Arkansas Baptist Debuts New Community Center, ‘Era Of Prosperity’

Several hundred people turned out Tuesday for the grand opening of three new businesses on the growing campus of Arkansas Baptist College, where President Fitz Hill promised the beginning of a new phase of economic development for the local historically black college (HBCU) and the surrounding urban community.

“This is a great day for Arkansas Baptist College and this entire community,” said Hill, a former University of Arkansas assistant football coach who took over the helm of Arkansas Baptist in February 2006. “It has been a struggle, but God has brought us through.”

Arkansas Baptist is a private four-year institution in downtown Little Rock, founded as the “Minister’s Institute” in August 1884 at the Annual Convention of the Colored Baptists of the State of Arkansas. The local college has struggled financially for much of the past several decades, but Hill said during Tuesday’s celebration that things were looking up after many years of financial difficulties.

The new First Security Community Union center will include a food court, coffee shop and bookstore, just across the street from the campus on Martin Luther King Drive. The Chopstixs and Daily Bread restaurants will offer Chinese cuisine and sandwiches, while the Barista Bar will sell premium coffee imported from East Africa as well as smoothies and pastries.

The center will also include the Trinity Bookstore, the campus’ first traditional college bookstore. The new retail center will also sell ABC T-shirts and paraphernalia, along with textbooks and other classroom-related items for the students attending the fast-growing urban college.

In addition, the center will rent space to local community groups, where guests will have access to catering services, a TV room, fireplace, computers and study space. Also, Arkansas Baptist began work towards becoming a college work study program last year where full-time students on campus will be able to get federal financial aid by working at the community center, Hill said.

HUNDREDS OF LOCAL BUSINESS, COMMUNITY PARTNERS ATTEND FESTIVE EVENT
Hill was joined at the festive event on Martin Luther King Drive in Little Rock by a host of local community, business leaders and politicians, including Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock. During the ceremony, the Arkansas Baptist president said the idea for a campus business center came during a conversation with Rep. Hill, who at the time was CEO of Delta Trust & Bank.

At the time, Hill said the two talked about a federal $125 million tax credit financing program that encouraged public and private partnerships to foster economic development to poor, urban areas. From those early conversations, the president of the local HBCU said he was able to bring together a number of local banks who provided financing for the project, as well as a large outpouring of community support for the center.

“With the local banking community and their representatives, and all the people in this community that you see here, this would not have been able to happen,” Hill told the crowd.

John Rutledge, president of Searcy-based First Security, said the privately held Arkansas banking and investment group was only one of many local banks and private and public partners that helped to make the community center a reality.

“We helped to facilitate this opportunity to join what Arkansas Baptist is doing in this community,” Rutledge said. “It’s a beacon of hope for this area.”

Rep. Hill also applauded the combined effort from local banks and community partners to help the financially strapped HBCU, which like a lot of traditional black colleges and universities across the U.S. is faced with dwindling budgets and lack of support from lawmakers at the local, state and federal level.

GOOD TIMES AHEAD FOR ARKANSAS BAPTIST, HILL SAYS
However, the news of the community center comes at a good time for Arkansas Baptist, following several months of financial problems where the local Christian university struggled to meet payroll, and there were calls in some quarters for Hill to resign.

In late 2014, Arkansas Baptist received news from the U.S. Department of Education that it had been approved for a $30 million loan that would allow the college to pay back creditors and get its finances back on track.

During a meeting with local church supporters on Sunday night, Fitz Hill said the struggles have weighed on him personally, but he was excited now that the college’s finances are looking up.

“If we just keep our trust in God, he will direct our paths,” Hill said, quoting his favorite scripture from Psalms.

Under Fitz Hill’s leadership over the past nine years, the local college has launched a $30 million capital campaign that includes a community redevelopment component for the surrounding neighborhood. This multi-year project is geared towards developing a cleaner and safer neighborhood around ABC, teaching students important lessons in urban development and capitalism, Hill said.

Next month, the urban college will dedicate the Scott Ford Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Union. At that time, Hill said he will provide an update on the school’s so-called “2020” vision, which will offer a detailed description of the college’s future mission and describe the game plan on how the Ford Center will play a role in developing the area around the college.

In 2008, Arkansas Baptist received a $2.5 million gift from the former Alltel Corp. CEO to be put toward the college’s new residence hall. Nearly four years ago, Arkansas Baptist announced the Scott Ford Center “to develop a trained corps of entrepreneurs prepared to start businesses in underserved communities.”

According to Hill, the new Scott Ford Center will house a micro-lending program to provide small business loans to individuals who might not qualify for traditional financing. The loans are expected to be in the $50 to $5,000 range.

Today, Arkansas Baptist enrollment stands at nearly 1,000 students. When Hill took over in 2006, the college had less than 150 full-time students.