I'm often asked to speak about economic development in Arkansas. There was a time when my speeches focused on northwest Arkansas and how that region's economy was carrying the rest of the state. I no longer have to do that, since exciting initiatives are taking place in other parts of the state.

That's not to imply things have slowed down in northwest Arkansas. They've sped up. I recently wrote a column in which I talked about Bentonville's three "islands of innovation"--the new multibillion-dollar Walmart corporate campus, which is home to some of the world's smartest people since Walmart is now as much a technology company as it is a retailer; the Crystal Bridges campus, where Alice Walton is focused on both art and health care; and the former Walmart home office, where Tom and Steuart Walton are creating a four-year private university.

Any city in the world would be proud to have just one of these campuses. The fact they're all in one Arkansas town boggles the mind.

Northwest Arkansas is the ninth fastest-growing metro area in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It's the only metro area in the top 10 in which abundant housing isn't a major factor in the growth. Growth instead is driven by Tyson Foods' and Walmart's decisions to move white-collar employees once scattered across the country to Arkansas. Those corporate mandates have brought hundreds of families, needed diversity, and intellectual capital to our state.

Big things are now happening elsewhere. In the old manufacturing city of Fort Smith (most Arkansans thought its best days were behind it when manufacturers headed south of the border several decades ago), a military mission to train fighter pilots from around the world has revitalized the town. Defense contractors are looking at Fort Smith as a good place to do business. I believe it will become a defense and aerospace hub during the next two decades.

In central Arkansas, Amazon's decision to make the area a regional hub not only led to thousands of jobs, but sent a message to the rest of the corporate world, where executives watch Amazon's every move. That message is this: Central Arkansas is a great logistics and manufacturing location. There are now multiple distribution centers in the metro area with more on the way.

The Port of Little Rock, a massive economic engine for the state, announces another manufacturer on almost a monthly basis. The Little Rock area also is becoming a financial center (witness the growth of institutions such as Bank OZK and Simmons Bank) and a health-care hub.

In northeast Arkansas, the steel boom in Mississippi County shows no signs of letting up. Combine that with the continued growth of Jonesboro and Arkansas State University, and you have what ASU's chancellor, Todd Shields, calls a region "on the brink of something really special." Shields, who worked for many years at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, says northeast Arkansas in 2026 reminds him of northwest Arkansas three decades ago.

In southwest Arkansas, combine the defense manufacturing boom near Camden (almost 5,000 people are now employed in the defense sector there with hundreds of additional jobs on the way) with the coming lithium boom in places such as Lafayette, Columbia and Miller counties. The impact of direct lithium extraction won't occur overnight, but the result 10 years from now will be increased prosperity for southwest Arkansas residents.

I mention all of this in speeches, and it leads to a question: "What about southeast Arkansas?"

That's a tougher nut to crack. I can't point to trends like lithium or steel there, but I can list smaller victories. There's the opening later this year of the Delta Heritage Trail and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's efforts to turn Bayou Bartholomew (the world's longest bayou) into a haven for kayakers and canoeists. There's the stunning hotel and conference center at Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, which will bring large conventions back to southeast Arkansas for the first time in years. There's the decision by Weyerhaeuser Co. to build a $500 million facility between Monticello and Warren to produce laminated strand lumber that's engineered for strength and straightness.

"We primarily do business in small rural locations across the United States, and that dynamic that we have with those communities is one of the reasons why we're still in business," Devin Stockfish, Weyerhaeuser's president and CEO, said at a groundbreaking ceremony last year. "Frankly, it's one of the things that makes this company special, and that couldn't be more true with our operations in Arkansas. We've been in Arkansas since the mid-1950s."

Southeast Arkansas needs its own version of the Northwest Arkansas Council, an organization focused on regionalism. It appears that the Alliance for Rural Impact (ARI) is ready to take on that role. ARI was founded in northeast Arkansas in 2017 by Jamie Wright and Jennifer Watkins. It was intended to be a partnership of experts focused on community development in rural regions.

Southeast Arkansas was later identified as the area of greatest need, which is why ARI is sponsoring "SEA: A ShARed Future," an all-day conference starting at 8:45 a.m. April 30 at the Grand Prairie Center in Stuttgart. Wright, ARI's executive director, says she hopes 250 business and civic leaders will attend.

According to an ARI paper: "For decades, communities have faced a stark reality: population loss, economic decline and aging foundations. The old playbook of incremental fixes is exhausted and calls for a profound, fundamental transformation. This isn't a plan for repair. It's a proactive blueprint for rebirth.

"Created by five years of analysis and direct community input, the SEA Change Blueprint is a comprehensive strategy to pivot an entire region toward a resilient and vibrant future. It's a shared commitment to action and renewal, moving from vision to measurable progress. ... SEA Change positions southeast Arkansas not just to recover but to lead. We're building systems that are inclusive and ready to compete. This is about ensuring our region is not only eligible for investment but prepared to accept it and deliver transformational results."

The plan calls for action in four areas:

Expanding access: remove barriers to training, child care, transportation and technology. Ensure opportunity is available to all.

Strengthening partnerships: deepen collaboration to super-charge employment, entrepreneurship and local leadership.

Enhancing quality of life: invest in housing, health care, recreation and culture to create places where people want to stay and build a life.

Growing entrepreneurial ecosystems: Cultivate networks of innovation that reflect the spirit and ingenuity of southeast Arkansas.

"There are people on the ground in southeast Arkansas doing the hard work of community development, but there's a lack of support for them," Wright says. "Our job is to help them and thus shift the narrative in southeast Arkansas."

Wright has served rural Arkansas in various capacities for almost three decades. As former deputy director of the East Arkansas Planning and Development District, she administered a $2.6 million regional sustainability planning grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She's also a former member of the Harrisburg Economic Development Committee.

The ARI board chairman is Jordan Wimpy of the Mitchell Williams law firm in Little Rock, an environmental lawyer with extensive experience in the agricultural, energy and natural resources sectors. The master of ceremonies for the April 30 event will be ARI board member Justin Burch, president and CEO of Delta Compass, a regional development organization.

Rex Nelson is a senior editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

rnelson@adgnewsroom.com

Rex Nelson has been senior editor and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2017, and he has a biweekly podcast called "Southern Fried."

After graduating from Ouachita Baptist University in 1981, he was a sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat for a year before becoming editor of Arkadelphia's Daily Siftings Herald. He was the youngest editor of a daily in Arkansas at age 23. Rex was then news and sports director at KVRC-KDEL from 1983-1985.

He returned to the Democrat as assistant sports editor in 1985. From 1986-1989, he was its Washington correspondent. He left to be Jackson T. Stephens' consultant.

Rex became the Democrat-Gazette's first political editor in 1992, but left in 1996 to join then-Gov. Mike Huckabee's office. He also served from 2005-09 in the administration of President George W. Bush.

From 2009-2018, he worked stints at the Communications Group, Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities, and Simmons First National Corp.

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