One of the reasons why Northwest Arkansas is such a prosperous and beautiful area is because of the Northwest Arkansas Council. However, not many outside of Northwest Arkansas have heard about this council, so what is it exactly?
Northwest Arkansas Council is an independent council of business owners and influential people in Northwest Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas Council makes a plan every five years on how to develop and improve NWA while avoiding the pitfalls of larger cities.
Today, I’ll write about the Northwest Arkansas Council and the most recent plan that came out recently. I’ll mention the five steps the Council decided to focus on to make life in Northwest Arkansas even better.
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What Is Northwest Arkansas Council?
In Northwest Arkansas, there’s something called the Northwest Arkansas Council, a group of people that own small, midsize, and large businesses, such as Simmons Food, J.B. Hunt, Tyson Foods, Walmart, and many other companies.
They got together many years ago and decided to make a council to help and improve Northwest Arkansas. So, every five years or so, they make a plan and map out the next five years. They have initiatives and goals they want to accomplish for the next five years, whether it’s in Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers – everywhere.
I find this fascinating because this is usually regulated by a city council. Still, the thing with Northwest Arkansas is that it’s one big area, and the Council’s intention is to help grow the area and make it as awesome as possible.
It’s one big council that helps along with individual city councils. Of course, the cities have city planners and everything else, but the Council itself is looking over the whole area and helps guide the pathway to avoiding some of the pitfalls and trying to make sure that the NWA stays as magical as it really is.
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Backstory: The Last Five Years
So, a little backstory with the Council. Five years ago, the Council hired a city planner and their firm that came in and did an investigation about the area.
The Council brought the same company back this time around. The cool thing is that the same planner came in and gave a big speech in front of the Council, helping them guide what the next five years for Northwest Arkansas should look like and some caveats we need to watch out for.
They’ve seen these big pitfalls of major cities, and they’re giving us warning signs. So the next five-year plan is focused on continued growth and some things we need to watch out for.
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Northwest Arkansas Regional Strategy Plan
So these are the five things that the Council will be focused on for the next five years to make sure that this area stays as magical and great as it is right now.
1. Attracting Talent to Northwest Arkansas
The first thing on the Council’s plan is talent acquisition in Northwest Arkansas. In the last ten years, Northwest Arkansas has grown exponentially, and there’s been a lot of people that have moved here for fantastic jobs. At the same time, the growth drew a lot of businesses as well.
So thousands of job openings need to be filled, whether it’s through big or midsize companies or small businesses that just need to be filled.
And this goes back a little bit to the Life Works Here initiative that the Council did for the last few years, which was the “Bike and Bitcoin,” where you can apply to get $10,000 in bitcoin and a bike.
They’re planning more initiatives and all sorts of different and new things (of course). One of the new things is continuing to push more talent, more acquisition, and more people with different skills to move here.
2. Bolster the Innovation Economy
And the second thing the Council will focus on is bolstering innovation and entrepreneurship in the area.
So a little unknown fact: in America, there are different “hubs” that different cities focus on. For instance, you have Boston, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, DC. You have different cities in Florida, Texas, and California also.
The thing is, Tulsa (Oklahoma) and Northwest Arkansas are really connected. There’s one major road that connects them, called 412, and they’re leveraging that road a lot to roll the whole area between NWA and Tulsa. So it’s really cool that there’s so much manufacturing coming to that area.
Northwest Arkansas is working with Tulsa to bring more innovation, entrepreneurship, startup companies, and venture capitalists to this area to connect that kind of connection point in the Heartland of America.
So many (future) startup businesses are coming here (and they’ll need more talent, everyone!). But secondly, they want more businesses to come because they’re making it so easy and accessible to build one right here.
Check my other article if you’re interested in some of the best startups and new companies in Northwest Arkansas. I’m pretty sure you’ll be amazed by the list.
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3. Affordable Housing
The third thing on our list and one that I’m really excited about is affordable housing. It’s really cool to see the Council is focused on that.
The Council has a list of different initiatives that they’re trying to do over the next few years. One of them that I’m really excited about is a type of fund. It will be a fund for people to pull from for local loans here in Northwest Arkansas. People will be able to lend out a loan at a lower interest rate to ensure that housing is still affordable.
Why Is This in the Plan?
Now, secretly, I think this is happening because, first, housing needs to be affordable (obviously). We’ve seen the problems of Austin and Los Angeles, for instance.
Another reason is the fact that if the Council keeps bringing corporations like Walmart, Tyson, J.B. Hunt, and others, that will increase the corporate structure, and they don’t want to pay a higher salary if the housing is unaffordable. So, I think many companies want to ensure housing is affordable because if the housing goes up, everything else follows.
Caveat: What Does It Mean for Mobility?
On top of affordable housing, the Council will continue to ensure that the area is bikeable and walkable as much as possible.
Northwest Arkansas is perfect for any form of transportation. If you can imagine it, NWA has it. Don’t believe me? Check my article about the weird alternate transportation you can use if you don’t like cars.
They’ve also done a big initiative about flying cars for the next 10 to 20 years and a big fund for future mobility. So beyond biking and electric vehicles, the Council’s focused on flying cars, drones, and any sort of air mobility.
They’re really focusing on that because they want to be ahead of the curb when it comes to EV manufacturers. They also want to be the next step even above that.
4. Keep the Northwest Arkansas Charm
Another thing that’s really important to me in this plan is the Council’s focus on keeping the charm of Northwest Arkansas while at the same time maintaining growth.
Part of the reason I moved to Northwest Arkansas a few years back was the fascinating charm. Some of my clients have called it this “unicorn,” an extraordinary place with this blend of the natural and urban world.
They want to ensure that charm is there between the older buildings and styles. They don’t want to rip things down just to build up new things. They want to keep the style that makes Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville special.
At the same time, however, they don’t want to hinder growth, so they’re trying to keep the balance and the charm of Northwest Arkansas. Let’s be clear, Northwest Arkansas has so much more to offer, but the charm makes it a unique place in America.
5. Increase the Work of the Council
The last focus is really interesting because it has to do with the Council itself, and I’m for this.
Many bigger cities don’t have councils like the Northwest Arkansas Council. They usually have city councils, and there’s a lot of politics involved usually, but here, the Council is a separate entity that sits away from the city councils. Therefore, there’s less red tape, and they can implement a fund to put money back into the community much faster.
I’m in favor of the Council being more invested because they can get things done faster, so it’s nice that they’re going to be more active and intentional.
The Council’s planning to bring on more new council members, sponsorships, and people that are invested in the community. They’re focused on putting different people on committees to ensure things get done. I find it fascinating that the Council is expanding its reach and trying to be more influential in the community and area.
Conclusion
The Northwest Arkansas Council is something very special and dear to us in Northwest Arkansas. The Council’s an active body that not only helps our community but actively keeps developing the area while preserving the charm of Northwest Arkansas.