Hometown help

Rose Bud man joins Rural Community Alliance board

Nick Cartwright of Rose Bud was elected to the board of the Rural Community Alliance. The organization helps rural Arkansas communities in the areas of education and economic development. Cartwright joined the alliance after looking for ways to be involved in his hometown of Rose Bud.
Nick Cartwright of Rose Bud was elected to the board of the Rural Community Alliance. The organization helps rural Arkansas communities in the areas of education and economic development. Cartwright joined the alliance after looking for ways to be involved in his hometown of Rose Bud.

— When Nick Cartwright figured there was something he could do to help his hometown of Rose Bud earlier this year, he reached out to the Rural Community Alliance, but he didn’t expect the leadership role the organization soon offered him.

This summer, Cartwright was elected to the board of directors of the Rural Community Alliance, a nonprofit that aims to support rural Arkansas with education and economic-development efforts.

“I would describe it as an organization whose core is made up of people from rural places, of people who are dedicated to small towns — and even places that aren’t incorporated — that just have a heart for helping those places and are dedicated as far as education and economic development in rural places,” Cartwright said.

Cartwright described his appointment to the board as “awesome.”

“It was kind of spur of the moment,” he said. “They asked me if I wanted to do it, and I kind of went for it. I figured there’s nothing better to do than to benefit your hometown and benefit towns like it.”

As a board member, Cartwright said, he helps maintain the direction of the organization. There is no local chapter in Rose Bud for the RCA, but he said there are plans to implement one.

Cartwright studied political science at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, which he said also inspired him to join the RCA. When researching the organization, Cartwright reached out to North Central Regional Director Matt Grandon and later met with Chief Financial Officer Renee Carr.

“It was actually kind of a random happenstance,” said Cartwright, who is also running for a seat on the Rose Bud City Council. “I’m from Rose Bud, which is a small town, so I was looking for ways to get involved. Here in Rose Bud, we need a bit of change and people in the community to step up. I decided to see if there were any organizations that deal with that.”

This year’s summer RCA conference, which took place in Paron, helped Cartwright learn more about the organization’s mission.

“The summer conference was awesome,” he said. “I think what I learned most was that for as much as it might seem like [rural communities] are not as advanced – they might seem like they’re lagging behind cities — there’s a ton of people with a ton of potential who want to help rural places. You’ve just got to find them and tap into it.”

Cartwright said state leadership can impact rural communities, but he added that it takes more than that.

“More attention from the Capitol wouldn’t help,” he said. “Whenever we talk about some legislative issues in general, we kind of think ‘Little Rock metro area’ and ‘Northwest Arkansas.’

A lot of rural areas get left out. It’s about tapping into these places. It’s not as much about needing help from outside places; it’s about finding resources within communities and letting them shine.”

The alliance is working to address current issues, such as making bus rides shorter for students. Sometimes, Cartwright said, school-bus rides can take more than an hour.

“A lot of that has to do with rural schools having to be shut down because they have low numbers,” he said. “We really don’t like these schools to be shut down because we don’t have a certain number of students.”

The alliance has also discussed bringing in agritourism to rural areas as a way to generate revenue.

“A lot of farms do tours where they shuffle people through and have them get hands-on experience,” he said. “Some people even do stay. [Some farms will] build a cabin or multiple housing areas where people can stay on the farms.”

Outside of the organization, Cartwright is working on a nonprofit called the Rose Bud Veteran’s Memorial Inc. to erect a veterans memorial by Memorial Day 2017. The nonprofit is halfway to its funding mark, and the memorial will include two granite stones in honor of Nicky Bacon, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1969.

“Both of my parents served in the Army,” Cartwright said. “That’s actually where they met and had me. I always joked that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the military. I have friends who are currently serving in the military. Veterans are dear to my heart. They don’t get the respect and honor they deserve.”

Cartwright said that within a small town or rural area, many values and traditions are shared among locals. He described Rose Bud as a place where everyone knows everyone — and that’s a good thing.

“Some people may think that’s a bad thing,” he said, “but I think it’s a positive. I think it’s easier to get things done.”

Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.

Upcoming Events