The University District Partnership will host a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the Jack Stephens Center’s Legends Room and will ask neighbors and educators to discuss the “State of Our Kids,” particularly the children living and going to school in the neighborhoods around the UALR campus.

Participants will be asked their impressions of the greatest challenges facing kids in the district today and over the next several years, with emphasis on public education and academic achievement. Other topics to be discussed include identifying and describing existing educational and childhood development assets and how they can be used more effectively.

The meeting’s theme, “State of our Kids,” signals the start-up of a new initiative, the University District Education Network. Julie Hall, a former Little Rock School District teacher and more recently a program coordinator at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, will lead the effort.

Working with public schools that serve the University District area, as well as community and faith-based organizations that provide in-school and extended-day programs within Bale, Franklin and Wilson Elementary schools, the network also will work with UALR colleges and departments to leverage University resources for the benefit of area children.

One of those departments, UALR Children International, already provides services to 2,780 students, kindergarten through 12th grade. It works with seven partner elementary schools, seven middle schools, and five high schools.

Several other UALR departments already either provide or advise programs that benefit area schools. The goal of the University District Education Network is to build a network of support to help children who live in the area realize their academic potential.

For more information about the UD Educational Network, contact Hall at 501-569-3186 or jchall2@ualr.edu.