Let’s connect

guest commentary by Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, chancellor, Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus

“You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread.  You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words.”
— C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Let’s adapt this quote and apply it to our region: the things I love and know and experience about Ozark, Paris, Booneville, Charleston, Clarksville, Altus, and Mulberry represent the secret thread, and bind these regional communities together, though I too have trouble putting it into words. Perhaps I should borrow from another author, E.M. Forster, who asks us to “Only connect.”

To be sure, there is a significant interconnectedness among our regional communities, and it’s not just at Friday night football games or on Arkansas 22.

First, we have all heard what Gov. Mike Beebe has said about all Arkansas communities — what is good for Van Buren is good for Mountain Home — and that we all benefit when one community wins. It’s true. And in the Fort Smith region, we have had a lot of winners lately: Mitsubishi, Mars Petcare, and a few smaller, but no less significant, efforts.

Last month, Franklin County Adult Education opened its first Adult Education Center in Charleston. Historically, adult education in Franklin County has been provided in Ozark and Ozark only, but Brad Kent, Franklin and Logan Counties’ Adult Education Administrator, crossed the river and asked the citizens of Charleston what they needed. They requested an Adult Education Center, a partnership was formed with Charleston Public Schools, and adult education instruction will now take place in Charleston.

Kent knew that 24% of Franklin County residents (population approximately 18,000) have never earned their high school diploma, and he, along with the citizens of Charleston, know that a low high school graduation rate in our county does not help us in economic development efforts.

Sharing and connecting across communities has created a much needed beautification and litter prevention program in Ozark: Keep Ozark Beautiful (KOB). An affiliate of Keep Arkansas Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful, KOB was formed this past year with the goal of “improving the quality of life” for citizens of Ozark. The first affiliate in our area, Keep Van Buren Beautiful, provided the vision and leadership in the region to show what a successful and vibrant program looks like.

After an extensive certification process, documentation, and development of an organizational structure, KOB was established and has already carried out a number of projects in the Ozark area, most notably its beautification of vacant storefronts in the downtown area. KOB partnered with Ozark Public Schools to create and display colorful artwork and murals in the downtown storefronts. Now, with both affiliates, the Keep Arkansas Beautiful message is spreading across our region.

We have a recent history from which to draw for some of these collaborative accomplishments.

When Rockline Industries worked with the citizens of Booneville to locate their operations in the former Today’s Kids and Today’s Plastics plant, the city leaders of Booneville gathered individuals from across the region to work together to ensure Rockline’s success. Booneville didn’t keep it all to themselves — the community knew they would need to work with surrounding communities for support. In fact, not surprisingly, a training facility for Arkansas Tech in Ozark and the Logan County Adult Education Center for Booneville are both located at Rockline.

At times, the smaller towns in the Fort Smith region function as one economic unit, and we share challenges we need to face together: developing and sustaining the Fort Smith Regional Alliance, finding ways to expand broadband access, discussing transportation options in our communities and alternative energy opportunities, increasing educational attainment, and reading our demographics and trends —together — so that we plan for our future.

And, in order to address those challenges, perhaps it’s time we took a little more of C.S. Lewis’s advice (from “Surprised by Joy”): “Enough has been thought, and said, and felt, and imagined. It was about time that something should be done.”