolfenbarger@washcolocalleads.com
University of Arkansas at Fort Smith	Sebastian and Scott	Shelli Henehan	shelli.henehan@uafs.edu
White River Planning and Development District, Child Care Aware	Conway, Cleburne, and White	Debbie Mize	dmize@wrpdd.org

Resources for local leads:https://ardoe-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/jennifer_douglas_ade_arkansas_gov/EXe3UaA8iItHulnOwsMdyd0BlLSXCpsYT5emjV8EEB1zgg?referrer=Outlook.Web&referrerScenario=email-linkwithembed

• Budget and Staffing Information
• Sample GMS Budget
• Phases of Responsibility Resource
• 2024-2025 Milestones Calendar
• Resources Landing Page
• Cohort 2 Templates:
  • Provider Collaboration Template
  • Provider Collaboration Template Example
• Cohort 1 Webinar Slides:
  • November 2, 2023
  • November 15, 2023
  • December 13, 2023
  • January 17, 2024
  • February 7, 2024
  • March 6, 2024
  • April 3, 2024
  • May 15, 2024
  • June 11, 2024
• Cohort 2 Webinar Slides:
  • May 3, 2024
  • May 16, 2024
  • June 13, 2024
• Commissioner's Memo RFA Local Leads Cohort 3
• August 29, 2024 at 10:00 am Informational webinar for interested applicants
• Cohort 3 Local Leads Application
• Cohort 3 Local Leads RFA Release Informational (PDF) (Video)

For more information, please contact: