Ep. 15 - Region-First Growth: Robert Burns on Shaping Northwest Arkansas

Growth is a massive regional win, but unmanaged expansion quickly turns into a infrastructure and talent leak. As populations spike, civic leaders face the ultimate balancing act: keeping a booming economy running efficiently while protecting the unique social fabric that made people want to move there in the first place. We sit down with Robert Burns, the home region program director of the Walton Family Foundation, to discuss exactly how a world-class philanthropic organization strategically deploys capital to support sustainable growth across specific regions.

We get into the tactical execution of the foundation's newly released 2030 strategy, mapping out actionable approaches to physical infrastructure, career-connected learning, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Robert breaks down the importance of relationship density, showcasing how cross-industry collaboration keeps talent pipelines full in rapidly developing areas like Benton and Washington counties. We also dive into the operational mechanics of grant evaluations, discussing how key performance indicators and true stakeholder alignment transform high-level concepts into localized community development programs.

A scaling region requires more than just high-level economic theory; it takes massive investments in the literal nuts and bolts of municipal utilities, regional transport networks, and localized workforce upskilling. True community development happens when you look at the human element of growth, realizing that the individuals who live closest to a specific challenge are always the ones equipped with the most sustainable solutions. Viewers will walk away with a fresh systems-level framework for managing rapid community growth without diluting regional culture or identity.

If you care about regional economic development, strategic philanthropic grant making, and building sustainable civic pipelines, you will get a lot from this conversation. Subscribe to the channel and share this episode with someone working to build stronger, more inclusive local communities. For those watching, what unique strategy or grassroots initiative does your hometown use to welcome new residents while honoring long-standing traditions? Let us know in the comments.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

This is Central to NWA, a UCA podcast. I'm your host, Paul Gatling, and we are bringing the University of Central Arkansas to Northwest Arkansas. Each episode, we will talk with leaders, alumni, and innovators driving this region forward. People who are shaping industries and defining what is next for our state. Let's get started. All right, we are back with another episode of Central to NWA UCA Podcast. Paul Gatling here with you, and joining us today is a good friend of mine for our 15th episode, Robert. And we've got conversations again, we've got conversations with um, you know, UCLA, UCA alums. We've got about 4,000 in the two county area, but also people who are not Central Arkansas graduates, but they are business and civic leaders here. Uh and so Robert, you know, he is uh uh one of those people. He's uh he's quietly uh involved in a lot of important conversations that are shaping northwest Arkansas. Uh and he's here with us today. Robert Burns, home region program director of the Walton Family Foundation. Very exciting. Thank you, Paul. No, my pleasure. Glad to see you and uh glad to be invited. Well, and I I should mention too, he's also uh a friend. You've been here about five years now, right? Yeah, a friend. We see each other at, you know, maybe the farmers market or or Blake Street, but he is also somebody that indulges me in and that I could have a good conversation about one of my personal life passions, North Carolina Tar Heel basketball. This is uh a guy that I could talk about the Tar Heels.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

That's right. I think actually one of the first times I saw you, Paul, you had a uh North Carolina shirt on, and I said, Well, well, what's that about? And then you said it because it's not something I see here that often. And Paul knows this, but I I grew up uh in North Carolina and my father taught at UNC. My mom worked at UNC, so I was a died-in-the-wol fan at that point.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

