When the Northwest Arkansas Council unveiled a blueprint for regional growth in January 2011, it was intended to be a five-year plan.
About 3 1/2 years after implementation, there was enough progress to declare the original plan "complete." Not all 56 points were checked off, but it became clear in 2014 that some new goals were needed for the region and its roughly 500,000 residents.
Portions of that five-year blueprint were considered wins because a solid foundation for the future was laid. Other action items stalled. Talk to the folks at the Northwest Arkansas Council and they'll acknowledge areas where the region hasn't failed, but hasn't yet succeeded either.
With the successes (job growth, regional trail system, expanding resources available to entrepreneurs) and not-quites (discount air carriers, a multimodal industrial park) of the past four years in mind, local leaders believe Northwest Arkansas is ready for its next step. A new road map will be unveiled by the Northwest Arkansas Council on Tuesday at its annual meeting.
Focus groups and surveys again helped shape the goals. Approximately 2,500 citizens and civic leaders were used to develop the original strategy for the region. Not quiet as many were involved this time around, but there were single days where the Northwest Arkansas Council hosted eight focus groups, each with with up to 25 participants.
Consultant Ted Abernathy of Economic Leadership LLC is helping take the data and put it into a workable plan. Abernathy is based in North Carolina and once worked for a Northwest Arkansas Council-style association in Raleigh-Durham, one of the nation's best areas at embracing and benefiting from regionalism.
Details of the new plan are closely guarded. And I don't want to steal the thunder of the folks who put so much effort into developing the latest road map for regional success, but there is some insight I feel comfortable sharing.
Expect to see a three-year focus this time around. There will be heavy emphasis on action items that will help set the tone for Northwest Arkansas as far out as 2040. Instead of a 56-point list, the focus will be fewer items, but more depth.
We'll hear lots about and related to workforce development. A need to recruit, retain and grow quality workers informed much of the new strategy.
There are always strides to make when it comes to infrastructure. Keep in mind that we're not just talking roads, but the trail system and downtowns. Efforts to develop walkable and livable downtowns will continue.
"There will be some emphasis on thinking through what we need to do these next three years to better be prepared for a long-term future," Northwest Arkansas Council CEO and President Mike Malone said during a recent chat. "We'll be looking 15-20 years out in some issues areas. This window is being used to prepare ourselves for future trends and what is coming."
If you're looking for tangible measures of how the last plan helped Northwest Arkansas, consider a few data points passed on by the council. They were compiled using internal data and statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wages in the region grew by 9.7 percent. Interstate lane miles increased from 212 to 217 between 2010 and 2014. Employment grew from 200,600 to 219,300 between 2010 and 2014, a 9.3 percent increase.
During the same time periods, employment grew by 7.1 percent nationwide and 3.2 percent in Arkansas. Wages were up 6.5 percent nationally and 7.4 percent in state.
Perhaps the greatest sign of progress in building Northwest Arkansas is less tangible. When the council began polling stakeholders on the biggest improvements seen since 2011, a surprising number pointed to way that the region had come to embrace the idea of working together.
Chief Operating Officer Mike Harvey has extensive experience with these sorts of projects outside of Northwest Arkansas. No area of the country where Harvey has worked has been as quick to embrace the regionalism and reap the benefits.
"I've never seen this many people pushing the cart," Harvey said. "So when we asked, 'what's the biggest accomplishment?' they were focused on the capacity to convene and get everybody moving in the same direction. It's kind of intangible, and that can be frustrating for people that like to touch and feel things, but it's working."
SundayMonday Business on 01/25/2015