About Us

The Community Programs Department was established in 1996 with a mission to address quality of life issues and to provide a greater array of social and human services needed and desired by citizens. This milestone achievement was the culmination of efforts that started in 1988 with a $10 million grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to establish and underwrite the organization, New Futures for Little Rock Youth, which began to create the environment necessary for serious consideration of youth issues. That was followed in 1991 with a Fighting Back grant of $5 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This grant allowed the City of Little Rock to establish a base of substance abuse services and programs. In 1994, a citizen-based goal-setting process called FUTURE-Little Rock recommended - and the citizens passed - a ½ cent sales tax to permanently designate City funds to sustain and administer prevention, intervention and treatment programs, in addition to other major city initiatives.

The Community Programs Department followed soon thereafter and has served as the administrative arm for programs in education, health and safety, youth development and training, prevention, intervention, treatment, and supportive services. These efforts were recognized nationally in 2001 when the National League of Cities presented Little Rock with an Innovation Award for the creative strategies it uses to finance the Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment programs that benefit the community overall and youth specifically.

Community Programs Staff

Dorothy Nayles Director Laura L. Lavender Administrative Coordinator Ernestine Blunt Senior Program Monitor Barbara Osborne Community Programs Manager

Marq Golden Programs Coordinator  Eleanor Louis Administrative Technician  Marie Boyce Resource Specialist  Adrian Harris Anti-Tobacco Coordinator