That's all I needed to hear. When you said that, I'm like, hey, I need to know this guy. Absolutely. He's he's talking my language. So, well, Robert, you know, we'll get into uh, you know, a lot of different things over the next uh 30 or 40 minutes here. But for people who do who maybe know you or know of you, but may not know exactly what you do for the foundation, uh, what does the home region program director actually do? Sure. Um glad to be able just to explain a bit of that.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yeah. So at I'll start with the bigger picture is the Walton Family Foundation uh is a family-led foundation, and and I have the great honor and privilege of working with Walton family members uh related to the work in home region. And the foundation has three core programmatic areas education, which is national, environment, which is international and domestic, and then home region, all of which have a director. And I am fortunate to lead the home region program. I have a wonderful team, uh, wonderful committee that I work with. And in terms of the work of home region, it is focused on five counties. Uh, four of those counties are in Arkansas, and one is in Mississippi, and I'll explain a bit of that. Okay. We focused in northwest Arkansas on the counties of Benton and Washington. And then we also have had a long-standing commitment to the Mississippi Delta. And in the Delta, we focus on work in Jefferson County, which is Pine Bluff and many other smaller cities, uh, Phillips County, which is Helena, West Helena, a number of other smaller communities. And then we crossed the river to Kahoma County in Mississippi, uh, City of Clarksdale, and some other communities as well. And that history is longstanding because for folks that know that geography, a bridge crosses the Mississippi River there. So there's a lot of commerce and connection between those two counties that it has made sense to do work in that region. We have a strategy that focuses on Northwest Arkansas, and we have a strategy that focuses on the Mississippi Delta.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah. Okay. And we're gonna we're uh we're gonna get to all that and your foundation work and the strategy 2030 that's just been released. We'll talk about that. But first, I would really uh love for our listeners and our viewers here on the pod to learn a little bit more about you and your story. We hit on it a little bit. You're from North Carolina, your parents uh were worked on campus there in Chapel Hill. But just uh, you know, where did you grow up? What was that environment like?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Yeah, so I grew up um in the county where Chapel Hill is located, called Orange County. But I look the way I like to talk about it is I grew up rural because my family um had a long-standing tradition of having a small family farm. We raised a very small herd of beef cattle. And if you drew circles around the house I grew up in, you would hit cousins and uncles and family members. So uh we worked together on that farm and and had that operation for many years. Um, I still, when I go back home to North Carolina, that same feeling exists. A lot of my cousins and relatives live very close to that area. And uh had the best of both worlds because I had the into the city and town of Chapel Hill and then the rural nature, but I really credit the rural atmosphere and very much have a passion around rural America too. And that led me uh to something that was really interesting. My father, being a professor at UNC after I finished high school, uh, didn't want either my sister or I to go to UNC because that was where we grew up. So I had the great uh fortune of uh getting a scholarship and going to Appalachian State University up in the mountains in North Carolina. And after graduation, um, I was really fortunate that I'd gotten very interested in public service, public administration, the work of nonprofits, um, some work in philanthropy. And I uh went cross-country and was accepted to a program at the University of Kansas, which has a really well-regarded master's in public administration program. So I had that duality, um, and it gave me another like renowned basketball program. Uh I have since become a real fan of University of Arkansas basketball, too. So it follows me in many respects, and it's wonderful to have that. But I then worked uh for a while in local government, um, worked in some different localities, focused on city management, city planning, and then uh made a transition to work in the nonprofit sector. And a lot of that work has focused for me on housing, um, economic development, community development, lending for small business, entrepreneurism. And then I also had work in philanthropy during that time with an organization that granted dollars for mostly affordable housing around the country. And then um I have a stint in the private sector more recently before coming to the Walton Family Foundation, where I was working for Citigroup, based out of our DC office, and was working for them on both the philanthropic side and did some work with Citi on their impact investment side. And City being an international institution was eye-opening because got to do some related international work, particularly around microfinance and helping do some grant making there. Um, we were very fortunate that when the opportunity came about and a recruiter reached out about this job, I remember reading the description and just it really resonated with me because it was so many things that I'd worked in and had passion around and could really identify with. So that really started the course of working in um this role and making that journey. But we also, my partner Chris and I really wanted to get back to the heartland. Uh, we had lived in DC for a while. We had lived in Kansas City prior to that, which is where Chris's family is located. And it was just a wonderful opportunity to come back to a region that that we hold dear and where we have a lot of people that we relate to and family members that are just north of here in the Kansas City region.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

So yeah, you said it. So many experiences, nonprofit, public service, personal philanthropy, private sector, all of that that you're passionate about. What are what is the common thread through all of those experiences and through all of your resume up to this point?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Yeah, to me, it's um, and I think this is one of the themes I really hold out about the foundation too, is like access to opportunity. I think so much of the work that I've had the privilege to be engaged in is about giving people access to things and being a catalyst, whether I think of philanthropy as being something that's truly catalytic, that by the work that we are privileged to do is making a grant and then being able to then see the impact of that work to try to leverage others um in the region to to join in that effort. And we're really fortunate that we we live in a region that um does have the ability to do that from time to time.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

So you're contacted about this job in Northwest Arkansas. What was your you know the heartland, you know we're Kansas City, obviously you've heard of Northwest Arkansas. What was your um experience with Northwest Arkansas up until that point? Had you ever been here? Had you been there?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Um I had been been to Arkansas, um, mostly around the Little Rock area in the past, but I lived in the St. Louis area for a while and then the Kansas City area. So the the closest I had come to Northwest Arkansas was really around Eureka Springs, a place that had visited in the past and obviously is very close by and was captivated by its beauty and kind of uniqueness as well as a place. Um, I knew of a lot of the things happening in northwest Arkansas. I had followed the grows, had read a lot of the material about uh things that were happening here. I remember when Crystal Bridges opened, you know, now more than 15 years ago. But um, it was a region that kept appearing on list of best places to live, uh, areas of just real vibrancy. And I'm like, wow, this is an area that I that was very appealing. And then I remember our our first experiences in the region, which is continue to this day, is just the quality of the people. And this is something I talk about a lot, is just the the way in which I think so many people here honestly go out of their way to help each other. Um, and I think it crosses lots of different lines, which I I know from having lived in other places, that's not something you see everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

I call that um relationship density. We talk about density all the time, but it's not to me, it's not the population, it's the relationship density where there's so much crossover between the Fortune 500 silo and the nonprofit silo and the founder silo and the startups, and they're all wanting each other to succeed for various reasons. And it feeds into that. Uh, I want to help you succeed, but tell me what I can do to help you. Right. Um, which, you know, I've always lived in Arkansas, I've lived here half my life. I don't know what it's like other places, but you're saying it's not like that in a lot of places.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah, I don't, I think it is unique, and I I think it's an important part of the culture here. Um, it's something you'll hear thematically as we talk today, but uh I feel as as still somebody who's uh really embraced the area and love it. I mean, we love it here and we talk about it all the time. And uh we've had lots of visitors come who it's their first time ever in the state of Arkansas, and then of course the first time in northwest Arkansas. And I love when people come back. Um, we have a recent example where friends came to visit about a year and a half ago, and now their daughter's going to go to graduate school. Sure. Uh, because they became captivated with the region. They went out um and did uh rock climbing, hit some of the trails. Uh, and and I just I think those things um really are contagious to the region.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

