Donna Davis said she suspects the majority of leadership in Northwest Arkansas doesn't reflect the ethnic and racial immigrant makeup of its communities.
A new class at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville aims to increase diversity among those in leadership roles, said Davis, the research and evaluation specialist for the Cisneros Center for New Americans, a San Antonio-based agency with an office in Springdale. She is also a research specialist in the university's Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and is co-teaching the class.
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To learn more about EngageNWA, go to engagenwa.com.
The UA and the Cisneros Center are partners in the project and in EngageNWA, Davis said. EngageNWA is a coalition of more than 40 organizations and has three focuses: immigrant integration, retaining young professionals who move to Northwest Arkansas, and retaining graduates from the university.
The university's class -- Multi-Cultural Community Research: Engaging in Northwest Arkansas Through Service Learning -- has seven undergraduate students. It was created to gather research that can be used by EngageNWA to increase diversity in leadership in the region.
Students will survey leaders in Benton and Washington counties who are part of municipal, county and nonprofit councils, boards, committees and commissions, Davis said. They will do this in person or over the phone.
The surveys will be developed during the class, Davis said. Leaders will be asked about the demographics of each board, if there are vacancies and if the boards are interested in becoming more diverse.
The gathered data will test Davis' hypothesis that the boards are less diverse than the population, she said.
Davis said that without a voice in leadership, immigrants and ethnic groups often aren't noticed and are not factored into decision making. More diversity in leadership also provides an opportunity for upward mobility.
"Leadership needs to reflect the demographic makeup of the community," she said.
If boards are representative of their communities, that can help bridge gaps between ethnic groups, said Bill Schwab, a professor in the university's Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. Schwab is co-teaching the class with Davis.
Benton and Washington counties have similar breakdowns in racial and ethnic makeup, according to 2014 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. In Benton County, the population of 242,321 was 75 percent white, 16 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian. In Washington County, the population of 220,792 was 72 percent white, 16 percent Hispanic and 3.5 percent black.
The Springdale City Council is composed of seven white men and one white woman. The Springdale Planning Commission is composed of six white men, one white woman and one black man. When asked if this is similar to other cities in Northwest Arkansas, Davis said she can't speak to that until the surveys are completed.
Rey Hernandez of the Rogers area was appointed to the District 2 seat on the Benton County Quorum Court, serving almost two years during 2013 and 2014. He said he will be running in the November election to again serve as a justice of the peace. A Democrat, Hernandez will face the winner of the Republican primary between Joshua Bryant and Susan Shadlow, the incumbent.
Hernandez said he thinks of himself as Hispanic and Mexican-American. His parents were born in Mexico, and he was born in the United States. Being in a leadership position allowed him to offer a perspective of how policies and laws will affect people of a certain culture, he said.
Students in the UA class plan to find councils, committees, commissions and boards that are interested in becoming more diverse and plan to help match them with people of various ethnicities who are interested in leadership roles, Schwab said. He said those in the class are going to act as "matchmakers."
Training will be involved for those interested in leadership roles, Davis said. Some of this work may have to be done through EngageNWA after the class ends.
The students' final project in May will be to present their findings as a group to EngageNWA.
Davis said a decision has not yet been made on whether the class will be continued next year, but Schwab said he intends for this class to continue and thinks he will be involved.
One member of the class is Jill Niemeier, 22, a senior majoring in sociology.
"I signed up for this service-learning course because I believe that service-learning courses are a great way to get hands-on experience and connect what I've learned in the classroom to real-life, practical situations," she wrote in an email.
Madeline Shumate, 21, said she recently changed her major to sociology and wanted to find out how sociology research differs from social work research. She wrote in an email that the class is appealing because students will be doing work in Northwest Arkansas outside the classroom.
"I am excited for the opportunity to learn more about the immigrant community in NWA," she wrote. "I sincerely hope the work we are beginning will make a positive impact on the members of the greater NWA community."
Students are now doing preparatory work, Schwab said. They spoke Wednesday about how the Cisneros Center was created and the organization's relationship with EngageNWA.
Schwab said he hopes for the students to learn interviewing skills and how to attain information in an efficient way. He also wants students to understand how social change takes place, gain knowledge of nonprofit groups, learn how EngageNWA and the project works, and learn how to present themselves as professionals.
The class will also expose students to opportunities to work in the field of immigrant integration, Davis said.
Niemeier said she isn't originally from Northwest Arkansas and didn't realize the area was attracting greater numbers of immigrants. She wrote that she has so far learned about the immigrant population in the region and their lack of leadership positions.
"I think that it is very important to diversify our community's leadership so that this large part of our community, the immigrant population, is able to have a voice," she wrote. "This is their community, too."
Metro on 02/08/2016