Out of poverty
Agency cooperation eases burden
Despite an unemployment rate that is almost a full percentage point below the national average, Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the nation.
Its median income is among the lowest in the country, and it ranks among the 10 worst states in terms of poverty and lack of health-care coverage. Compounding this problem, fewer than 20 percent of Arkansans have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher.
How can a state so deeply entrenched in poverty begin to dig its way out?
The Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative was developed as an innovative tool to help Arkansans fight their way out of poverty. The initiative is the result of a partnership begun in 2005 between the state departments of Higher Education and Workforce Services to tackle the state’s high poverty and low education rates. We have found that greater integration and cooperation among state departments and agencies can help the citizens of our state achieve economic security.
Career Pathways provides low-income individuals with a comprehensive set of academic and support services in order to earn a degree or the credentials needed to acquire a high-demand, high-paying job. In addition to career training and college classes, participants may also receive other benefits, such as textbooks, child care and transportation.
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education provides administration of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds from the Department of Workforce Services. This unique partnership has allowed the state agencies to work together to more efficiently address the needs of low-income Arkansans.
This approach benefits families in two ways that we believe other states can replicate.
First, it streamlines the administration of resources and benefits, allowing low-income individuals to receive services through one simplified program that provides basic skills training, job-search services, remediation, advanced skills training in high-demand occupations, and college credentials.
Before the initiative began to serve clients in the fall of 2005, two-year colleges, work-force entities, socialservice providers, community- and faith-based organizations, adult-education providers and economic-development agencies operated in relative isolation from one another.
The second benefit of this model is that it can be individualized to meet the needs of each student. Different families need different supports as they work toward self-sufficiency, and programs of this nature allow the participants to access the specific resources that can help them the most.
Because participants are working toward a determined career path, Career Pathways is able to tailor its program to meet the needs of each student and provide them with the specific resources that will help them best achieve their goals.
Since 2005, more than 27,000 students have enrolled in the Career Pathways Initiative and earned more than 24,000 certificates and degrees. Ninety percent of our participants are female custodial parents. Student success rates are 10 points higher than other community-college students, and all mandated performance measures have been met or exceeded.
There is no doubt that families need multiple supports in order to make their way out of poverty. In addition to a well-paying job, social services, skills training, child-care subsidies and many other resources are needed to achieve long-term financial security.
Whereas families may have found the administration of these resources confusing and repetitive in the past, Career Pathways has helped Arkansans escape the red tape that often hinders low-income families from receiving these critical services.
Greater cooperation at the state level leads to better service delivery at the local level. In order to help individuals in poverty, states must restructure their resources.
When state agencies and departments work together, low-income families win.