I love to ask people like that, uh, well, you know, what was your preconceived notion of coming here before you came here and then ask them after they've been here a while, how does that square with what you thought it is? And it's always just you know mind blown and the eyes are open. It's like not what I thought, and and that sort of thing. Does this feel like home now for you and Chris? Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah. And I I I just think about that when we were coming back. We were recently coming back from uh a family wedding, and it was just like you when you get on that plane to come back, you're like, I'm coming home. Yeah, you know, this is home. I really value the community, the relationships we have built here. And I really identify with something you were saying, and Paul is I I think it is incumbent on all of us here is to do our best to connect people to each other. Um and I I just think that's such an important part of the social fabric of this country, but especially sets apart this region.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Right. All right, home. Let's stay on that word there. Um, home region, one of the three pillars you talked about. What does the home region um actually mean inside the foundation? You know, we geography, geographically you described it. What does the home region work mean?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah. So we uh you just you mentioned this a little bit earlier. We launched a new five-year strategy. Uh, we've been uh going public with that in the last two to three weeks and gives a chance today to talk a bit more about it. But um, every five years the foundation goes through, and I think it's a healthy exercise. Like, what are we working on now? What do we need to adapt? It's a very robust discussion with our stakeholders. It involves our partners, it looks at data uh from around the region, including the Delta. And then we look at areas that we need to focus on. So we recommitted um to Benton and Washington counties, given everything that's occurring here in this dynamic region. And we also recommitted to the work in the Delta, the three counties. We, in the last strategy, we had expanded to Jefferson County. So Jefferson was a new county for us, and we've seen some really heartening work there happening. So we have said we're gonna continue that work in Jefferson Phillips and Cahoma County. So our strategy for each um in Northwest Arkansas and the Delta are different, and they really are uh they're curated to each of those regions, and I think in a very responsible way, looking at the needs of each region.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

So I was reading it, um, you know, it's a big document, but I was kind of perusing it and reading it and getting ready for our conversation today. And uh, and a phrase that stood out to me was, you know, learn, earn, and thrive close to home. What what does that phrase actually mean in in practical terms in practice?

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah. So I'll I'll talk about that from the perspective of uh what I think is incumbent in the plan itself. So I'll I'll talk about the areas we focus on in this plan. So if you think about the vision in the plan for Northwest Arkansas, it's that this region is the most vibrant and welcoming in the U.S. And that's something that I think we are, and we want to continue to be and live up to that in the future. And for that effort, um, we look at four areas of focus. The first of those is physical infrastructure. Given the growth in the region, the demands on our infrastructure, whether that be a sidewalk, a road, a sewer line are increasing. So focusing on that. The second is around this idea of um connected communities, finding community. How do people who have lived here multiple generations find ways to engage volunteers, board service, meet each other, have that connectivity? How do people who are moving here within the last week find that same sense of welcome? How does the community work together to bring folks together? Um, how do you create space like in a park or a farmer's market or any type of gathering in the region where people can come together and maybe there's an accidental connection with somebody, or you may be talking to somebody from a community that you had not thought you might run into and have those accidental connections, which are really important. The country is facing um a significant challenge with loneliness. And I think these are measures that help combat that. I don't worry as much about Northwest Arkansas in that way, but I think we always have to think about how do people connect.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

I've um the accidental connections that I call collisions, and I've referenced that before, and I've ref I've said before, and I'll keep saying again, I think that is one of the unique things about our uh region of Northwest Arkansas is that the people that are here and are out. And um, you know, uh a podcast I saw, New Road Capital Partners, um, Stefan Stearns was on it with Matt Waller a couple years ago, and they were talking, you know, and he came from Manhattan, you know, moved here. And um, and so Matt was telling him, you know, how do you explain to your friends back home about, you know, one, why you came here, you know, and what's it like there, and how would you describe it? And he said something that stuck with me, and I've said it on this podcast before. He, he, he, his parallel was Northwest Arkansas is like your freshman year of college. Everybody has come here and they just want to meet people, and they're trying to meet people. And they're saying, Hey, where are you from? You know, what do you do? What brought you to Northwest Arkansas? And that's that really kind of stuck with me because that's that's kind of the way it is, is that because we do have so many people coming here from all over the world, uh, even more and more, and they just want to, you know, meet people uh and and make a network. So I think that's what's one of the things that makes our region unique.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah, and I appreciate it because I think it's it's really kind of you're hitting upon something that I think we need to be curious about each other. And that's part of what what I hear you saying there, and and uh I appreciate him saying that. Yeah. And I'll I'll finish out by just saying the two other areas of focus for us are around entrepreneurism and uh growing out further the entrepreneurial um ecosystem that exists here that really to me is founded on uh the principles of a lot of the companies that have grown up here. And this region has really birthed a lot of entrepreneurs over the years and now are some of the biggest companies, biggest company in the world. And then we've got a really robust and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem that uh we want to find ways to continue to grow that. We know that capital is a significant need, um, no matter what any region in the middle of the country in the heartland has done, that all a lot of the capital is really aggregated on east and west coast. And uh we can do more to bring that here. And I think there's good evidence of it. And the last one that I'll speak about is the uh career-connected learning. So, how do students in K-12, how do adults find pathways to jobs that they love, that they can earn in? And it gets back to this idea like, how do you thrive? If you put all of these things together, we think it makes both for a high quality of life, but also allows an individual and a family to thrive. Is it every ingredient? No, but these are really essential ingredients to a region that is gonna thrive in the future.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

