In September 2007, WRF’s Board of Directors made a bold statement by approving the Moving the Needle plan. No more low expectations, was the Board’s central message.

It committed the Foundation’s resources not just to address poverty in Arkansas, but to actually reduce it. Not simply to support education in the state, but to increase the number of residents prepared to work, attend college, start businesses, and otherwise take care of their families and communities.

The plan approved that day assured the state’s nonprofits that the Foundation was clear about their importance, and reaffirmed WRF’s non-negotiable value that strong communities are the building blocks for a prosperous state. We committed to move the needle on the data and circumstances of people and communities in every corner of the state.