Big things are happening in Northwest Arkansas’ smaller communities.
From Farmington and Centerton, to Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove and Siloam Springs, residents are shaping places that are welcoming, connected and uniquely their own—proving that a strong region is built in the neighborhoods, parks and main streets where everyday life unfolds.
“Many Places, One Future” tells the stories of these communities. While each one has its own identity, the same ideas surface again and again. The importance of connection in an increasingly disconnected world. How public spaces create opportunities for neighbors to meet, build trust and become more engaged in civic life. The sense of power and possibility in being heard by local leaders. And the intentional work of preserving a small-town sense of belonging even as their communities grow.
Together, these stories reinforce a simple but powerful idea: When people feel connected to the places they call home, they show up for them. They participate, advocate, volunteer and invest in its future. The parks, libraries, trails and gathering spaces that anchor civic life are more than amenities—they are where neighbors become a community.
It’s here that everyday moments of connection that foster belonging, inspire participation and strengthen civic life are created. When the individual bonds between neighbors grow stronger, so does the region they call home.
As senior program officers for the Walton Family Foundation Home Region program, we’re excited to share why we believe the growth and vibrancy of Northwest Arkansas’ small cities are so critical to the region’s future.
Meredith Bergstrom (Senior Program Officer, Home Region Program): So much is exciting about this work. We get to see really passionate local advocates who are working so hard in their local communities to make impact. I'm thinking of small-town mayors…people who lead nonprofits. You can really see that impact. Good things take time.
Ana Aguayo (Senior Program Officer, Home Region Program): Right? There's something in the water of these communities. I think of Farmington, for example, and their local library project. Their level of commitment was really inspiring, giving their time and their resources to see the project completed. It tells me that people want to connect, and by connecting, they care more. This community sees an opportunity and says, “This belongs to me.”
Meredith: You know, it's one thing to talk about the region. But ultimately, the reason that matters is because everyone is rooted in a place. For me, living in Siloam Springs for many years, that meant being able to go to the coffee shop and people knew my name. People knew my kids. That sense of community is really expressed through our daily lives and through our connection to our own hometowns.
Ana: A strong region really is a composition of strong towns. As rapidly as this region is growing, we need to be collaborative and intentional in supporting residents and local leaders retain that small-town feeling while adding amenities that improve quality of life.
Meredith: Of all the growth happening in Northwest Arkansas today, more than half of it is going into these smaller communities. I know from talking every day to people, that there's a real feeling of pressure from the growth. What I would love to see is that growth starts to feel less like pressure and more like opportunity.
In Pea Ridge for example, it’s really exciting to see folks like Mayor Nathan See plan proactively for this growth. What it looks like for kids to be able to access school safely via crosswalks. Or hard infrastructure, like water towers, making sure that city services continue to reach everyone. It's exciting to think about how we can accelerate these projects.
We get to decide as community what growth means, how it happens, and whether or not it supports making sure that everyone has access to more opportunity as we grow.
Ana: Access is everything. When I think of what it means to belong to a community, I think about the opportunity for an individual to not only feel seen, but for them to feel heard. Is there an opportunity where they are invited into a space that they might not frequent?
For me, parks and libraries very much feel like a common living room that we all share. The barrier to engagement with each feels almost nonexistent because they belong to everyone.
Parks and libraries feed connection. Maybe you are finding your tribe of other working moms, navigating playgrounds and summer activities. Or I think of our Marshallese and Latino community in Northwest Arkansas and the opportunities for these communities to do some bonding and bridging in how they choose to show up and how they choose to reimagine what Northwest Arkansas can look like.
And it's by way of sharing with one another that we create our own roadmaps and get a sense of how this community is woven together.
The connection extends beyond individuals. The connection between communities is just as important as what we’re connecting to.
Meredith: I think something exciting about the work that we support is really trying to resource lots of different types of activities so that anybody in Northwest Arkansas has a way to connect and find an access point, either for something that they love and have been doing for a long time, or maybe something that they want to try.
Ana: That is spot-on. When I think of belonging, every connection starts with an introduction. Maybe you go to a bike park, and you might not be a “biker” kind of person, but by experiencing it, you start to develop an affinity for it. And the more you come, the more you begin to make those connections. You start to feel more rooted in this community.
Meredith: The connection extends beyond individuals. The connection between communities is just as important as what we’re connecting to.
I think of the Western Benton County Partnership, for example. These are communities that are along a corridor in the western part of the county that are saying, “Hey, we see the growth happening and we want to plan together on things like housing, water and trails.” When we work together, we can get farther.
Ana: To be able to reach that intentionality requires residents participating, knowing that their voice matters, and that by working together, we can actually get to the finish line in a way that will make this place feel home for many of us.
Meredith: Exactly. People forget that the reason our communities are the way they are is because somebody made a decision at some point where the sidewalks go, what the street grid is, where the library is, whether or not kids have a safe route to get to school. And it's this patchwork of decisions that individual people make that make up our community.
What that means for Northwest Arkansas is we can decide together to do something different, and to do something that will make our communities even better. That's what we really want to empower, and what we see happening every day.