So let's stay right there then. You talk about essential ingredients, Dan. And one thing we talk about a lot at UCA is um you know, workforce and talent development and talent pipelines. So, what what do um employers and civic leaders, what are they looking for right now? What did they need more of? What do, what, what, what sort of things do we need to prepare students for right now?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, we we had done a study that actually is on our material on our website a few years ago that talked about looking at the the districts throughout Northwest Arkansas. And there's a multiple districts, and of course, we have wonderful public school districts, we have great charter schools and private schools and parochial schools across the region. But when you looked at what students were afforded, many of the schools were still indexing very highly on ag related forms of uh career education. We still are a really robust ag region, so I'm not taking away from that. But when you look at that compared to career need, uh, our increased need, like a lot of regions, is in medical professionals. And that includes everything from nurses to allied health professionals to respiratory therapists.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

UCA, UCA, UCA. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

And I and I and I think part of that too is like how do you train those next generation? Technology is an incredible need. The hospitality sector has undergone tremendous growth here and probably will in the future, given the number of tourists coming here, the number of locals throughout the state that are finding their way to Northwest Arkansas, the growth in our hospitality industry is fueling that. So I think you're gonna continue to see some of that that transition occur.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah, and we and to you want to make sure you're training for the jobs that are a job today, but it's still gonna be a job in five years. And does our curriculum match that? Right. Are we are we are we preparing students for the jobs that are coming?

SPEAKER_01 21:23

So exactly it it means too that folks that may be in a role now, but they dream of another role in the future have the ability to upskill, to look at other ways to increase their skill level. So maybe they're doing something now, but they desire to be a welder, they desire to be a nurse, or they desire to work in one of the local restaurants. The great thing here is that you can find those pathways and you can find them in ways that enable you to get there fairly quickly.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

And so it sounds like one of the challenges is to make sure that, you know, we're a fast growing region, obviously, but to make sure the opportunity grows. Alongside the region itself because it's changing so rapidly. And that's one of the things that uh my work is focused on that we want to do is to make sure we have um we're we're finding opportunities for our graduates and our students in Northwest Arkansas, one of the fastest growing, most dynamic regions in the country. So is that a challenge that your work touches on as well?

SPEAKER_01 22:20

It does. I mean, I think it's it's it touches on multiple areas like that, which is I I say that very often, exactly what you said. I said, Yeah, I think a student or an adult would be hard pressed to find a region that's growing as dynamically as this region. We know that from data. We know that from the growth in the region, but the future to me is just very bright in Northwest Arkansas. I also think this area of focus means for a kid who is coming through school now, um, and this is something we are focused on too, is how do you expose kids, whether they be in the Delta or here in Northwest Arkansas, to make them curious about career pathways? Um, we know from a lot of research that the the way a kid finds out about jobs is usually the people they meet early on as a kid. Could be through church, it could be through family, it could be through your parents, but that influences what you're exposed to. So the further you can expose kids to here's some possibilities, and then they get to high school and they get to actually try some of these career fields out. We have some amazing programs here in Northwest Arkansas that enable you to do it. Um, that's great. And I think the other thing, I'll just say this is you talk to some of the students who have gone through some of the high school programs. And to me, one of the biggest benefits is they they take that program for a year and they find out, you know, I'm not sure I want to do that. I got this experience. Now I'm gonna try another career track. And I think that's a beautiful thing. Uh, I wish, you know, you look back and I'm like, wow, I wish I had some of those opportunities. Going back in high school, um, I love what I get to do now, but I think it's just awesome that kids get to be exposed and get to actually do work. They go out in the field, they actually get jobs in these fields that they think they might want to work in.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

What did you think you wanted to do when you were 15, 16 years old? Did you have a thought in your head of this is a direction I think I want to go?

SPEAKER_01 24:21

You know, I at that age, I think I was really interested, and I I still am fascinated by design and architecture. So I didn't go that direction, but when you think about cities and planning and design, I think there is a lot that goes into that. Um, so that that's something that always had resonated with me and still does. And I think that honestly is one of the things that also sets Northwest Arkansas and the state of Arkansas art is that we have so many wonderful examples of design in the region. And and I think it has influenced um the tasteful nature of a lot of design you see in the region. Yeah, you know, you even go back to like Faye Jones and his work in the region and the influence not only he had on Arkansas, but on the country as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Yeah, we you know, Fayevil, you know, can be, you know, described as a cradle of design, a cradle of architecture going to A. Jones and now up until today. And yeah, we we probably take for granted the you know the architecture that we're seeing come to life, even in just Bentonville. And um, you know, I'll give you you can put your architecture hat on for a minute. You've seen the you've seen the uh Crystal Bridges expansion. How would you describe it?

