The Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter has been chosen to receive a 2-year grant totaling $38,000 from the United Way of Northwest Arkansas as part of its Children Living in Poverty Initiative. United Way of Northwest Arkansas President, Kim A. Aaron, states, “By working with local nonprofit organizations like the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter and making strategic investments at critical points in a child’s life, the United Way expects to propel a child along a path of prosperity that ultimately lifts a child permanently out of poverty.”
The program supported by the United Way will create an opportunity for NWAWS to support local elementary and middle school students who have been identified as at-risk or living in a home where domestic violence is occurring or has occurred. It will also allow for more teacher training on mandated reporting and domestic abuse so that teachers are better prepared to identify and assist children coming from abusive homes. Partners of the program include Rogers Public Schools, University of Arkansas School of Social Work, Rogers Police Department, Children’s Advocacy Center of Benton County, and Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center. The program will pilot in two RPS schools in the 2018-2019 school year.