CE CEN C EN E NT TER TE ER FO ER FOR COMMUN CO MM M MUN U NIIT TY & ECONO EC E CON ONO O NO N OMIC OM IC DE D EV EVE VE E EL LOP LO PM MEN ENT
To our partners, funders, and supporters for making 20142015 another successful year! With your assistance, UCA’s Center for Community and Economic Development was able to increase its impact in communities across the state of Arkansas. Together we were able to build the capacity of local leaders to identify their assets, prioritize opportunities, and implement effective development programs. The university’s commitment to lifelong learning and public service has made it the ideal environment for the Community Development Institute, which just marked its 29th year as a regional leader in economic development training. Combined with progressive leadership from the public and private sectors, Conway is becoming known as a leader in community and economic development throughout the state and the region. Through our collective work we have the potential to shape the future of Arkansas communities. Looking forward, the 20152016 year will be marked by an increase in regional training opportunities in Arkansas, with a renewed focus on the needs of elected officials. New technical assistance services and planning for the 30th annual CDI will also be a major focus. I hope you enjoy reading this report as much as we enjoyed doing the work. In service, Amy Whitehead
Mission To have a positive impact on communities by: • Equipping leaders with economic tools and resources, • building consensus to achieve community goals and, • bringing UCA resources and communities together.
Vision We envision communities with robust economies, a flourishing quality of life, and diverse and engaged citizen leaders.
Values The Center strives to develop relationships with leaders and communities that are based on: • Trust and respect • Local action that fosters consensus-building, community ownership and empowerment, transparency, and inclusion • An asset-based approach focusing on local strengths as the foundation for success The driving principle behind the Center’s work is that community development facilitates economic development.
Our Work The Center works with community leaders and organizations throughout Arkansas, including: • Elected officials and government agencies • Chambers of commerce • Local and regional community/economic development agencies • Non-profit organizations • Any individual or organization committed to improving the quality of life and economic vitality of Arkansas communities • UCA students
2014-15 At a Glance: • Launched a redesigned, user-friendly website • Developed a free resource guide for Arkansas communities • Grew social media engagement and audience • Started the first community and economic development blog in Arkansas
403 people participated in training events
25 articles
featured the Center
394
community leaders received technical assistance
710
people attended presentations by the Center’s staff
Over 100,000 raised through grants, contracts, and sponsorships
The Center dedicates itself to offering three pillars of service to those we work with: training, technical assistance, and student engagement. Training events completed in 2014-2015 made the year a successful one. The Center teamed up with numerous partners to offer diverse training events to community leaders. Below is a sample of the training events hosted by the Center.
Talks & Boards Kicking off the 2014-2015 training season, on October 9, 2014, the Center, UCA’s Division of Outreach and Community Engagement, and featured speaker Steve Landers held “Talks & Boards.” This innovative session was designed for veteran and aspiring entrepreneurs to receive relevant advice from other successful entrepreneurs. The free event was attended by 150 local entrepreneurs, UCA faculty, and students. Participants engaged in an interactive mind-mapping exercise, facilitated by Matt Hampton with Elevate Youth Entrepreneurs System, to explore ways to better develop an idea or product for market. “Talks & Boards” fostered connections between current and upcoming entrepreneurs and created an avenue for entrepreneurs to help entrepreneurs.
Community Deliberation: Solving Problems at the Grassroots Level
Malcolm Glover, an award-winning journalist, partnered with the Center to hold a workshop that discussed key strategies to understanding group concerns and using deliberation as a tool to connect with the community and other stakeholders. Attendees learned how to become an effective moderator, facilitate discussions with diverse groups, and inspire civic action through creative forums that rally people to a cause. This session was designed to be highly interactive. Glover allowed participants to engage in a mock group meeting to immediately apply the tips from the workshop. Over 20 non-profit leaders, elected officials, community and economic developers, chamber officials, grassroots activists, educators and workshop facilitators attended the workshop held on November 14, 2014 at the Brewer Hegeman Conference Center.
Faulkner County Economic Development Boot Camp The Faulkner County Economic Development Boot Camp was modeled after the Center’s premiere community and economic development training program, the Community Development Institute, and was the first Economic Development Boot Camp held by the Center. To support recovery efforts in Faulkner County and to give back to our community, the Center offered this unique training opportunity free of charge for community leaders in Faulkner County. The Boot Camp was held Friday, May 8 at the University of Central Arkansas’s Brewer Hegeman Conference Center and was attended by 35 community leaders representing Vilonia, Mayflower, Greenbrier, and Faulkner County. The Faulkner County Economic Development Boot Camp included sessions on Economic Development 101, Marketing and Branding, Community Development Musts, the Role of the Local Official in Economic Development, Business Retention and Expansion, Site Selection, and a regional scenario planning simulation. Upon completion of the boot camp, participants were awarded a certificate of completion signed by UCA President Tom Courtway. Thank you to Steve Jones with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, Jon Chadwell with the Newport Economic Development Commission, and Jamie Gates with the Conway Development Corporation for helping make this event possible.
