Amanda Curcio
Freelancer
Freelancer
I freelance for the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network while working fulltime with the Army National Guard. Until June 2019, I worked as an investigative reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Before moving to Little Rock in August 2016, I wrote for the Tallahassee Democrat, a Gannett paper, and covered K-12 education, crime and courts. I was a 2018 Center for Health Journalism National Fellow and produced "Juvie: Lost Time," an investigation into what kind of rehabilitation and after-care services the Arkansas Division of Youth Services provides to youth in detention.
My past work experience includes 11 years in the U.S. Army as an intelligence analyst and time as a public school teacher through Teach For America.
I am the executive director of the nonprofit Chamber Music Society of Little Rock. I'm also a first violinist in the community string orchestra.
Soon, Arkansas won’t jail kids for longer than six months, in most cases, state officials said Friday.
Hundreds of Arkansas children are thrown behind bars every year. Most haven’t committed a violent crime. Worse, the conditions they face in detention are abysmal.
How a family-services program in Arkansas, known as FINS, criminalizes adolescence and entrenches children in the juvenile justice system.