Northwest Arkansas Emerging Leaders in partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects will be holding their first popUP NWA Project in Downtown Rogers on August 1.
This new initiative from the Northwest Arkansas Emerging Leaders Community Enrichment Team is designed to inspire local businesses, city leadership, and the greater Rogers community to see the potential of an underutilized area of Downtown Rogers. The areas in question are Centennial Park, the alleyway located directly behind the park, and a parking lot directly south of the park.
Through a partnership with the Northwest Arkansas chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the group has worked with the city to install lighting in the alleyway to make it more attractive to pedestrians. They will also be cleaning up Centennial Park, putting in a temporary art installation from local art galleries, and creating food truck parking.
“When we first started this project, it was just a couple of people throwing around a couple of ideas about what we could do,” said Katie Strickland, Assistant Branch Manager for the Bank of Arkansas and Vice-Chair of the Better Block Initiative for the Community Enrichment Team. “What we found was a city and a community with a ton of passion and energy to re-imagine the core of Rogers in a new way. We wanted to help turn some of that imagination into reality.”
With trees coming in from a local nursery and food trucks coming in from the local area, the parking lot next door to the Rabbit’s Lair will become a shaded eatery for the day. “The goal was never to do anything permanent,” said Strickland. “Our goal was to influence the stakeholders in the area to see the space as having the potential to be more than it is today.”
The focus of the Community Enrichment Work Group is to be a breeding ground for initiatives designed to positively impact the Northwest Arkansas Community and help provide the resources to turn those ideas into reality. The group has two other initiatives active year round: Lunch with A Leader – an intimate lunch with a prominent community leader focused on leadership development held quarterly; and Volunteer Day – A day where emerging leaders from all over the area take some time off of work and get out to network, learn more about the organizations in the area, and impact the NWA community in a positive way.
#popUPnwa
Contacts:
Katie Strickland (Vice-chair Better Block Initiative lead) – KStrickland@bankofarkansas.com 501-258-0317
David Bradley (Community Enrichment Work Group Chair) dgbradl@gmail.com 870-740-2216