Pine Bluff, Fayetteville Non-profits Form New Group To Lift Communities

A non-profit in Pine Bluff and one in Fayetteville are combining forces to fight poverty and build communities across seven states in the South.

On Wednesday (Oct. 1), alt.Consulting of Pine Bluff and Community Resource Group of Fayetteville said they would merge their two firms in an effort to serve under-sourced communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.

The new organization will be called Communities Unlimited, Inc.

“Safe drinking water and local commerce are two fundamental building blocks of economic development, but alone they cannot lift a regional economy. By combining our skills and 55 years of combined hands-on experience in a single entity, we can bring more innovation and work more deeply with communities,” said Ines Polonius, long-time leader of alt.Consulting and the leader of the new venture. “We will also collaborate with additional partners who focus on education, health care and other strategies that are essential for strong, sustainable communities.”

Calling its efforts “place-based strategies,” Communities Unlimited will work with small businesses, entrepreneurs and community water and wastewater systems to develop infrastructure and hone local business expertise.

In this new venture John Squires, founder and CEO of Community Resource Group, will take on a new role that includes researching and crafting strategies for Communities Unlimited.

“We will approach this opportunity community-by-community, implementing place-based strategies that are created specifically for the individual location,” Squires said. “And we will work deeply, perhaps for as much as 10 years with each community selected, making the long-term commitments necessary to achieve sustainable prosperity.”

Since its founding in 1998, alt.Consulting has focused on the Delta region of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The organization has offices in Pine Bluff, Jonesboro and Memphis. While Communities Unlimited will be headquartered in Fayetteville, Polonius emphasized that the Delta remains a high priority.

“Our commitment to the Delta is unwavering, as signified by our decision to make this announcement in Pine Bluff rather than Fayetteville, Little Rock or Washington,” Polonius said. “Those who are working with alt.Consulting or CRG today will not see anything different tomorrow. As we look further ahead, we see great opportunity to do even more with our valuable partners on the ground.”

CRG, a member of the national Rural Community Assistance Partnership, was created in 1975 and each year it works with more than 500 communities across a seven-state service area. The nonprofit provides lending, training and on-site technical assistance for public water and wastewater systems in small communities. CRG also builds affordable homes and provides low-cost loans for home improvement along the Texas-Mexico border.

Alt.Consulting has focused on training, managerial consulting and lending for small firms, along with developing “communities of innovation” in the Delta. It has assisted more than 3,800 small businesses and designed and implemented customized entrepreneurship strategies in two communities.

Both organizations are certified as Community Development Finance Institutions by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, allowing them to provide credit and financial services to underserved markets and populations. In the past 24 years, CRG has made 3,200 loans valued at $42 million while alt.Consulting made 51 small business loans totaling $700,000 in four years.