In Eureka, Arkansas, an ever-growing after-school program demonstrates that by supporting kids, a community can tap into an often-ignored source of strength: kid power. Elizabeth Bartlett reports on how Eureka Kids is creating teen leaders and community-minded young people.

In national measures of public health, Arkansas consistently ranks near the bottom, with high rates of heart disease and obesity. But a broad new effort aims to change that, starting with kids. Rob Capriccioso reports.

Arkansas is the laboratory for an experiment in pushing children's issues to the top of the political agenda. Caitlin Johnson reports on the work of Every Child Matters, a new non-profit advocacy organization with national ambitions.

Our mission is to recruit and train community volunteers to stand up in court for abused and neglected children.

The mission of this organization is to ensure quality prenatal care and parenting education for pregnant or parenting teens in Madison County.

The mission of the Merlin Foundation is to provide advocacy and lobbying for children, women and families.

The mission of Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families is to protect and promote through research, education and advocacy the rights and well-being of Arkansas children and their families, to assure that they have the opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives.

As guiding principles in accomplishing our mission, AACF adopts the following statements. In short, the principals relate to the simple beliefs that every child is entitled to grow up in a family; that every child is entitled to a safe and stable home; that every child has a right to grow up healthy; and that every child is entitled to an education.

Over the past two years, many states tried to balance their budgets by increasing sales and excise taxes, which disproportionately burden low-income working families. At the same time, advocates struggled to improve state Earned Income Tax Credit policies to give these families tax relief. 2005 may offer opportunities to create effective state EITCs, according to this State EITC study. The report summarizes advocacy efforts in Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah, and offers strategies for all states.