Community Development Institute Over 100 community leaders from Arkansas and surrounding states participated in the 29th Annual CDI at the University of Central Arkansas. Keynote speaker Wendy Benscoter, Project Manager for downtown Shreveport, Louisiana’s new Creative Cultural District and the Shreveport Common, discussed the power of creative placemaking in community redevelopment efforts. She drew upon her previous experiences to apply creative placemaking to Shreveport, Louisiana. The Shreveport Common was awarded the most Innovative Community Development project in the US by the National Development Council (NDC) Academy. Other highlights of CDI 2015 include a new tour of Hendrix Village for the Year 2 Class and a keynote presentation by Mike Preston, Executive Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, during the closing ceremony. In addition to the Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 classes, CDI alumni assisted the city of Heber Springs in kick starting a local planning and development process during the 2015 Advanced Year class. The institute, held August 3-6, taught participants how to effectively assess their communities, build local capacity, collaborate on development efforts, and set goals to improve their community’s quality of life and p place. CDI C I would CD woul wo uld d like likee to to give g vee a special gi speeci cial al thank tha hank nk you to its Presenting Sponsor Entergy.
Other sponsors we would like to thank include:
2015:
CDI
New Advisory
Board Members The CDI Advisory Board was established in 2002 to assist UCA with development of CDI curriculum, marketing and promotion, resource development, and external stakeholder support. We are proud to announce that three new board members were added during 2014-2015:
Jon Chadwell Jon is the Executive Director of the Newport Economic Development Commission. He is a 1997 graduate of CDI.
Sasha Grist Sasha is the Executive Director of the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District. She is a 2012 graduate of CDI.
Mike Philpot Mike is Executive Director of the West Tennessee Industrial Association. Mike is a 2008 graduate of CDI.
Thank you to all CDI Advisory Board members for their outstanding service! The complete list of board members can be found at www.uca.edu/cdi/advisory-board.
Presentations
The Center’s staff also participated in various training events and conferences held by various organizations around the state by presenting on topics such as development, social media marketing, and collaboration techniques. A few of the presentations are heighlighted below.
UCA Economic Development Efforts On November 13, Amy Whitehead, Director of the Center, traveled to Louisiana and spoke at the Louisiana Industrial Development Executives Association Annual Conference. She shared information about the Center, training opportunities, and how UCA is involved in the community and economic development sector.
Social Media Marketing for Community and Economic Development Director Amy Whitehead presented “Social Media Marketing for Community and Economic Development” to 30 community and economic development professionals at the Arkansas Community Development Society’s 2014 pre-conference. Her session, held on October 29, covered the basics of social media marketing.
Effective, Action-Oriented Collaboration Techniques The Center’s Director Amy Whitehead and Assistant Director Josh Markham presented at the Arkansas Division of Community Service and Nonprofit Support’s The Summit 2015 on April 30, 2015. At the 40th annual conference, Amy and Josh led a group of more than 40 non-profit, volunteer, and philanthropy leaders through their presentation “Effective, Action Oriented Collaboration Techniques.” The session focused on the critical collaborations and partnerships between non-profits and other organizations.
Technical
Assistance
Community Development Kick Start – Paris, AR
Over the past year, the Center has worked with U of A Division of Agriculture and its Breakthrough Solutions Program, led by Dr. Mark Peterson, to continue the 2014 CDI Advanced Year program in Paris, Arkansas. Work in Paris has included several monthly community forums. At these forums, the community identified core values and a vision for the group’s efforts; community action groups were organized; and the community action groups worked through the Breakthrough Solutions Action Process. The community action groups moved forward with a variety of improvements to community education, community branding, and quality of life. From the time the planning process began in August 2014 until the community plan was unveiled in May 2015, the citizens of Paris celebrated the following successes: • The installation of the Eiffel Tower Park in the downtown square, including a replica of the Eiffel Tower, a water fountain, stage, and signage. • The development and adoption of a new brand and logo identity to be utilized on a variety of promotional materials. • State approval to begin a satellite workforce training center, which will provide much needed skills training to the workforce in the local economy, supporting the labor needs of local industry. • The announcement that Rethink Storm Shelters would be located at the same site as the workforce training center, an empty manufacturing building located within Paris city limits. The Center’s work with Paris culminated with the creation of the Paris In Action plan, a strategic document that will carry Paris through economic and community development improvements over the next several years.
