Once upon a time, child care centers in Little Rock met basic, minimum requirements to be licensed by the Arkansas Department of Human Services as a center. Above and beyond the licensing requirements, centers could choose to participate in Better Beginnings, a voluntary system administered by the Arkansas Department of Human Services that sets a quality rating of the enrolled child care centers. Better Beginnings distinguishes the quality of each Arkansas childcare center by a one-, two- and three-star rating system, with a three-star rating representing the highest quality standards and a one-star rating representing the minimum quality standards.
Once upon a time, there were 130 licensed childcare centers in Little Rock that served infants and toddlers from ages 0-3. Of these 130 centers, 37 met the minimum licensing requirements and did not participate in the Better Beginnings system. The remaining 93 centers participated in the Better Beginnings. Only 18 of these 93 were at the three-star level, meeting the highest quality standards; 70 were ranked one-star, with the remaining five centers ranked as two-star.
Once upon a time, the average annual cost of infant care in Arkansas was $5,995 — that’s $500 per month. Childcare for two children — an infant and a 4-year-old — costs $10,990. And those are the annual average costs for all quality levels of child care centers. The typical family in Arkansas would have to spend 23.4 percent of their income on childcare for an infant and a 4-year-old. A minimum-wage worker in Arkansas would need to work full time for 19 weeks, or from January to May, just to pay for child care for one infant.
Once upon a time, low-income families were eligible for childcare assistance. The assistance was in the form of a voucher paid directly to a childcare center that enrolled a child whose family qualified for assistance. Some, but not all, eligible low-income families received childcare assistance. On the waiting list were 320 families in Pulaski County with babies ages 0-3 that qualified for childcare assistance.
Once upon a time in Little Rock, only 33 babies ages 0-3 from low-income families who received the voucher for childcare assistance were enrolled in three-star, high quality centers in Little Rock. Only 11 of the 18 three-star centers in Little Rock participated in the voucher program. Centers that accepted a large number of voucher payments as their primary source of income could hardly keep the lights on and the doors open, and certainly could not meet high quality standards required to be a three-star center. Other centers limited the number of voucher children they enrolled, or they participated in the program but simply could not enroll any voucher children, or chose not to participate in the voucher program at all.
Every day in Little Rock, babies at three-star, high quality centers were safe, loved and nurtured. They thrived and flourished.
Every day in Little Rock, too many babies were at centers that did not provide an enriched, loving, nurturing environment. Too many babies ages 0-3 were not thriving; they were not flourishing.
But one day, Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church (PHUMC) and St. Luke United Methodist Church (SLUMC) in Little Rock were engaged in discussions to possibly merge and become one community of faith with two campuses, one at PHUMC, located in the nice part of town, and St. Luke, located in southwest Little Rock, an area of town very different from the neighborhood where PHUMC was located. The Children’s Learning Center (CLC) was a three-star high quality center at PHUMC. Nearly all of the families whose children attended PHUMC CLC paid the full tuition price. PHUMC CLC enrolled some babies whose families received childcare assistance, accepting the voucher as tuition payment. Like many three-star centers, PHUMC CLC did not need to advertise or market the center because it constantly maintained a waiting list of more children than it had the capacity to enroll. The merger of PHUMC and SLUMC involved plans to open a children’s learning center at SLUMC, a center much like the high quality one at PHUMC that would serve low-income families.
Because of that, in the summer of 2016, a small grassroots group watched the documentary The Raising of America Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation. The group was primarily members of PHUMC, as well as individuals who were not members of PHUMC.
Because of that, the small grassroots group learned about ACEs and the devastating effects they have on the developing brains of children ages 0-3. The group learned how incredibly critical a safe, loving, nurturing, enriched environment is for babies ages 0-3 and how such an environment during those early years lasts the baby a lifetime. Healthy, loving, enriched environments provide the foundation for happy, healthy lives. The grassroots group learned the question is not “What is wrong with you?” The question is “What happened to you?” The grassroots group knew not just babies but also their families must be served with wraparound services like medical and health care, maternal depression screenings, GED classes, parenting resources, financial literacy resources, etc.
Because of that, awareness of ACEs spread to the members of PHUMC and SLUMC. During the four Sundays of February 2017, many of the adult Sunday School classes at PHUMC learned about ACEs, trauma, toxic stress and the crippling costs of child care for too many parents. During the same four weeks, the reverends delivered sermons at PHUMC and SLUMC based on The Raising of America documentary at five different services each Sunday, for a total of 20 sermons.
Until finally, PHUMC and SLUMC merged, becoming one community of faith with two campuses. They raised funds to renovate existing space at SLUMC for a children’s learning center. St. Luke CLC partnered with Early Head Start, a program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences that receives federal funding for high quality centers serving babies ages 0-3 from low income families.
An advisory council for the St. Luke CLC formed to meet the unique needs of St. Luke CLC. Members of the advisory council were experts in fields such as early childhood education, pediatrics, population health, child psychology, family medicine, social work, and others. The most current data, information and best practices specific to ACEs and resilience informed the advisory council. Such information included the ACEs questionnaire, the resilience questionnaire, and national data released in October 2017 ranking Arkansas the highest in the nation for children suffering from ACEs. The advisory council held strategic planning sessions to create the mission, vision and goals for St. Luke CLC. The mission, summarized and paraphrased: Love Children, Love Families, Change the Community.
In January 2018, St. Luke CLC/Parent Resource Center opened its doors.
We do not yet know the end of the story.
But imagine …
And ever since then, love and hope and faith prevailed in Little Rock. St. Luke CLC/Parent Resource Center served as a model for other centers in Little Rock. Babies who attended St. Luke CLC were kindergarten ready. In third grade, they were reading at grade level. They graduated from high school. As adults, they were model citizens, bona fide members of the gainfully employed. SLUMC CLC babies soared.
All childcare centers in Little Rock were of the highest quality, regardless of the zip code or neighborhood where they were located. Centers were of a sufficient number and capacity that all babies in Little Rock had a space at a center. There were no more lists of families waiting for a space to open at a high quality center. Childcare costs were capped at a maximum of 8 percent of a family’s annual income. At least 90 percent of children in Little Rock experience no adverse childhood experiences from birth to age 4. And the same percentage of children from birth to age 4 are more than simply resilient – they flourished and soared.
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