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Uh magnificent. I for folks that have been to the museum, uh, I just highly encourage them to go out and discover what the expansion means and what a what a gift to the region. And the fact that it's so expansive now. And to me, the museum itself, the design is part of the natural beauty and the setting is part of the natural beauty. I love how that space is both the outside and the inside. Um, and the fact that it's another really good example to me of a space that draws people together. Um, and and I know from even my own personal experience, you're exposed to art that that you may have never been exposed to or or not had the opportunity to see in the past. And it's so thoughtfully done. So highly encourage folks to to be able to go and see that. And um, you can say that about the buildings that have been built up adjacent to it, the new whole health institute. If folks haven't checked that building out, built by local school, local architects, the medical schools, um, the amazing, just even the trails and the structure that that connect all these places. I I I don't take that, I don't think a lot of people take it for granted, but I think it's easy to kind of look at it and just it's such I have such gratitude, such appreciation for that space.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Yeah. And uh one thing that people should realize that maybe they don't, I mean, that there are public elements to all of those spaces, right? The Heartland Whole Health Institute. There's a coffee shop in there. There's a lobby, the first floor, go in. You know, the Alice Walton uh School of Medicine, public-facing elements of that, coffee shop, second floor, walk and explore certain areas of the campus because that's what they were designed to be. Exactly. So, yeah, I mean, you know, access, bringing that, you know, I've lived here, moved here in 2001, and 10 years later we've got this, you know, billion dollar, multi-billion dollar museum. I'd never had much of an exposure to art. And so um, it was right there in my front door, five minutes away. And now I try not to take it for granted. And of course, uh I can't wait to see the the expansion myself because uh it's um truly going to be I I you know, I think you know, a museum 15 years on is gonna have more design elements, right? More more uh evolution of of what's possible there. So yeah, that's it's fun stuff. All right. Well, let's talk about your home now, Northwest Arkansas. You've considered it home. You've had a you know front row seat to the growth here the last five years. What has been the biggest change maybe that you've seen in the past five years, or or maybe what excites you um most about where Northwest Arkansas is headed?

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yeah, I I think the the biggest not change, it's more of a constant is just the the pace of growth. Uh growth is a is a constant. Um I would prefer to have growth as a region. I think a lot of regions certainly are envious of that kind of growth, and growth has to be balanced in many ways. And I think overall the region has been thoughtful about that. Um, the other thing that just is the amazing variety across the region of key anchors that have opened during that five years. You you just spoke about some of those, but if you go and you look at some of the the work happening at Fayetteville and the work happening in Springdale or Rogers or uh Pea Ridge, Centerton, Prairie Grove, you look around the region, there is just an amazing variety of things occurring here as the community builds and grows. And and that we're not just we are a region. And I appreciate the fact folks think about this as a region, and each community has its own unique identity, but we can work together as a region, which takes me to your your second point, which is like what it excites me about the future. To me, it's there's multiple things, but the ability to really work together as a region, to think about services that we may not offer regionally now that makes sense to come together and and work as a region so that we can continue to have the highest quality of life possible and that folks feel that and experience it on a daily basis. The other thing that excites me is because of the work going on and the ongoing development of so many things, it's just the dynasties of the area, the fact that um there are so many things happening that are exciting on a fairly regular basis that people get to experience and the fact that we continue to draw folks from outside of the region, and we continue to have a very strong, large group of folks that have grown up here. And I think I like that balance. And that excites me about the future as folks grow. Um, I I also get the sense that more and more folks are deciding to stay, uh, which I think is great for the region. And that makes a difference in terms of the stability of the region.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

That's one of to me, that is the biggest um uh change in my time here, 25 years here, is that when I moved here, people moved here for work. I moved here for work, I moved here for a job. Okay. Most people they moved to Bentonville or Northwest Arkansas at large for a job. Now people are choosing to move here uh for their life. They're choosing to move here because um they have the uh ability to work from wherever they want to work. But I want to live here where uh I like mountain biking, I like the art scene, I like um the culinary scene, I like the startups, yeah, buzz. Well, you know, whatever the reason is, they're they're choosing to move here for a reason other than work. And to your point, that's um that's why we're attracting and continue to attract people from literally all over the world.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Yeah, no, I I think well said, I when I when I talk to a lot of folks, you probably have the experience too. People will talk about it's not that they they had a job here, they were drawn by the quality of life. They came as a visitor, and I often say it's like the third visit seems to be the charm sometime where people make that decision.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Yeah, can I see myself living there right?

