Rosslyn Elliott

If you’ve never visited our Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library, you need to know about this unique treasure in the heart of Little Rock. The CALS Children’s Library was designed in a six-acre natural setting to help young people learn about the natural world and sustainable living.

In the 21st century, we’re all reinventing ourselves every day to learn how to live in a digital world. We seek new ways to work and to create in a new economy. We want to find meaningful relationships, teach our children and help our communities, even though the resources we use have changed. We’re all constantly writing and rewriting our own stories — stories of dreams and human potential. And those stories need new digital resources, new meeting spaces and new opportunities

It’s hard to say what’s more moving about a record-sealing clinic: the faces of those people who just got a fresh chance, or the kindness of the crowd of volunteers and staffers who showed up to help them start over. All our partner organizations came together to achieve one goal: assist people to seal away minor criminal offenses from their public records—offenses often committed a decade or more in the past.

Stained, a little battered, but still working—the typewriter of famed Arkansas author Dee Brown has emerged from our archives. The machine now reposes grimy and authentic under glass at the CALS Dee Brown Library. It may even be the typewriter Brown used to write his shattering, iconic history of the American West, BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE.

It can be easy to take women’s health needs for granted: many of us women can walk into stores, purchase any feminine hygiene supplies we need, and spend the day as comfortably as possible with the supplies of our choice. But for women suffering from serious financial challenges, job loss, or homelessness, that simple need for supplies can turn into a source of great anxiety and daily shame. Now, CALS is partnering with Arkansas Women’s Outreach to bring to women in our community the supplies that grant comfort and dignity for their menstrual health.

David Johnson loves bowling and has trophies to prove it. He loves the Arkansas Razorbacks. And now, thanks to his work in art classes at CALS, a caring family, and a dedicated health care professional, David also has a passion for art. David is 35 and has Down Syndrome, which presents him with a different set of abilities and challenges than most people. David also has an infectious smile, which comes out when he poses for a picture with his finished works of art.

In the past twelve months, Be Mighty Little Rock has created an unprecedented partnership of many organizations across Little Rock in order to help kids, teens, and their families. Our staff here at CALS administered the program, and with the help of crucial partners, Be Mighty connected kids and teens with nutritious meals after school and throughout the summer months. Be Mighty meal sites serve young people all year round, but summer months are a special high-risk time for food insecurity. Kids who ordinarily get much of their nutrition through school meals during the school year may face family challenges during the summer that leave them hungry.

Need to find a giant mallet to use just once for a fence you’re putting in at home? How about some wire cutters or a voltage meter? Whether you need to do some painting, drywalling or those bushes need pruning, you can find the tools to do it at the new CALS tool lending library. You can even use a machine to read your car’s engine codes! Located at the CALS Dee Brown Library in Little Rock, the tool library allows any card-holding CALS patron 18 and older to check out up to 5 tools at a time, or 3 power tools.

Reaching Out to Make Contact Through the Library’s Archives Today’s world holds two Koreas: one, a free, democratic society, the other, a tyrannical dictatorship known for human suffering worse than any Orwellian dystopia. For many Americans, it may be easy to forget that a major reason South Korea exists in freedom today is because of the sacrifices of many of our citizens who fought in the Korean War. But for one Arkansas teenager, the veterans of the war will never be forgotten. Victoria Hw

Sparkling paper trees and cottony snow made a snazzy backdrop for holiday photos at Children’s Library last Friday, but the photos weren’t with the guy in the red suit. Instead, kids and grinning adults got to meet a very different Christmas character—the GRINCH.

This fall, Fletcher Library has a new birdwatching area created in memory of a nature-loving young man, Alan Ross Kumpe. Meredith Ross, Alan’s mother, initiated the gift and was joined by Alan’s father, Peter Kumpe, and Alan’s brother, Elliot Kumpe, for the dedication on November 12. Though Alan left the world too early, his memory will go on in the lovely and educational space that his family has enabled through their donation and the contributions of friends and supporters.