Honors and Awards

Fayetteville Citizens Honored as a 2009 Volunteer Community of the Year

Press Release:
From: City of Fayetteville
Contact: Lindsley Smith, Communication Director, 479-575-8328, lsmith@ci.fayetteville.ar.us

Fayetteville was honored today in Little Rock, AR, as a 2009 Volunteer Community of the Year at the Annual Municipal League Conference. The audience of municipal leaders across the state were greatly impressed with the extremely large number of hours Fayetteville citizens have donated to their community in 2009.

The award was given by The Office of Governor Mike Beebe, the Department of Human Services Division on Volunteerism, and the Arkansas Municipal League. Lt. Governor Bill Halter presented the award to Mayor Lioneld Jordan, City Clerk Sondra Smith, and City Council Members Shirley Lucas and Adella Gray (see attached pictures). In the past year, well over 21,957 volunteers worked 567,910 hours to the benefit of our community and the quality of life of Fayetteville residents. These numbers do not reflect all of the organizations benefitting from the dynamic volunteer spirit in Fayetteville, but just the hours gathered by the application deadline.

The non-profit Walton Arts Center is the states largest and busiest center for the performing arts and entertainment, and it had 327 volunteers giving 19,600 hours, which includes activities of sales, greeting, concessions, performances for students, and mailings. When tens of thousands of people were without electricity in the ice storm earlier this year, the WAC opened up two performances for free to get people from their cold, dark homes, and volunteers were necessary to do this. The Fayetteville Public Library has 169 active volunteers that do shelving, calling patrons, running the Friends Bookstore, assisting departments, guiding tours, repairing books, outreach and several other activities, and in the last year 175 volunteers gave 13,340 hours to the library helping it and its patrons. The Fayetteville Public School District had 1,241 volunteers give 63,575 hours to educational programs and activities.

The University of Arkansas has active volunteer programs, with volunteers coming from the faculty and students into the community, and volunteers in the community coming to the University to assist it in its educational and fundraising goals. Through the Division of the Chancellors Office, there were 4,624 volunteers with 284,405 hours in direct service, 2,087 volunteers with 9,576 hours of indirect service volunteer hours, 542 volunteers engaged in 1,651 hours of advocacy-related activities, and 5,556 volunteers providing 30,927 hours serving on Boards, Commissions, and Councils at the University of Arkansas. Students at the University of Arkansas are also active volunteers. There are thousands of hours of volunteerism of students through academic internships and academic student organization volunteerism to charity organizations. In addition to those hours, the Athletic Department had 2303 students volunteer in 7 major events throughout the year to log in more than 9000 hours of service, for an economic impact of $182,250, and Greek Life organizations donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities, performing over approximately 20,000 hours in Community Service.

The Peace at Home Domestic Violence Shelter had 150 volunteers with 1,100 hours, the Washington Regional Cancer Support Home had 50 volunteers serving 2,700 hours, the Fayetteville Youth Dental Program had 14 volunteers serving 300 hours, and the NWA Free Clinic had 80 volunteers giving 5,232 hours to assisting individuals with health needs. The Boys and Girls Club had 215 volunteers give 17,200 volunteer hours to programs, 20 giving 1,440 hours to board service, 200 giving 1,000 hours to special events, and 15 volunteers provided 600 hours of support. Volunteers in Fayetteville worked at least 2,451 hours for the Seven Hills Homeless Shelter. The Bikes, Blues, and BBQ Rally is the fastest-growing motorcycle rally in the world, with profits going to charity, and it takes hundreds of volunteers each year to make this rally successful. Five-hundred volunteers and 2,000 hours were necessary to make it a success.

America in Bloom had 15 volunteers giving 250 hours, the Washington County Master Gardeners had 140 volunteers giving 23,077, and the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks had 165 volunteers giving 8,474 hours toward making Fayetteville beautiful. The Illinois River Watershed Partnership had 60 individuals serving 3,692 hours on boards and committees, and it had 600 individuals dedicating 3,127 hours toward special projects. The Watershed Conservation Resource Center had 160 volunteers giving 475 hours to community service. The Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association had 14 volunteers donating 100 hours on trail clean-up, 14 volunteers giving 1,000 hours of service on its board, 70 volunteers giving 1,060 on green infrastructure projects, and 6 volunteers giving 24 hours clearing invasive plants on a 4-acre area.

The City of Fayetteville has made great strides over the past year thanks to the many volunteers that do much to help make city government work better for its citizens. Two hundred and seventy Fayetteville residents served on City Boards and Committees in the past year, which amounted to over 6,000 volunteer hours (not including their research and preparation time volunteered to assist the Board or committee). The City Parks and Recreation Department and the City Animal Shelter are two departments in which many citizens volunteer many hours. Parks and Recreation had 408 volunteers putting in 15,180 hours of service in such activities as Adopt a Park and Adopt a Trail (5,469); YRCC mentors, garden work, special events (1,872); and service as coaches for all of the Citys recreation programs (7,839). These active volunteer programs engage children and adults in learning and exercise activities, as well as making the exercise locations clean and green for the entire community. The Animal Shelter also has an active volunteer program. In the last year, 708 volunteers worked 12,354 at the Animal Shelter socializing cats, exercising dogs, taking photos and writing bios for Petfinder, matching lost pet reports with pets in the shelter, showing dogs, bathing them, and other activities.

