Since 2020, Excel by Eight has mobilized Arkansas businesses to identify workable solutions that address the three critical elements of the child care crisis – accessibility, affordability, and quality – and its impact on the state’s current and future workforce. Beginning in early 2024, the formalized business coalition meets quarterly to discuss policy goals ahead of the Arkansas State Legislature’s 2025 general session.
Quality child care is essential to a thriving Arkansas economy, and business has long been overlooked as a key component of solving the child care challenges in Arkansas. Working parents need safe, reliable, and affordable child care to build successful careers, remain contributing members of the workforce, and support their families.
Representatives from more than 80 businesses, nonprofits, and chambers of commerce across the state have joined forces to participate in this effort:
- 100 Families Garland County
- 100 Families Sebastian County
- ACE Glass
- Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
- Arkansas AFL-CIO
- Arkansas Business Publishing Group
- Arkansas Community Action Agencies Association, Inc.
- Arkansas Community Foundation
- Arkansas Community Foundation – White County Affiliate
- Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
- Arkansas Impact Philanthropy
- Arkansas Northeastern College
- Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System
- Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center
- Arkansas State Chamber / Associated Industries of Arkansas
- Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce
- Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce
- Big Oak Tree Media
- Broken Yet Beautifully Made
- Building Bridges Developmental and Community Services, Inc.
- C.B. King School (all campuses)
- Camden Regional Chamber of Commerce
- Central Arkansas Library System
- Central Christian Academy
- Child Care Aware of North Central Arkansas
- Child Care Aware NWA
- Child Care Aware of West Central Arkansas
- City of Fayetteville – Department of Economic Vitality
- Community Services Office, Little Rock
- Conway Area Chamber of Commerce | Conway Development Corporation
- dot2dot consulting
- Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County, AR
- Economic Opportunity Agency of Washington County
- Education Partners
- El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce
- Excel by Eight
- Excellerate Foundation
- Farmers Bank & Trust (Mississippi County)
- Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce
- Fifty for the Future (Little Rock)
- Goodwill Industries of Arkansas
- Heart of Arkansas United Way
- Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic
- Hot Springs Women’s Leadership Alliance
- Jackson Law Firm
- Level 5 Architecture
- Little Rock Regional Chamber
- Magnolia-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce
- McGeorge Contracting Co., Inc.
- Methodist Village Senior Living (MVSL)
- MHP/Team SI
- Milbank
- Mississippi County Regional Chamber of Commerce
- Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce
- Nabholz
- NEA Town Courier
- Northwest Arkansas Council
- NWA Family Child Care Association
- Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness
- Pilgrim’s Pride
- Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects
- Port of Little Rock
- Red Head Farm LLC
- Revolution Company
- River Valley Adult Learning Alliance
- Rockwater Village
- Rogers Lowell Chamber
- SafeHaven Security Group, LLC
- SHARE Foundation
- South Arkansas Regional Hospital
- Springdale Chamber of Commerce
- St. Bernard’s Healthcare
- Statements for the Home
- Stephanie Thompson Inc.
- Tha Diva of Hair
- The Peacock Group
- The Toro Company / Intimidator Group Division
- UA Cossatot
- United Way of Northwest Arkansas
- University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College
- Walton Personal Philanthropy Group
- Washington County Collaborative Local Leads
- Wilson & Associates, PLLC
- Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
- Women’s Foundation of Arkansas
Excel by Eight looks forward to working with you to advance policy that impacts child care in Arkansas. Please complete this form to be a part of our coalition of businesses, nonprofits, chambers of commerce, and philanthropic organizations that agree that early childhood education is critical to the recruitment and retention of Arkansas’s current workforce and the development of its future workforce.
News and Resources
Child Care Policy Options for Businesses
Many states have enacted cost-sharing and tax-credit policies that help employees cover the cost of child care. View a summary of child care policy options to learn more about the eligibility requirements, cost-sharing method, and funding process for programs in Iowa Kentucky, Michigan, and Tennessee and to see what tax credit options are available in Arkansas and other states.
Business Coalition Slide Deck
View a master slide deck for the business coalition to learn more about the importance of early childhood education to children’s brain development and how the lack of accessible, affordable, high-quality child care threatens workforce recruitment and retention in Arkansas.
News Media Coverage
- Business, nonprofit coalition searching for solutions to childcare crisis | Talk Business and Politics and Capitol View
- Arkansas employers, chambers join forces to tackle childcare crisis | Arkansas Money & Politics
- Excel By Eight works to solve childcare needs | KUAF 91.3 FM Ozarks at Large
- Excel By Eight meets to discuss child care crisis | KNWA Fox 24
- News in Brief: Bloc aims for better employee child care | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- Interview with Randy Zook, Arkansas State Chamber, and Angela Duran, Excel by Eight | Capitol View
- Statewide coalition battles child care crisis | Hot Springs Sentinel-Record
- Angela Duran Commentary: Working to Improve Child Care in Arkansas | Arkansas Business
- Executive Q&A: Helping Families Thrive with Excel by Eight Director Alison Williams | Arkansas Business
- The State of Women in Arkansas | Little Rock Soirée
- The Child Care Conundrum: Economic Realities for ALICE Families | Arkansas Business (sponsored content)
- Opinion: Chance to Thrive by Guest Writers Crystal Johnson, Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce and Angela Duran, Excel by Eight | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- Guest Column by Randy Zook, Arkansas State Chamber | Child Care in the Workforce: Issues May Seem Unrelated But Deserve Equal Attention | Arkansas Money & Politics
- Guest Column by Brandom Gengelbach, Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce: Addressing the childcare crisis | Talk Business and Politics
