ARKANSAS SINGLE PARENT SCHOLARSHIP FUND PROGRAM
Education. Empowerment. Employment.
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Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Currently, 17% of Arkansans are living in poverty, including 1 in 4 children. For people to move out of poverty, Arkansas needs more jobs with better wages, but attracting jobs is difficult when we're 44th in the nation for high school completion and 49th for working-age adults with education beyond high school. Employers looking to expand or relocate expect a ready workforce which Arkansas struggles to provide. Not surprisingly, most families living in poverty are single-parent households, the vast majority led by single mothers. In South Arkansas and the Arkansas Delta, single female-headed households make up over 39% of ALL families, and over half the children are currently living in poverty. By focusing our efforts on supporting single parents' education, we help the present situation while also investing in future generations. To quote one of our earliest volunteers, “when you help single parents out of poverty, they bring their children with them.”
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Scholarships for Single Parents
Financial support is granted to eligible applicants currently enrolled in a career focused degree or certificate program with a goal of graduating and obtaining professional employment. Scholarships may be used for both, educational and living expenses.
Where we work
Awards
NonProfit of the Year (Finalist) 2021
AR Business Publishing Group
NonProfit Executive of the Year (Finalist) 2021
AR Business Publishing Group
Charity Navigator 2021
Four-Star Charity
GreatNonprpofits.org 2021
Top Rated NonProfit
Charity Navigator 2022
Four-Star Charity (91%)
GreatNonprofits.org 2022
Top Rated Nonprofit
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Average financial aid award per FTE student
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Scholarships for Single Parents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2018 - 2021: The amount of the scholarship for full-time students. Beginning in 2022, we are reporting the average monetary award per student, inclusive of emergency funds, grocery stipends, etc.
Total dollar amount of scholarship awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Scholarships for Single Parents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of program graduates
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Scholarships for Single Parents
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of single-parent scholarships awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Scholarships for Single Parents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our ultimate goal for the single parents we serve is multi-faceted:
* Graduate into sustainable employment
* With little to no educational debt,
* Secure professional employment at a family-supporting wage,
* Move their family out of poverty, and
* Successfully manage their new higher income.
Traditional scholarships are awarded to the institution and placed in the student's account at the school. These funds help with tuition, fees, and miscellaneous other expenses at the school, but do nothing to help with the extraordinary financial burdens
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Strategy 1: Provide financial assistance to single parents enrolled in career-focused college degrees or skilled trade programs. The parent may use these funds in whatever way they need to help them stay in school, making progress toward completion of their program. This might be textbooks, fees, or school supplies, but it could just as easily be rent, utilities, or groceries.
Strategy 2: Provide personal and professional development opportunities throughout the year. While the student is in our program, s/he may avail themselves of various workshops from 1 - 2 hours long to full-day classes. Topics include work-related skills in the areas of job acquisition (resume writing, interview skills, dress for success, etc.) and soft skills (communication, problem solving, teamwork, leadership, etc.), and personal growth related skills like eating healthy on a budget, homebuying 101, stress management, etc. All of these activities are free for the parents to attend, most include a meal or snacks, and many include a gift card awarded at the end to offset the cost of gas or a babysitter.
Strategy 3: Create strong relationships through mentoring, coaching, and celebrating success. ASPSF is not one of those scholarship organizations that review an application and mail a check. We know each of our students. We meet them in scholarship interviews, we call and email, we celebrate each student and scholarship at an Awards Ceremony in front of the student's children and guests, we celebrate each graduation/
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
ASPSF has been doing this successfully for the past 31 years.
We have committed partners and funders and an excellent reputation across the state.
We have a staff of 19, all of whom directly support our students and the success of our program.
The five members of our Senior Staff have over 70 years of experience in non-profit human services.
We have a committed Board of Directors with Board attendance near 100% and active Board committees.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
From 2017 - 2019, we transitioned into a new organizational structure to allow us to serve more single parents better. Moving from an organization of 62 loosely connected affiliates, we now operate in 10 regions with program staff living and working in each region and a central state staff supporting everyone in the areas of finance, communications, IT, and fund development. Since this transition, scholarships have increased each year, and we've been able to raise the amount of our scholarship awards three times.
We increased scholarship amounts again in Fall 2023 and awarded a record amount of emergency funds when more than 20 of our students were affected by a March '23 tornado in Central Arkansas. All lost all their perishable food due to the extended power outage, and several lost their homes and cars. With a rapid response and financial and emotional support, all affected students finished that semester and four graduated that May.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is hard to come up with good questions to ask people
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
ARKANSAS SINGLE PARENT SCHOLARSHIP FUND PROGRAM
Board of directorsas of 11/03/2023
Ms. Betsy Baker
Rose Law Firm
Term: 2022 - 2023
Mike Weaver
Southern Bank
Sunshine Bartlett
Arvest Bank
Adelene McClenny
NWA Community College
Jean Block
Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority
Ryan Morrow
The Ste
Ventrell Thompson
Entergy Arkansas
Ray Winiecki
South Arkansas Community College
Maret Cahill Wicks
Arvest
Michael O'Bryan
University of Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute
Mark Steenhoek
The Stephens Group
Eddie Thomas
AR Div. of Workforce Services
Sharmane Andrews
Simmons Bank
Daniel Brewer
The Abbe House Inn
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 07/28/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.