Becky Williams of Cabot said she left her first Uncommon Communities meeting invigorated about making a difference in her city.
“I was just in love and on fire for the city of Cabot,” she said. “It sparked a passion I didn’t know I had.”
Uncommon Communities, which started in August 2015, is a program that focuses on leadership, community, workforce and economic development, quality of life and place. It was founded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain, and the first class graduated in 2018.
The second Uncommon Communities group includes Cabot, Beebe and Heber Springs, all in the Three Rivers Edition coverage area, and Sherwood in Pulaski County. The second class kicked off in September, and the cities will have 10 sessions on the mountain through 2020.
The idea of Uncommon Communities is to start with small projects and work toward a bigger, difference-making project for their cities.
Tiffany Henry, program officer for the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, oversees Uncommon Communities. She said it is based on the research and methodology of Vaughn Grisham, emeritus director of the University of Mississippi’s McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement.
“This new cohort we started in September, we blend Vaughan’s model with the [Gov. Winthrop] Rockefeller ethic. The goal is collaborative dialogue and diversity of opinion,” Henry said. “We bring [Uncommon Communities teams] together for conversations — ‘How can we do this together to strengthen our communities?’ We empower these citizens to make their own positive change.”
The institute provides a space to have conversations in a neutral environment, she said.
Williams, a photographer, said she got involved in Uncommon Communities through the Cabot Chamber of Commerce, where she is a board member.
She said the Cabot team decided to create a downtown district, starting with a focus on the arts and possibly a mural on a downtown building.
“We want to turn our downtown into a district — make a gathering, community place,” she said.
Williams said the Uncommon Communities team conducted a survey during CabotFest, asking people what they thought of when identifying Cabot. The survey was also shared on social media for input.
“They said, ‘family,’ ‘hometown,’ ‘small-town feel,’ ‘community,’ she said. “There’s not a place to celebrate that sense of community. We want downtown to do that. We really want to build that sense of commitment that people already feel.”
“We want to bring arts and culture to Cabot. We feel like we have a lot of assets, but what we’re missing is that piece of culture.”
Williams said that although nothing is finalized, committee members have talked to Little Rock artist Barry Thomas about painting a mural on a downtown city building. If the project is approved by the Cabot City Council, the goal is for the mural to be completed this year. The idea is for it to serve “as the catalyst” to the downtown district, she said.
“We’re hoping to get funding from the [Cabot Advertising and Promotion Commission] and local citizens,” she said.
Cabot Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Amy Williams, who is not related to Becky Williams, is also on the team. Amy Williams said she was first attracted to Uncommon Communities “because of the regional partnerships you can gain from these trainings” and the access to speakers.
“It’s nice to get off home plate” and go to Petit Jean Mountain, Williams said. “You’re away from your day-in and day-out thing, and it gets the creative minds going.
“When we started in September, I really didn’t know this team. I had already begun working with local partners and regional partners on ‘Hey, how can we develop a downtown district?’”
After Cabot’s Uncommon Communities team first met, she said, other members had the same idea.
“I love their energy,” she said.
Becky Williams said the Cabot team is also working to establish a nonprofit organization, the Cabot Foundation for Arts and Culture, a “direct result of Uncommon Communities.”
Another of the team’s efforts is working with Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurman to find a new location for the school district’s Museum of American History to bring more visibility to it.
Amy Williams said the changes in Cabot that the team envisions won’t happen overnight.
“We may not get there fast, but it’s going to be worth it,” she said.
In Beebe, Jesse Boyce, who owns a trucking company and other businesses, is a member of the Uncommon Communities committee.
Born and raised in nearby Bald Knob, he said he loves living in a small town. He lived in Dallas, Texas, for a period of time and didn’t like the big city, he said.
Beebe is a place where it takes forever to buy groceries, Boyce said, because he has to stop and talk to everyone he knows.
“One of the first classes at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute is to “close your eyes and imagine the town you’d like to live in, how you’d envision you’d like to see Beebe,” he said.
Cabot, Heber Springs and Sherwood representatives were asked to do the same, Boyce said.
“We all had the same vision,” he said. “We want a place where young people are opening the doors for the seniors and loading groceries, saying, ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, ma’am,’ and seniors are taking a role teaching them the history.
“One of the things we’re finding true with all the communities — and Beebe is no different — is a lot of the things we envisioned when we closed our eyes are already happening, and we just didn’t know it.”
For example, Boyce said, he realized recently how responsive the Beebe community is to the Angel Tree Project.
Beebe’s first Uncommon Communities project was a small one, Boyce said. The project replaced cushions on patio chairs at a nursing-home facility.
He said the second project, Do the Walk, is tentatively planned for April. The idea is to pair seniors with teenagers to walk together on the ASU-Beebe track.
“We’ve got a lot of senior folks in this town who need more exercise, and then we’ve got a lot of kids,” he said. “It goes back to the vision of having kids know their elders and learn so they don’t duplicate the same mistakes.”
High school and college students will be paired with senior citizens.
“The seniors can actually talk to them and have their undivided attention for a while,” he said.
In addition, organizations in the city will have booths available about services they provide, and the seniors and students can explore those.
Lindsey Reynolds is one of five members of the Heber Springs Uncommon Communities committee. She is coordinator of campus relations at the Arkansas State University-Beebe Heber Springs campus. She is also the contact liaison for community and workforce education on the Heber Springs campus.
Reynolds, who started at the university in September, said the campus had agreed to participate in the Uncommon Communities program, and it is part of her job.
She said the group also works with Quitman, which is in Cleburne and Faulkner counties.
The city of Quitman has a facility called the Gunn Mule Barn.
“It was a previous point of interest for the community. They wanted to revitalize the barn and have it as an event center,” Reynolds said.
The Uncommon Communities group helped promote a Cookies With Santa event in the barn.
The committee also came up with a slogan for Heber Springs: “Our motto is, ‘We’re here all year,’” Reynolds said. “It’s not just during the lake season, but we’re trying to emphasize there are activities to participate in throughout the year.”
Team members also came up with a hashtag for the city, #HeberSpringslife.
“One of our priorities is to really help with our downtown area and try to come up with some events. Our intention would be to have a theme each month and get buy-in from the businesses,” she said.
Reynolds was elected in January to the Heber Springs Area Chamber of Commerce Board, and she owns two businesses in the community.
“The role here for me and the university has been great, but from a business lens, we want to promote all our local businesses,” she said. “We want to start with the downtown area and help them come up with monthly events that will get more foot traffic downtown. Right now, we’re trying to establish opportunities and avenues and keep our downtown thriving.”
Becky Williams said her husband is a C130 pilot at the Little Rock Air Force Base, and the couple have lived in several U.S. cities, as well as overseas.
Cabot is home now,
she said.
“When Tiffany [Henry] sent the email out and sent a couple of videos and PDFs to read, I guess up to that point, it never occurred to me that I could be part of changing a city,” Williams said. “I just always felt like a city made decisions, and I just deal with it. It never occurred to me that I could make Cabot what I wanted it to be.”
Now she feels a sense of ownership, thanks to Uncommon Communities.
Boyce agreed.
“The main thing is to get our community together and get us talking,” he said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.