SHERIDAN — City of Sheridan officials hope to kick start the city’s economic growth, thanks to a partnership with the University of Central Arkansas Center for Community and Economic Development and the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.
Kick Start Sheridan is a nine-month process that works with community leaders to develop a community that is “exciting, vibrant and [attracts] people of all ages to live, work and play.”
“They pick a community every year to come up with a strategic plan for the future to jump-start the community,” said Lauren Goins, who serves as the communications chair for Kick Start Sheridan.
“The goal for Sheridan is that it will eventually give us a strategic plan that will be unveiled in May,” co-chair Carrie Smith said. “We don’t have a true plan for the future; this is a place to start.”
According to a press release from UCA, professional community and economic developers from across the mid-South will attend UCA’s Community Development Institute “to work with Sheridan to jump-start a strategic action planning process.”
“Sheridan was selected as the 2018 Kick Start community because the city is primed and ready for positive change,” Amy Whitehead, director of the UCA Center for Community and Economic Development and the Community Development Institute, said in the press release. “The city displays strong leadership from the public and private sectors, an excellent school system and a passion to create a place with a robust economy and flourishing quality of life.”
The Kick Start program has also worked with the communities of Paris, Heber Springs, Lonoke and Alma.
Smith, who also serves as the city clerk and treasurer for Sheridan, said she saw the program come across her desk a couple of times and decided the city should apply for it. She said if the city had hired a private firm, it would have cost $70,000 – “so it was basically getting free help.”
Brad McGinley, who serves as co-chair for Kick Start Sheridan, said the competitive process took part in May. He said a group of community-development specialists from UCA and the Cooperative Extension Service took a driving tour of the county and the city and recorded their initial impressions.
“They also looked online at what Sheridan looked like and saw what information there was on Sheridan, the community,” he said. “They gave us an initial report of their findings, and we started the process of forming an executive committee, which consists of 15 individuals who meet once a month.
“We also formed five action teams that are working on various topics based on the information from the survey.”
The five action teams include downtown development, recreation and things to do, education and economic development, small business development and entrepreneurship, and infrastructure.
Goins, who also serves as the communications director for the Sheridan School District, said one thing she likes is how everybody in the community is coming together and really talking about “what we envisioned for our community.”
“Everybody is putting effort into it and working together,” Goins said. “We can finally do some of the things we have been dreaming about.”
She said it was important to incorporate Grant County and the Yellow Jacket Nation, which is the Sheridan School District area, including East End.
“Because we are so connected in so many ways, Sheridan can’t move forward without the whole area along as well,” Goins said. “Our community is really on the cusp of making some significant changes, with the passing of millage.
“We are building facilities in the school district, and the district is really the heart of the community. Our district has 4,200 students in a city that has about 4,800 people, so our district is the heart of the community.”
Goins said that with the construction going on and the new highway to Little Rock, there is “so much momentum in our community.”
“Our sales-tax base is what we use to pay our police and fire,” Smith said. “We have not grown real fast, but in order to have money to pay fire, police and sanitation, we can’t be a bedroom community.
“They have to spend their tax dollars here, too, and that’s part of the Kick Start initiative. It is helping us grow so that we are attractive, so people want to come here and want to spend money here.
“Hopefully, one day, being the one stop where you don’t have to go outside of Sheridan to find what you need, it will be within reach here.”
Smith said the agreement between Sheridan and Kick Start is a five-year strategic action plan. The next public meeting for Kick Start Sheridan will be at noon Wednesday at First Baptist Church, 1201 S. Rock St. Smith said she encourages all citizens to attend, participate and share their thoughts about the future of Grant County.
“It has been very positive,” she said. “The thing I have seen the most is how our community has come together because they understand and want the community to move forward.
“I think everybody is really working toward the goal and having a plan for the future.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.