AAIMH honors Angela Duran with inaugural Outstanding Contributor Award
We are thrilled to announce that our executive director, Angela Duran, was honored with the inaugural Bonnie Limbird AAIMH Outstanding Contributor Award at the Arkansas Association for Infant Mental Health’s 2024 conference. The conference, themed “Small Steps, Big Impact: Advancing Solutions for Young Children with Trauma,” emphasized the crucial role of prenatal care and the first three years of life in fostering healthy social-emotional development.
Excel by Eight hosts Spring 2024 Learning Community
Representatives from our E8 communities came together in April for our semiannual Learning Community. The agenda for the two-day event focused on identifying resources to support the development and implementation of their community plans, specifically in the areas of early care and education, maternal health, and K-3rd grade literacy.
Lessons from the Top: Q&A with Jamie Ward
As the founder and president of Curricula Concepts Inc. and managing partner of Be Well Care Well, Jamie Morrison Ward is dedicated to fostering collaborative relationships and driving meaningful change within the field of early childhood education. She is committed to creating lasting positive outcomes for all involved, from educators and families to policymakers and community leaders. Jamie supports Excel by Eight Foundations’ work in early childhood education through her role as president of the Arkansas Association for Infant Mental Health. This association promotes the healthy social and emotional development of infants, toddlers, and their families.
In August 2023, just weeks after her 50th birthday, Jamie completed 29029 Everesting, a rigorous challenge where participants climb the equivalent of Mount Everest, or 29,029 feet, in 36 hours. The 36-hour climb and the training itself are as much a mental challenge as a physical one. We caught up with Jamie to talk about her experience and how the lessons from her journey to the top – all 13 trips – can be applied both in fitness and in her professional life.
Candace’s Story: The Impact of Doula Support during Pregnancy and Childbirth
At Excel by Eight, one of our goals is to ensure that all women receive complete, high-quality preconception, prenatal, and postpartum care. Candace’s experience highlights the importance of doula support in advocating for patients’ voices to be heard during childbirth. She shares how her doula, Nicolle Fletcher, provided crucial support during Candace’s challenging 36-hour labor, ensuring her wishes were heard. Access to doula care is essential for improving outcomes for mothers and babies.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs executive order forming a steering committee to improve maternal health in Arkansas
Today, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order to create the Arkansas Strategic Committee for Maternal Health. Excel by Eight looks forward to working alongside this steering committee to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies across the state....
Child Care Assistance Program expands to early childhood educators
Child care workers in Arkansas are now eligible to participate in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program. More than half of the state’s 1,900 licensed or registered child care or early childhood facilities currently participate in the program, making thousands of child care workers employed by one of these facilities potentially eligible for assistance.
Arkansas employers, chambers of commerce join forces to tackle state’s child care crisis
Since 2020, Excel by Eight (E8) 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. The formalized business coalition will meet quarterly to discuss policy goals ahead of the Arkansas State Legislature’s 2025 general session.
Jefferson County hosts Fall 2023 Learning Community
Representatives from each of Excel by Eight’s six communities came together in Pine Bluff for two days of relationship building, learning, and idea sharing at the Fall 2023 Learning Community. Thank you to the Jefferson County steering committee and the team at the Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative for being such gracious hosts!
8 Takeaways from the 2023 Excel by Eight Foundations Summit
In late October, the Excel by Eight Foundations Collaborative gathered in Little Rock with stakeholders and partners for a Summit to dive deeper into the goals and recommendations that have been developed by the collaborative’s working groups over the past year. This...
How an emphasis on early childhood helped usher in a $25 million investment for the city of Batesville
During an August 2023 special election, residents of Batesville voted overwhelmingly in favor of four ballot issues that marked a turning point for the city. These issues secured a $25 million investment for the expansion and improvement of the city’s parks and recreation facilities as well as an additional $110 million to go toward the construction of a new water treatment system. Opportunities to reshape a city’s infrastructure and enrich its social and recreational offerings without a tax increase seldom arise. But when they do, seizing these moments requires more than a stroke of luck; it demands collaboration, a willingness to learn, and data-informed planning.