Heber Springs unveils 5-year action plan

HEBER SPRINGS — Heber Springs has created a path to becoming a better community.

The Kick Start Heber Springs Action Plan, a five-year blueprint for the city’s future, launched

May 19 and outlines goals the city can meet in order to become a more vibrant destination for residents and tourists. In August 2015, action teams with representatives from local businesses, schools, councils and more began holding monthly meetings to strategize the best ways to improve Heber Springs in six key areas: branding and marketing, economic development, education and workforce, quality of life and place, tourism, and funding and finance.

Heber Springs Mayor Jimmy Clark said that when he first became mayor, he envisioned a change for Heber Springs.

“In January 2015, I was a newly elected mayor, and I made a promise to the community that we would have monthly meetings, we would include citizens, dignitaries. We would include educational institutions, the public and as many people as we could and volunteers around the city to come up with a strategic five-year plan for the city and the future of Heber Springs,” he said.

The University of Central Arkansas’ Community Development Institute, which provides training in community and economic development, chose to partner with Heber Springs and complete an in-depth study of the community for its action plan, said Amy Whitehead, executive director of the institute. Through the institute, which also works with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service Breakthrough Solutions program, graduates work intensely with one community, and they found that Heber Springs had a higher level of engagement than other Arkansas communities.

“That was a competitive process, and Heber Springs competed with other communities to be selected, and [it was] selected,” she said. “Part of what we do in our partnership with U of A Cooperative Extension is, we think of communities that we want to work with. We want to work with a community that has a lot of assets to leverage, that has the capacity to work together and is ready to chart a course and vision. And we saw that excitement and energy in Heber Springs.”

Since planning began, steps have already been taken to achieve the action plan’s goals. The Heber Springs Area Chamber of Commerce is creating a foundation to fund development projects, and First Security Bank of Heber Springs is creating a new building and leasing its old location to the chamber in an effort to improve the downtown area.

According to the action plan, the challenges that Heber Springs currently faces include poor communication between groups and stakeholders, advertising, broadband connectivity, unused buildings and lack ofrecreational activities.

Mark Peterson, community-development professor with the Cooperative Extension Service, said Heber Springs understands how its local talent in food, crafts, theater and more can serve its long-term goals.

“When I look at successful communities, they’re ones that identify their assets, and they learn how to leverage those in this time, and they understand the key drivers of change,” he said.

Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said that if more Arkansans had the drive that Heber Springs residents have, the state would be in much better shape. Attracting 85 visitors leads to one job in a community, he said, and having a strong, educated workforce is key to business development and retention.

“No matter the company that we’re talking to — it could be a data company from Silicon Valley or a manufacturer out of New Jersey, wherever it might be — it always comes up: ‘Do you have the talent to support this?’” he said.

Whitehead said the action plan isn’t the be-all and end-all to what Heber Springs could continue to become in the future.

“We’re not just looking for this year; we’re looking to our future and our kids and our grandkids to where Heber Springs can be,” Clark said. “We’re not about just one aspect of that [action plan], we’re about the whole package, so this study has done wonders for us.”

Meetings for the Kick Start Heber Springs Action Plan take place every third Wednesday in Room 1 of the Heber Springs Community Center. The next meeting will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 15, and the public is welcome to attend.

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

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