Local pregnancy resource center receives grant
LITTLE ROCK – All but two of 29 Arkansas pregnancy resource centers that applied for a taxpayer-funded grant to support their services will each receive some or all of the money they requested, according to data from the state Department of Finance and Administration.
The department will distribute nearly $973,000 of the available $1 million this month, spokesperson Scott Hardin said.
The grant supports the often religiously affiliated “crisis pregnancy centers” as well as adoption agencies and maternity homes. A condition for eligibility is that the facilities encourage pregnant Arkansans to give birth and do not perform or affiliate themselves with abortion in any way.
Many of the applicants want to use the money for digital and physical advertising, as well as baby supplies, rent and utilities, part-time or full-time staff salaries, and birthing and parenting classes, among other things.
Among the 21 centers will receive the entire amount they requested:
- Hope’s First Choice, Hope: $10,218
- Pregnancy Resource Center for Southwest Arkansas, Arkadelphia: $39,919
- Pathways Resource Center, Texarkana: $40,200
The Legislature previously passed the first law creating the grant in 2022, and 23 facilities received funds between September 2022 and January 2023; 21 of the same facilities applied for the new grant in November.
The Finance Department has not yet decided whether or how to distribute the grant’s remaining $27,000, Hardin said Wednesday.