The Arkansas ACEs/Resilience Workgroup has engaged the spring 2018 UA-Little Rock Master of Public Administration capstone class to produce a research and analysis report to help guide the workgroup as it develops its Collective Impact common agenda. Collective Impact is the workgroup's framework for action.
The class of 13 students, which also includes Nonprofit Management Certificate and MPA/JD concurrent students, has been working since January on the following activities:
1. Conduct a stakeholder analysis of the workgroup to identify the level of current engagement by workgroup members and to make recommendations for increasing engagement and recruiting stakeholders from missing or underrepresented sectors.
2. Review ACEs-related legislation in comparative states to identify potential workgroup legislative priorities for the 2019 regular session of the Arkansas General Assembly.
3. Analyze ACEs-specific frameworks such as Trauma-Informed Community Building, Building Community Resilience, and All Children Thrive and organize comparisons of each frameworks' components in a crosswalk format to help workgroup leadership determine which framework/elements to incorporate into its strategies and activities.
4. Survey what other states and communities are doing to address ACEs and build resilience and make recommendations for best practices.
The class facilitator is Dr. Kirk Leach, assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs and coordinator for the Center for Nonprofit Organizations.
Students will present their findings and recommendations to the workgroup's leadership April 26, and will also issue a written report.
Working with the capstone class has been a win-win for both the workgroup, which gets the benefit of free consulting services, and the students, who will now have knowledge about ACEs science and an understanding of how it affects public policy and service delivery as they embark on their careers in public agencies and nonprofits.
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