FAYETTEVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas grows more diverse by the day, and the change is faster in schools than anywhere else, a new study finds.
Growing groups such as Hispanics, Asians, African-Americans and Marshallese will deserve a greater role in public and business decision-making, a panel discussing the release of the study said Thursday.
The Northwest Arkansas Council, a group of local community and business leaders, and EngageNWA, a nonprofit group encouraging diversity and inclusion, compiled the study. The report tabulates recent census and school district enrollment data to show the rate of change in the region's racial and ethnic populations.
"Between 1990 and 2010, the region's racially and ethnically diverse populations increased from less than 5% in 1990 to nearly 24% in 2010," the study found. "Since then, the diversity has continued to increase. In 2019, the region was nearly 28% diverse and is expected to grow to almost 31% by 2024," it says.
The region's Hispanic population saw the largest gains, accounting for close to 17% of the population in 2019 and forecast to grow to over 18% by 2024, according to the study.
Northwest Arkansas grew by more than 20% since 2010 and is still showing a net gain of about 30 people a day, the report finds. The current population is expected to grow by another 10% by 2024, according to the study.
The population numbers show "school districts in Northwest Arkansas, like those across the nation, are on the frontline of demographic change. Rogers and Springdale, for example, are both now majority students of color."
Fayetteville, for example, is 23% diverse in its general population, but the Fayetteville School District is 34% diverse, according to the study. Rogers is 42% diverse, but it's School District has 56% students of color, with 47% of overall enrollment being Hispanic, the study says. Thursday's study giving percentages didn't list the specific number of students in each group.
"One clear reason people move to Northwest Arkansas is to have a family, and that type of lifestyle is good here," said Kim Davis, a senior program officer for the Walton Family Foundation. Desiring a good life for your children -- good schools, good jobs for the parents, affordable homes -- is universal, he said. It attracts people of all backgrounds.
Kim, his wife and two young children were living in Brooklyn, N.Y., 15 years ago when they decided to move here, he said after the panel discussion.
"We wanted a life where you could have a career and still get to go see your son play T-ball or see your daughter's recital," Davis said.
Before they agreed to come, they called the University of Arkansas and asked for -- and got -- a frank discussion with an African American person working at the university on whether they would be welcome.
Northwest Arkansas has escaped much of the racial tension historically experienced by other parts of the state because minority populations were never proportionately large enough here to expect to share power, either in the government or in business, panelists said. That's no longer true and isn't desirable in any case, panelists said.
There's plenty of evidence in business studies showing a diversified management is much better at spotting opportunities and viewing any business question from all angles than a monolithic one, said panelist Erin Kiefer, chief executive of Assembled Products Corp. The Rogers-based manufacturing firm's chief product is the "Mart Cart," an electric-powered scooter and shopping cart.
"So the question is, why wouldn't I want a diversified management?" Kiefer said. "So what we check for is to make sure there is no unconscious bias in hiring and promotion, to make sure we're not hurting ourselves unintentionally."
Both Davis and panelist Bjorn Simmons, founder and managing partner of Venture Noire, praised the initiative of the local business community -- Walmart Stores and Tyson Foods in particular -- in promoting diverse leadership in their companies and in the community.
The willingness of the region's business leaders to invest in businesses owned by African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and others is particularly important, Simmons said.
"It really all gets back to treating people like you'd like to be treated," said Mayor Lioneld Jordan of Fayetteville. Jordan didn't attend the event at the council headquarters, but spoke about it later that afternoon. Jordan has a history of promoting acceptance of different ethnic groups.
"People are coming here from all over the world," Jordan said. "That's a good thing."
NW News on 03/13/2020