Pulaski County is making major strides in addressing employment barriers and creating opportunities for long-term economic success. At a recent meeting of the 100 Families Initiative, community leaders, state officials, and nonprofit organizations came together to explore innovative solutions in workforce development.
The 100 Families Initiative is a community-led initiative to help families move from crisis to stability and onto career using existing community resources.
Pulaski County participants enrolled in the 100 Families Initiative's collaborative case management software have seen an 88% increase in employment among participants in the past year. This success was attributed to the collaboration of community agencies, caseworkers, educators, and advocates who come together as “care teams” to serve families holistically.
“We get to make a difference in families' lives,” Deanna Walderns of the 100 Families Initiative emphasized how data translates into real human impact—like a mother of six who secured permanent housing or a 16-year-old who went from juvenile court to tutoring and stability.
“Our government has been serving pieces of people. Fingers, toes, knees, elbows—but not the whole person.”
Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers, Chief Workforce Officer for the Office of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then introduced LAUNCH, a new platform developed to streamline access to jobs, training, and wraparound services across Arkansas. Unlike traditional portals, LAUNCH integrates over 30 disparate websites into a single user-friendly system, enabling a more holistic approach to workforce engagement.
“Our government has been serving pieces of people,” said Rogers. “Fingers, toes, knees, elbows—but not the whole person.” LAUNCH changes that.
Through a “six-clicks-to-solutions” design, users can build personal profiles, receive curated job recommendations, connect to local services like transportation and childcare, and even demonstrate skills for employers through competency-based credentials.
The platform’s goal is clear: move people from unemployment to sustainable employment, from crisis to career. It’s already active, with over 33,000 jobs posted and new functionalities for students, providers, and employers on the way.
Goodwill Industries of Arkansas is a central partner in the employment ecosystem. Edie Stewart, Senior Vice President and Chief Mission Officer, and Jherrithan Dukes, Vice President of Education and Training, were present at the meeting to discuss the breadth of Goodwill’s mission programs.
Goodwill’s Excel Center—the only adult high school in Arkansas—serves adults aged 19 and older seeking to earn a high school diploma, often while enrolled in concurrent training programs like welding, medical assisting, and pharmacy tech. The Goodwill Academy offers industry-recognized credentials in skilled trades, tailored to connect graduates directly to employment opportunities.
“We aim to be their first ‘yes,’” Stewart explained. “Our goal is employment. And everything we do is built to support that.”
Goodwill’s reentry program, which supports individuals transitioning from incarceration, offers paid employment and work readiness training.
During the panel discussion, audience members and panelists echoed the most pressing barriers facing Arkansas job seekers:
Criminal background histories, which limit access to stable employment.
Lack of childcare options that align with work and training schedules.
Transportation gaps, especially for those without access to reliable vehicles.
Digital literacy, which hinders navigation of job platforms and online applications.
Awareness of available opportunities and resources.
Dukes emphasized the importance of clarity and simplicity in how services are presented to job seekers: “Let’s simplify. People don’t need more fliers and websites—they need answers.”
The synergy between city resources and state initiatives like LAUNCH presents a unique opportunity for alignment.
Rogers underscored the importance of coordination: “We don't need to reinvent services—we need to connect them. Let’s move from surviving to thriving.”
The vision shared at the meeting is ambitious but attainable: a future where no Arkansan has to navigate employment barriers alone, and every person—regardless of background—has access to the resources they need to thrive.
Visit the LAUNCH website: https://jobseeker.launch.arkansas.gov/
Visit the Goodwill Industries website: https://www.goodwill.org/
Smart Justice is a magazine, podcast, and continuing news coverage from the nonprofit Restore Hope and covers the pursuit of better outcomes on justice system-related issues, such as child welfare, incarceration, and juvenile justice. Our coverage is solutions-oriented, focusing on the innovative ways in which communities are solving issues and the lessons that have been learned as a result of successes and challenges.
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