Economics Arkansas extends its influence in NWA, statewide

When most people hear of Economics Arkansas, they quickly think of financial literacy. The nonprofit, founded more than 60 years ago, has had a great influence on generations of students, helping them gain a better, more practical understanding of financial literacy.

However, Economics Arkansas is doing much more, especially in the entrepreneurial and workforce spaces.

“I think when people think of Economics Arkansas, historically, they always think financial literacy, which is a big bucket that we’re in because it’s so important,” said Kathleen Lawson, the group’s executive director. “But I think sometimes people don’t also think about what we’re doing in those other pillars as well.”

More than eight years into her role at the helm of the nonprofit, Lawson has helped grow the mission of Economics Arkansas into new areas. Lawson said the group’s endeavors are rooted in listening to the marketplace. When data and opportunity combine, Economics Arkansas has made its moves.

For instance, Heartland Forward — the think-and-do tank based in Bentonville — issued a report that highlighted the need for entrepreneurship education in the K-12 space. Economics Arkansas capitalized on this observation by adding student competitions to its lineup.

“Entrepreneurship education really helps students develop problem-solving skills, creativity and resilience,” Lawson said. “It’s not just about the entrepreneurship education, but it’s about creating a future workforce that has those kinds of skills.”

An example of entrepreneurship in action can be found in the Y.E.S. competition that Economics Arkansas is taking over from Arkansas Capital Corporation, now known as ACC Capital.

Y.E.S. stands for Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase. It’s a student competition for fifth through eighth graders in which they create business plans for their concepts and showcase them at a market forum. This year’s Y.E.S. competition is in February at Park Plaza Mall in Little Rock.

“What’s so cool about that is that these kids are not only learning how to do teamwork, they’re learning marketing, they’re learning how to do a budget and all of those things,” Lawson said. “Regardless of if they enter the entrepreneurial space, this will be good for their future employers.”

WORKFORCE READINESS
Workforce preparation provides another example of Economics Arkansas’ expanding mission. In 2016, the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce issued a report identifying major gaps in the state’s unfilled skilled positions. There were as many as 70,000 job openings not being filled because there weren’t workers with the right skills for the positions available, the report found.

Lawson explained that Economics Arkansas launched an effort to bring industry and educators together to address the problems.

“Literally, we bring educators inside industry and behind closed doors, places that a lot of us regular folks don’t get to see,” she said. “The educators get to see how industry works but also have a real conversation about what are the talent needs and how educators can help fill those skills — how we can build homegrown employees for these workplaces.”

While aspects of the mission may be expanding, the philosophy remains the same. It’s rooted in the Chinese proverb: “Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day; teach a person to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.”

Economics Arkansas was founded in 1962 by Arkansas Commissioner of Education Dr. Arch Ford and Bessie Moore, its first executive director, to boost economic literacy in the state. The group trains teachers on how to integrate economics into the classroom, starting as early as pre-K all the way through high school.

“[Ford and Moore] really believed in the multiplier effect — that if you could train teachers how to really understand economics, that they could not only train their current students, they could not only teach their current students, but students for years to come,” Lawson said. “So training teachers has been the main part of our model.

“We’ve trained over 5,300 teachers last year. We held over 200 professional development workshops each year, serving teachers all across the state. We also do some direct student engagement through competitions like the stock market game, which we’ve done for 25 years in Arkansas and other competitions.”

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
On April 16, Economics Arkansas will host its annual Bacon & Eggonomics breakfast fundraiser in Bentonville with guest speaker Steve Forbes.

The event will bring the business community together with educators to propel Economics Arkansas’ involvement in the region. It will also further strengthen efforts to enhance entrepreneurship in Northwest Arkansas.

“There’s so much entrepreneurship activity in Northwest Arkansas that we love, and there’s so many stories there to highlight,” Lawson said. “But we’ve also got a really strong base of master economics teachers in Northwest Arkansas.

“We look at them as resource extenders. They’re able to help us be in the classroom and serve teachers and students when we’re not able to be everywhere all the time. And so that’s been a great group of teachers for us up there. They’re really strong in a lot of our competitions. They often bring home the trophy in things like the high school econ challenge.

“We want to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit that’s so strong in Northwest Arkansas, and we want to make sure that we’re helping to build leaders in the rest of the state and continue to do that by learning from what they’ve done so well up there.”