NWACC Fills Vital Niche

Work force development is the No. 1 issue weighing on the local economy. That’s why NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville and its Workforce Development Institute are the most crucial pieces of Northwest Arkansas’ puzzling future.

The separate $1 million gifts from the Jack Shewmaker family and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. associates, which have ensured the timely construction of NWACC’s $4.6 million Shewmaker Center for Workforce Technologies, will reap multiples of local benefits for decades.

Arkansas has historically been very reactive when it comes to worker development. The state advertised itself as a low-ball haven for any company willing to throw up a shingle and pay an indecent wage. That mentality, of course, eventually helped land us near the bottom of every career and educational comparison in the country. It contributed to the “Dogpatch factor,” the image that those of us marooned outside Little Rock’s Markham Street and Capitol Avenue are content to eek out minimum wages while quietly digesting our RC Colas and Moon Pies.

Since prospering pockets of high-technology in California, Texas and North Carolina became the economic model de jour in the late-1990s, we rural rubes have clamored for more high-wage and value-added jobs that would improve the quality of workers’ lives and ensure local spending.

We’re still trying to get there. Baccalaureate and master’s degree programs at the University of Arkansas, John Brown University and Webster University will continue to produce capable white-collar professionals, the best of whom may eventually be wooed to stick around with competitive pay. But what of the masses?

The predominant manufacturing and service sectors, too, must join the technology revolution in order to keep pace, much less grow profits. More technical applications are being implemented daily at local plants, and NWACC has taken the proactive lead by training workers to fill companies’ needs.

A consortium of 20 large and small local manufacturers are consulting with the school, and competencies in skills for computer pneumatic controls machinery and programmable logic controls have been made priorities.

Mary Ann Shope, dean of the Workforce Development Institute, is one of the most well-connected and respected executives in the state’s educational system. With her enthusiasm and a state-of-the-art training facility, we’re confident NWACC will help attract, and keep, the kinds of opportunities we need.