SPEAKER_01 31:46

But next a time or two, right? And I I just think um we are still um, even though yes, cost of of certain things has gone up in the region, we're still an affordable place to live when you compare us to other parts of the country. And you leave Northwest Arkansas, and there's just so much incredible natural beauty in the state that you just can go very close by to experience, or you can be in downtown Springdale or downtown Bentonville and walk and be on a trail in five minutes. That's pretty uncanny.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Yeah, I I don't want it to come across uh from this year that certainly there are it's not without challenges. And growth is going to bring challenges, but I I believe that Northwest Arkansas is handling those challenges better uh or maybe more efficiently than other fast growing regions of the country. You may have an opinion about that too.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Yeah, I think we're uh, you know, some of the recent data shows the ninth fastest growing region in the country, and uh the projections show that that's going to continue in the future. And certainly we have cities that are some of them most fast growing in the state of Arkansas, and sometimes in the United States, um, it does bring challenges, and and those I think can be managed over time. Folks certainly have read about some of the challenges around uh infrastructure, sewer people experience some transportation challenges from time to time. But I appreciate the work that the region's already doing to get ahead of some of these things or to catch up on some of them. Um, and I think that bodes well for the future and the way the region has come together around the need for these types of career pathways that I was referring to, and how do we meet the needs for the future? And I think it's important on any of the career pathways that you think about what does the growth and adoption of AI mean in certain pathways. And I think overall there's an incredible opportunity there for folks going back to the upskill idea that as folks might transition or think about other possibilities, like there's a whole array of things out there that people will still uh potentially be able to do and maybe have be curious about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

I want to talk about a program that um is supported by the Walton Family Foundation. As we talk about, you know, rapid growth in Northwest Arkansas, particularly Benton and Washington counties. You're going to need more um uh civic leadership, more people who want to be involved as civic leaders, more people who want to be devolved as community developers. Um UCA's community development pipeline program. Uh, again, supported by the Walton Family Foundation uh funding, and it's designed to help prepare the next generation of um economic development leaders, community leaders. Uh, our second cohort of that. It's a three-year program, our second cohort starts this summer. Um, what attracted the Walton Family Foundation to that program and to be involved in that initiative?

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Yeah, I and I will say that some of that initial investigation has certainly preceded my tenure at the foundation. Um what what and I have been to the institute, actually taken part in a day there and got to work with Shelby, who's the director. And I think uh you've got some really extraordinary talent there. What I like about it, it's a cohort model. So the folks that are going from Northwest Arkansas, they're a cohort. They will be in this program for that term. They will also get exposed to folks throughout the state that are facing some of the same challenges. They might be different, but growth may appear differently in another part of the state or a different context. And they get to bring back the lessons they learned. But I there's a lot of relationship building that occurs among that cohort. And I got to see, I mean, this has been out there publicly, UCA has talked about it. The cohort this time just is to me outstanding. I mean, I have the privilege of knowing some of those folks. I had nothing to do with them being accepted. But when I saw that they had applied, I was like, and been accepted, I was like, that's fantastic because they represent a variety of communities around the two counties, uh, neighborhoods, variety of experience. But I already know that these some of these folks express curiosity about how they can be more engaged. Um, and to me, it's exciting to see these folks together. And community development to me is also about that first word is like, how do you develop community? And community takes on multiple aspects. But when you talk about engagement and like, how do I get involved? How do I help others to get involved? And that can be going back to the idea of uh finding community. How do you become a better volunteer? How do you help people find volunteer opportunities? How do you maybe um find out like what's going on locally within your city or your county and just be able to stay engaged around that?

SPEAKER_00 36:43

That's why I think this initiative is very, and again, you know, I've been to um University of Central Arkansas about two years now. I knew very little about the CDI program. Uh, I've learned a lot more about it in the last two years. Uh, P. Ridge, mayor, Nathan C. Big advocate for that. We've talked about it. Um, but it's talking about when we talk about career pathways for students and just for anybody in general and community development, uh, I think it's important to intentionally develop talent in that space. And like you, I had a lot of people, you know, ask me when I was, you know, promoting the program Apply, apply. They asked me, do you think I should apply for that? I mean, I'm I'm this, I'm not a this. I've never seen myself. I said, yes, community development takes uh everybody. And so uh, yeah, when we, you know, and not me, but when our Center for Community Economic Development uh put out our 25 members of our cohort, uh, saw a lot of familiar names and a lot of people. I thought, yeah, this makes great sense. So yeah, excited to kick that off later this summer uh and and see what kind of skills and what kind of qualities uh those those folks can bring back uh to their community here in Northwest Arkansas. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

I mean, going back to something you asked about, like they learn about infrastructure. They learn about like some things that you know can hear that term, and you're like, well, what does infrastructure mean? And they're like, they're getting in the the nuts and bullets.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

They're gonna find out what it works out.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

And they get to see it in action. Yeah. And uh that's a that's great because you get to be exposed to it. And uh it's easy to I think it's easy for all of us to take some of that for granted, like the fact that you turn on a faucet and water comes out that's good quality, or you flush a toilet and you know that that's going somewhere that's gonna be taken care of. But I I think these are essential things because they're they're essential to the growth of a region, but it's great that somebody wants to understand that more.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