Long-term Tornado Recovery Efforts Faulkner County, Arkansas In addition to the economic development boot camp hosted in May for Faulkner County community leaders, the Center provided a variety of technical assistance services to Faulkner County communities that were impacted by a devastating tornado on April 27, 2014. Technical assistance included: • • • •
Funding partner for comprehensive planning process in Vilonia and Mayflower. Hosted and participated in tornado recovery coordination with local, state, and federal agencies. Coordinated and hosted a benchmarking tour of Arkadelphia, AR for Faulkner County officials. Assisted the city of Vilonia with branding development.
First Impressions Tour – Greenwood, AR The Center conducted a First Impressions Tour (FIT) assessment in Greenwood, AR. FIT pinpointed community strengths and opportunities by assessing the city’s physical, social, and economic infrastructure and through an assessment of the community’s online presence. The Center’s staff identified five potential long term opportunities for the city. One of the opportunities identified was the potential to create a Business Retention and Expansion program; Greenwood continued to work with the Center to develop this program.
First Impressions Tour – Clarksville, AR The Center conducted a First Impressions Tour (FIT) assessment for Clarksville, AR. Travis Stephens, President/ CEO of Clarksville Johnson County Economic Development, stated, “The First Impressions Tour was a highly effective tool in helping our citizens discover how to better market their community. It allows residents the opportunity to walk in the shoes of a visitor and to understand how to enhance and really maximize an outsider’s overall experience while visiting their community.” The Center’s staff presented the FIT findings to chamber of commerce members, city officials, and Clarksville community leaders and identified 12 “Next Steps” for the city to explore.
BR&E Program - Greenwood, AR The Center developed and assisted in the implementation of a Business Retention and Expansion Program (BR&E) for the city of Greenwood. The BR&E Program, housed through Greenwood’s Chamber of Commerce, aims to sustain and grow the city’s economic base. Greenwood’s customized BR&E Program is the first to be offered by the Center. The Center provided the city with all implementation tools to develop a BR&E Program, including: a BR&E Toolkit, Team Member Toolkit, checklist, customized communications strategy, business invitation letter, confidentiality agreement, survey instrument, warning signs worksheet, and satisfaction survey. The Center offers this new service to small and mid-sized communities in Arkansas. Thank you to Sherry McDonnell and Entergy Arkansas for guidance and assistance in developing this toolkit.
The Center partnered with Talk Business Magazine to collect and analyze economic data for twelve Arkansas cities. The Center completed its work with the Imagine Central Arkansas Partners Sustainable Communities Planning Process. The Center began contributing monthly articles to the Arkansas Municipal League’s City and Town magazine. The monthly articles concentrated on community and economic development in Arkansas. Articles published thus far cover topics such as collaboration at the local level, community branding, and community success stories around the state. UCA and the Center would like to thank the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation for its continued support through a grant for $84,000. This grant is intended to support the Center’s efforts to build the capacity of municipal and non-profit leaders through regional trainings and place-based technical assistance through 2018. As a part of WRF’s Moving the Needle 2.0 Strategic Plan, the Rural Community and Economic Development Grant will seek to strengthen Arkansas communities by: • providing regional trainings on community and economic development issues for rural, municipal, and nonprofit leaders with an emphasis on regional coordination, • providing direct training and capacity building to rural Arkansas municipalities, • advocating for effective policy solutions in support of rural Arkansas communities, • and organizing and deploying graduate and undergraduate level community development scholars to support municipalities and nonprofits. If you would like to keep up with our grant progress or request assistance under the grant, please visit www.uca.edu/cced and our social media platforms.
Amy Whitehead: • Led search for new UCA Director of Admissions • Continued service on: Arkansas Community Development Society board, Community Development Council board of directors, Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Board, Houseaboutit, Small Cities Summit planning committee, and the Breakthrough Solutions Advisory Council
Josh Markham: • • • •
Completed the Mid-South Basic Economic Development Course Selected as UCA Employee of the Quarter Graduated the Faulkner County Leadership Institute Accepted an adjunct faculty position in the Master of Science in Community and Economic Development
Shelby Fiegel: • • • •
Started at the Center on October 16, 2014 Completed the Mid-South Basic Economic Development Course Elected to UCA Staff Senate Completed CDI Year 1
Ella Selfridge: • Graduate Assistant for the Center • Pursuing her Master of Science in School Psychology at UCA
Three interns also served on the Center’s team throughout the 20142015 year: Jordan Frederking, Ida Lee, and Sarah Burns.
Contact Us 501.450.3460 cced@uca.edu uca.edu/cced