…The idea was formed to “take a bank and make it more than just a bank,” Baldwin said. The bank’s main shareholders are nonprofits. It moved into the Delta and began focusing on community development in the most impoverished areas. In Phillips County, Ark., the bank paid to bulldoze a dangerous abandoned downtown building and turned it into a park for kids to play in.
This is the 11th story in a series about the Clark County Strategic Plan. The focus is on Caddo Valley.
Caddo Valley Mayor Alan Dillavou is pleased with all the projects for his city in Clark County’s Strategic Plan, but he’s concerned about the funding.
Photo: From left, Dr. Stan Miller, superintendent of Arkadelphia schools; Carlos Zamudio, Scroll/DANFOSS; and Phil Baldwin, CEO of Southern Bancorp, listen as U.S. Rep. Mike Ross makes a point Thursday morning at Ouachita Baptist University.
Southern Good Faith Fund’s Public Policy program is supporting several initiatives to increase asset building opportunities for working Arkansans. A key priority is increasing funding for the state’s Individual Development Account (IDA) program. The current annual appropriation level of $550,000 for IDAs does not allow access to them statewide or in every county. Currently, four organizations offer Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funded IDA accounts in 36 of the state’s…
Henderson State University was an integral part of the process to develop the Clark County Strategic Plan, by enabling a faculty member to serve as co-chairman of the process and approving the project as one for the Joint Education Consortium, said Dr. Charles Dunn, president of HSU.
Members of the health subcommittee of the Clark County Strategic Plan concentrated on several points during their discussions, including expanding health care services to areas of the county that are under-served, said Margo Green one of the co-chairmen of the subcommittee.
The Clark County Strategic Plan has 16 goals and action steps that pertain to Gurdon, but the residents and officials of the town are already taking action to make positive changes, Mayor Clayton Franklin said.
“Compromise is the key to accomplishing anything, not just in politics, but in life,” former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker said Saturday night. Tucker, Arkansas governor from 1993-1996, was the keynote speaker at the 12th annual Clinton Day Dinner, a fund-raiser for the Clark County Democratic Party.
EVERYONE loves the blues. Some people just don’t know it yet. Much like its followers, the blues has hitchhiked from one part of the country to another, evolving into new genres like R&B, soul and rock.
…Many of the goals and action steps affecting Arkadelphia are continuations of previous plans, such as the city’s Master Plan or the 2025 Commission’s master plan. Among those goals are plans to give Arkadelphia more of a “college town” fell with more sidewalks, pocket parks, murals and other attractions in the downtown area that would attract foot traffic and visitors…