Yeah, we've got to have them, right? I mean, it's gotta have it. Yeah, I gotta have that, especially in a place growing this fast. But uh yeah, I just we uh UCA uh definitely appreciate the Walton Family Foundation support for that. Uh I've come to call that one of our uh flagship initiatives at the university, the our CDI cohort. I think it's that important. And uh uh I'm I'm really looking being forward to being more involved in Bree in the second cohort uh this time around. We appreciate the the partnership.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

And I I like one of the things that I I never take for granted at at the foundation is we are benefited from working with a a wide variety of wonderful nonprofit partners, dedicated board members here in uh Arkansas, as well as municipalities, school districts, uh community college, um higher learning. And it just is it's great to be able to work with these partners. That's that's the essential ingredient, too. We can't do this work without the works of the partners.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

Partnership is important. Absolutely. Partnership is always important. I'm gonna go back to something you said earlier about, you know, we a phrase that we use, not just you use, but you hear a lot, you know, vibrant, inclusive community. We want Northwest Arkansas to be those things. Uh, and it gets used, uh, that term gets used a lot. Um, what does that actually mean to you? What is when you hear that phrase, vibrant and inclusive?

SPEAKER_01 39:51

Yeah. And I think of it um that that we it goes back to the nature of the culture here that I think is just really important is the aspect of welcoming. Like how I don't care if if you lived here for multiple generations or you moved here yesterday. It's like, how do you feel welcome to the region? And that can take multiple forms. You could help a stranger out with something that's that seems fairly benign, but it's something that makes a difference in their life that day. Or you speak to somebody that just potentially you have no idea who they are, but it's that one interaction, and you may lead to a conversation down the line. But how do you extend that welcoming? How do people be curious about each other? How do people really break down what might be perceived as boundaries or differences and be curious about each other? I think that's the that's one of the key ingredients. And the other part is like the vibrancy to me is about all of the things we talk about in relation to strategy. It also includes the education systems that we are fortunate to have here, the employers, the job growth. I mean, the access to natural beauty and outdoor recreation and uh recreational facilities and sports teams, the things that I think make a region vibrant. And I, you know, I think here in the region is there's so many things going on on a daily basis and so much on a weekend, especially this time of year, that um I hope people are able to go out and discover it. That it makes folks want to go out and learn more about the place they live in, and also makes them want to learn about the places that are just down the road. Um, I I do think it's very important that as the region grows, that people want and spend time in other communities in addition to the one they live in. And I appreciate like the sense of identity, the uniqueness of each community, but we are a region and we have to be sure that we appreciate how um each of those communities contributes to really being a full, robust, vibrant region.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Right. And uh speaking from somebody that lives here, one of the first places that you should explore just right down the road, the University of Central Arkansas, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Yeah, two and a half hours away. Yeah, no, I mean, I do think I I like one of the things I've loved about uh Arkansas, and and Chris and I have done this a fair amount is just getting out to see other parts of the state and and discovering, you know, wonderful people, the absolute beauty of the Delta, um, the beauty of the mountains that we have here in the state of Arkansas, um, the places that are just so convenient to get to. And I I think, you know, you said something earlier. I think a lot of people, when they come here, they don't know much about Arkansas. Nothing past Fayetteville. Exactly. And they and but they I love that first day and people's eyes get wide. And and you they heard the expression is like, I I just didn't realize. I didn't know. I didn't know. I did not know. Um, and that to me is transformative, and it it happens a lot. Yeah. Um, and then I love when people come back.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

Yeah, and you know, I'm I'm pretty active on LinkedIn, as you know, and I shared something the other day that Rex Nelson had written about in the Democrat Gazette over the weekend, an essay just about the town of El Doreto in South Arkansas. And you know, most people that are in Northwest Arkansas, you know, myself included, I don't know that much about El Doreto, but somebody that's been living in Ohio all their life and moves to Arkansas, they've never heard of El Dorado in all the exciting things that are happening five hours away in South Arkansas, because you don't hear South Arkansas like you hear Northwest Arkansas. And so, yeah, to your point, you know, get out and and see what the rest of our state has to offer because uh there's a there's a lot of growth and a lot of exciting things happen in each region of Arkansas.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

There really is. I just think it's uh it's it's like uh critical. The one one other thing I'd I'd love to do is like you Meet people and they'll say, you know, oh, they they grew up in a certain place. I always just want to know where. And I've gotten so many times I can at least identify the counties. There's 75 counties in the state. Um, I'm still growing that skill to kind of know where some of these places are. But let's say I'm going close by to where they grew up. I want to see that community because they've talked about it. Or, you know, kind of get a flavor for, oh, yeah, this is where so-and-so grew up. So you get an image of like what that's like and what that community is like.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Do you know where Bald Knob, Arkansas is? I do. Yeah. Oh my goodness. You win you win a prize at some kind. Yeah. That's where I grew up. Okay. Uh through the eighth grade. My mother was a school teacher at UCA graduate. Yeah, yeah. And after the eighth grade, uh, my and my twin sister, uh, she got a job in Bryant. So we moved to Bryant. Okay, all right. So we went nine through twelve in Bryant. But yeah, born and raised in in Bald Knob, Arkansas. Yeah. And at one time, strawberry capital of the world.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

I didn't realize that part of it. But yeah, you know, and I I've lived in Missouri on a couple of different occasions. So you get to know some of the Missouri, uh, like Arkansas, even though Missouri has Kansas City Metro and Springfield area metro, Columbia, St. Louis, Missouri's really a rural state, small towns and a lot of natural beauty, too, right on our doorstep.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

All right. So now, project or the strategy 2030 has been out. Been where I would imagine you've been working on that since the day after Strategy 2025 was uh was was released. And I'm sure it took a long time to put together. Where does your focus turn now? Where does the work turn now? What's the tangible day-to-day for you?

