VisionWorks' Breakthrough Solutions
Community and Regional Success Stories
Conway County Is Coming Back - February 2001
Two years ago (February 1999), the people of Morrilton saw two major
employers close their doors within a one-week period, displacing
nearly 1100 workers.
How does a small community cope with the wholesale decimation of its
workforce? Conway County was ready. Their history – 900 jobs were
lost in 1985 when a cotton plant closed – and the inspiration of a
few key leaders moved them to form Conway County Vision 2020
Leadership Institute in 1995.
In 1996, the community adopted VISION 2010 as a component of their
Vision 2020 effort. VISION 2010 is a partnership program coordinated
by the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. The
program is designed to build healthy sustainable communities for the
21st century. A team of leaders attended the first VISION 2010
Seminar in Paragould. One of the early projects was raising
$100,000; this amount was matched 3.5 to 1 to in order to launch the
MAST technology lab, a product of the Greenbrier EAST program. The
goal of the lab is to allow youth to learn technology while working
on projects that benefit the community.
The visioning process undertaken was exhaustive. Teams of two people
traveled to all parts of the county, seeking input from a diverse
cross section of the population. Over 1700 people shared their ideas
of what they wanted Conway County to be like in ten years. The
surveys asked open questions, creating a greater challenge for
processing the volumes of data gathered. Students processed all the
data in the MAST lab, compiling a comprehensive list of citizens’
most serious concerns.
The results helped to define the action teams formed and the
projects designated in the goals of the strategic action plan. The
plan was presented to the Morrilton mayor and Conway county judge at
a meeting in the fall of 1999. Over 50 of the actions recommended in
the strategic plan were already underway before the plan itself was
completed.
Among the successes is the purchase of a building which had housed a
fitness center. For a quarter of a million dollars, the community
acquired a $1.8 million facility to house a multipurpose community
center. Economic development efforts have seen success as well. New
businesses and industries have returned over half of the displaced
workers to the workforce. To quote the billboard on the restored
downtown movie theater, "Morrilton is coming back."
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