The City of Fayettevilles Community Development Department had 53 volunteers giving 257 hours within the last year to help low income families. Moreover, the Citys Solid Waste and Recycling/Clean-ups had 272 volunteers that volunteered 743 hours to their community. The City of Fayetteville initiated a Fayetteville Forward Summit from March 31 to April 4, in which 475 people engaged in open dialog toward moving Fayetteville forward in areas such as economic development, health, sustainability, inclusiveness, education, transportation, infrastructure, creative arts, citizen empowerment, historic and heritage, local food, and city staff support. Action Groups from this summit have been meeting each month after the summit and have initiated ideas and programs that have strengthened Fayetteville. There have been approximately 700 volunteers and 6,000 volunteer hours dedicated to Fayetteville Forward activities. As a result of the strong desire of Fayetteville citizens to give back to the community in volunteerism for the City, as of August, the City now has a staff member, Julie McQuade, who will be the citys volunteer coordinator. The City also instituted a program in the past few months called With a Can We Can!, and in 2009 1,155 pounds of food have been donated by Fayetteville citizens to stock local food pantries. In August through December alone, 9,095 food items were donated by employees of the City of Fayetteville through the Citys food drive.

Fayetteville has a strong community spirit and has long been praised for one its greatest strengths, her People. In good times and trying times, Fayetteville citizens consider others, and even in trying times, there continues a great solidarity of spirit. It was the credit of all of Fayetteville pulling together to house individuals, clean streets, cut limbs, haul limbs, get people assistance, and do whatever necessary to help save lives, homes, and businesses during the devastating 2009 ice storm. The thousands of volunteers and thousands of hours could not be measured, but without them the welfare of the community would have suffered further than what the storm brought.

Fayetteville is strong because our people are strong in spirit and in their giving. Thank you Fayetteville for all you do to enrich our community!

College Value List Ranks UA No. 55

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville ranked 55th in a list of the 100 Best College Values for 2010, compiled by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine for its February issue, released today.

The list ranked public universities on the basis of a combination of factors, including in-state and out-of-state costs, admission rates, graduation rates, test scores and financial aid.

This year, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took top honors, a spot it has held consistently since Kiplinger's first analysis in 1998.

Rounding out the top five are the University of Florida, University of Virginia, College of William and Mary and Binhamton University.

Source: Northwest Arkansas, Arkansas Democrat, Jan 5, 2010

----------------

Fayetteville Among the Top 9 in 2009

Fayetteville was one of the nine highest growth area in Arkansas last year, a Little Rock-based demographic research firm said in a report released January, 5th, 2010. The number of households in Fayetteville grew by 27.6% between 2000 and 2009, from 26,228 households in 2000 to 33,460 households in 2009. The average household's income jumped by $24,000 to $70,759 and its average net worth exceeded $302,000, according to the Gadberry Group, which provides information for the largest retailers in the country.

The Gadberry Group uses several criteria to determine the high-growth areas in the state and nationally. Those include percent change in number of households, average income, "emerging block", average net worth, length of residence and age of residents. An emerging census block is an area that had fewer than 10 households in 2000 and more than 100 in 2009.

Cities that made the top 9 in 2009 in Arkansas were Maumelle, Bryant, Conway, Centerton, Lowell, Cabot, Rogers, and Bentonville. Maumelle tops this high-growth list.

Source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette, January 5, 2010

----------------

Allison Architects, Little Rock and Fayetteville, was recently given the highest award by the Arkansas chapter of the American Institute of Architects, known as the Honor Award. The award recognized its work on Willard J. Walker Hall, the newest addition to the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

3GD, Inc., also from Fayetteville, received a Merit Award for its work on a Fayetteville residence.
--------------

In the Northwest Arkansas region, Stitt Energy Systems which is based in Rogers, recently received a platinum LEED certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. There are only 212 commercial buildings in the world that have been certified LEED platinum, which is the higest certification level possible.
---------------

Northwest Arkansas Towns Named One of 11 Southern Retirement Hotspots by National Magazine

Charlotte, NC - Northwest Arkansas towns, in general, is one of 11 top Southern Retirement Hotspots according to an article to be featured in the upcoming Jan./Feb./March, 2010 quarterly edition of Retirement Lifestyles, a 10-year-old magazine that highlights locations, communities and lifestyles for prospective retirees across the United States.

"There are a number of retirement towns in Northwest Arkansas full of happy retirees, including Bella Vista, Bentonville, Berryville, Eureka Springs, Fayetteville, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale. Fayetteville is a college town full of students nine months of the year and Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale are a little more business oriented," said Retirement Lifestyles Executive Editor Dan Owens. "Out of state relocating retirees can easily visit and consider all of these towns. NW Arkansas is traditional, conservative and affordable with outstanding golf, a four-season climate, a nearby major university and the scenic beauty of the Ozark Mountains."

Two other pluses: The Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport offers over 50 flights a day and the medical care in the area is considered to be outstanding.

Jonesboro and Batesville are two of the Arkansas communities the magazine endorses as "worth a look," while towns in the Northwest Arkansas region are the magazine's top Arkansas retirement relocation choice. This is the first time the magazine has recommended such a collection of towns.

"As baby boomers age, there will be an increasing interest in finding unspoiled smaller communities with great natural assets and a good quality of life," Owens said. "Many retirees need an information source like Retirement Lifestyles to learn more about great lifestyle communities."

Facts and Figures

Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Results

GDP Forecast:

2009:
4th Quarter 2.9%

2010:
1st Quarter 2.8%
2nd Quarter 2.9%
Full Year 2.9%

Unemployment Rate:
10.3% in December 2009 (Currently 10.2% for November)
10.1% in June 2010

Inflation Rate:
1.9% in December 2009
1.9% in June 2010
1.8% in December 2010

House Prices Change:
2009 -3.2%
2010 1.1%

Source: The Wall Street Journal