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Yeah. Well, you know, we at the heart of what we do is we are grant makers. So we've been very active making grants, working with partners and having conversations like this with our partners. I mean, I will say uh we well, we were talking to partners in advance of making the public release. We didn't want our partners to to be taken by surprise of any of the uh the plan itself. We wanted them to have a chance to, we really value that relationship. And I I really want philanthropy to be transparent and approachable. I think approachability is just absolutely key. And I think our team does a good job of that. And I think certainly influenced by the approachability of uh of the folks we work with and for. And I think that about the region, but now it's implementation, it's putting the plan into action. It's also as you put it in action, like what do you learn from that? Like you one of the things we do with each of our grants is we set forth uh a set of outputs and outcomes, and that's generated at first by the prospective grantee. They actually start working on that, and then usually it's an exchange about what that looks like. So every grant gets an evaluation. Um, we look at key performance indicators and we want to make sure that the results are there, and that should be able to really tell a story going back to that vision of a vibrant and welcoming place is like how does this all feed into that vision of Northwest Arkansas?

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

But now we're in that implementation stage. Um, we're also interested in um the kind of connections. I I feel like a huge part of this role is making connections. And and when we can play a role as a convener, that's a really important aspect that I think we can play. And we want to be neutral in that regard, but sometimes just bringing partners together for a conversation can be very fruitful to help them kind of discover ways in which they might be able to work together or they might be having common challenges.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

I also feel like in your job and your role, making connections is important, but I also feel like just listening, just listening and working together and building relationships is a huge part of your job. It's a huge part.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

I I think it's um and I and I get that every day. I'm I'm listening for I I had the privilege and and this happens a lot is meeting folks um over this past weekend. It was their first time coming to Northwest Arkansas. And I I always just ask them, I said, well, give me your give me your impressions, and um I like to learn from them and like what do they note, what do they see, what are their takeaways, and uh always offer a chance to to follow up when it's appropriate. But I do think that listening is absolutely key because you learn from everybody. They don't say anything about the traffic first thing, do they? No, no, you know what? That's a honestly, that is a rarity. I will tell you what a lot of people will say, because so many people are are flying in, they will talk about the quality of the Uber and Lyft drivers, and they will talk about the folks that are, I think they may be some of the best um uh ambassadors to the region because I constantly hear this. It happened multiple times over the weekend when people were speaking about it. But I do think it's uh critically important. One of the things we say at the foundation, and I it's really resonated with me because it makes sense, and this is a principle that I live by is the folks that are closest to a challenge have the best solutions. So if you want to know how to solve something, that's where you're gonna find very often your best answer.

SPEAKER_00 49:22

Yeah, awesome. Okay, great point. Uh, final question for you, just uh, you know, kind of a magic wand question, which we talk about implementation of the goals and the outline of strategy 2030. If you've got a magic wand, if things have happened less like you wanted to go in 10 years, what does success look like in Northwest Arkansas?

SPEAKER_01 49:39

Yeah, I that we continue to be uh a vibrant region that's still seeing um growth occurring, that the culture still is is strong and as welcoming as it has been in the past, that people feel a very strong sense of connectivity and that the anchors that have continued to be uh thriving and growing here continue to do just that. Um, I'd like to see us in that vision of the future work together across multiple other areas of regional work. I think we have excellent examples now. To me, the airport is one of the best examples of the region coming together. We can replicate that in a number of other ways. And to me, working together as a region is how we're gonna grow and thrive together. Um, it's just incumbent to be able to do that, to be able to sustain the growth. And the other thing is just like we continue to be uh a job engine, that growth continues to happen in that regard, and that we continue to be a place that uh is a standout in the country as a place that gets um attention from others about the things we're doing well and what other folks can learn from.

SPEAKER_00 50:54

Yeah, I think working together is um if it's not imperative, it is extremely important, I think, to our future in the next five, 10 years and even beyond. So all right, great. Robert, um really appreciate the conversation. Clay, you here. Thank you, bro. Yeah, I will I will see you around Bentonville, maybe at the farmers market. Sounds great. Sounds great. Well, I really appreciate the opportunity and thanks for having me on. All right, good stuff. And that is it for this episode of Central to NWA. As always, we appreciate you tuning in. Until next time, go Bears. That's it for this episode of Central to NWA, a UCA podcast. I'm Paul Gatling, Senior Director of Northwest Arkansas Engagement for the University of Central Arkansas. Be sure to subscribe to the show and follow UCA on all the appropriate social media. I'll see you next time on Central to NWA.