This issue was published on March 16, 2026.
This week, Arkansas Business published its first issue focused on parents in the workforce, highlighting how child care challenges impact businesses, families, and Arkansas’s economy.
The issue features an Executive Q&A with Excel by Eight Executive Director Angela Duran, along with additional coverage of employer strategies and research shaping the conversation. Stories include how FM Bank & Trust and Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic are using child care benefits to support employee retention, insights from the Port of Little Rock’s recent employee child care needs study, and findings from a statewide report on working mothers and child care produced by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas with support from Ingeborg Initiatives.
The coverage reflects growing attention to the role of child care in workforce participation and reinforces ongoing policy conversations around the importance of affordable, accessible child care for working families.
“The state’s role is to create the right incentives and infrastructure so the market works for families. That includes policies that encourage businesses to invest in child care solutions for their employees, incentives that support pediatric providers in delivering early screenings, and funding structures that prioritize prevention and early intervention. Child care and early health are not simply family issues; they are economic imperatives.”
Angela Duran
Executive Director, Excel by Eight
Explore the March 16 digital edition of Arkansas Business (subscription required).
