Arkansas Employer
Child Care
Resource Hub
By 
Providing tools and resources to the Arkansas business community to help employers understand the array of options that better support the child care needs of their employees.
In today’s competitive labor market, attracting and retaining talented employees is a business imperative. The organizations that succeed are those that understand what drives employees to leave and invest in workplace policies and benefits that build trust, strengthen loyalty, and create a culture where employees are engaged, productive, and committed to staying.
41%
of working-age Arkansans are left on the sidelines of employment, a talent pool just waiting to be tapped.1
76%
of Arkansas parents have missed work in the last three months due to child care challenges 2
34%
of Arkansans said they or someone in their household has left a job, not taken a job or changed jobs in the last 12 months because of child care responsibilities.3
Retaining just
1%
of eligible employees can cover the cost of providing child care benefits.4
67%
of Gen Z workers know someone who wishes they could be in the workforce, but the cost of child care makes it too difficult.6
1St. Louis Fed , 2 & 3U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 2021 , 4Moms First, 2024 , 5KinderCare, 2024
Child Care Solutions
No single solution can meet every child care challenge facing Arkansas’s working families. The strongest strategies combine complementary approaches that expand access, improve affordability, provide flexible options for unexpected or nontraditional scheduling needs, and help employers support parents through every stage of their child care journey.
We can help you get started
Explore resources to building your case for child care or contact us for more support.
Success Stories
Explore examples of Arkansas employers who have successfully invested in or implemented child care solutions and the resulting impact on their organizations.
Business Coalition Members
Representatives from more than 90 businesses, nonprofits, and chambers of commerce across the state have joined forces to participate in this effort.
About the Toolkit
Since 2020, Excel by Eight has mobilized Arkansas businesses in the form a Business Coalition 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. Quality child care is essential to a thriving Arkansas economy and businesses can play a key role in expanding access to child care for employees.
Our strategic partners
Ingeborg Initiatives is on a mission to empower mothers in the state of Arkansas by improving maternal health, advancing women’s economic opportunity and expanding access to quality care and early learning opportunities for children. Ingeborg Initiatives partners with organizations that are reimagining the economics of childcare in order to increase access to care for families and to improve the quality of early learning opportunities in Arkansas.
Excel by 8 and its business coalition members, the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce / Associated Industries of Arkansas and the Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, are part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Early Childhood and Business Advisory Council. This relationship allows Arkansas to draw on the Foundation’s thought partnership to address child care challenges in an Arkansas context.
Excel by 8 is grateful to the Alliance for Early Success, who funded Grace Reef of the Early Learning Policy Group, as part of its Responsive Support Network, to develop the Arkansas Employer Toolkit, the predecessor to this resource hub. The Alliance is a national nonprofit that works with early childhood policy advocates at the state level to ensure that every child, birth through eight, has an equal opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed.