Established in 1999 by the vision of Dr. Dean Kumpuris and other civic and corporate leaders of Little Rock, the Arkansas Commitment Program is a nonprofit organization created to identify academically talented African-American high school students throughout central Arkansas and guide them to become leaders of society at large as well as within the African-American community. Its primary mission is to assist these students in acquiring the knowledge, skills and professional experience necessary for effective community leadership. This is achieved by numerous workshops and events related to continuing one’s education, leadership and life skills conducted by community and business leaders, standardized test preparation, an extensive college search process specific for individual students, and a selective internship program.

1999

The ultimate goal of Arkansas Commitment is to ensure future diversity in every aspect of the Arkansas community and to retain one of Arkansas’ most valuable resources – its young people.

While not all members will return to Arkansas after college to pursue their careers, we endeavor to develop a sense of responsibility to their home state and community. We also believe experience will demonstrate to our members that, given what Arkansas offers them, they will often be better off and accomplish more living and working here than elsewhere.