Last month, the Walton Family Foundation announced that Robert Burns will be the director of what’s known as his home region program.
Burns has decades of experience in housing, philanthropy and community development. As senior vice president of multinational investment bank and financial services firm Citi, he led efforts to promote economic empowerment in cities across the country.
The Bentonville-based foundation was run by three generations of the Walton family and their spouses. They have helped make Northwest Arkansas one of the fastest growing regions in the country. Grants from the Walton Family Foundation are targeted and produce positive results most often.
While the Arkansans are aware of the work being done in Northwest Arkansas, most are unaware that the Delta is also considered part of the home region’s program.
“The Walton Family Foundation will work steadily and boldly toward long-term change that opens up opportunities for everyone in Northwest Arkansas and the Delta,” said Tom Walton, son of Jim Walton and grandson. by Sam Walton. “Robert’s track record as a recognized leader in community relations, cross-sector collaboration and social impact will provide a new perspective that encourages our partners and ourselves to embrace innovative and community-driven solutions to needs. unique to these regions. “
The 2020 census painted a grim picture of the Delta’s plight. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, the population of Phillips County fell from 21,757 to 16,568. This is a drop of 23.8%. The seat of Helena County fell 22.5% from 12,282 to 9,519.
St. Francis County lost 18.3 percent of its population, Lee County lost 17.5 percent, Monroe County lost 16.6 percent, Woodruff County lost 13.7 percent and Chicot County lost 13.5 percent.
The Walton Family Foundation can help stop the bleeding. Subsidies will need to be substantial and they will need to be targeted. The delta must take advantage of its assets: agricultural production, opportunities for outdoor recreation and its rich culture. Here are some suggestions for Burns and his team:
• Make Helena a model city in the Delta. The foundation has paid a huge amount of money to Helena over the years, but more will be needed. The Delta is too big for all county programs. But with investments in education, health care and housing in Helena, the Walton Family Foundation can create a model that will guide other cities in the Delta. The region needs a success story. The foundation knows the landscape and the actors of Helena, which makes it an obvious choice for the model city.
• Work with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission in their efforts to protect the flooded lowland deciduous forests that attract duck hunters from across the country. Duck hunting is part of the fabric of life in eastern Arkansas and a significant part of the economy each winter. The commission recently announced its intention to change water control procedures in the Bayou Meto, Lake Hurricane and Bayou DeView wildlife management areas. The commission does not have enough money to do everything that needs to be done. The foundation can do something about it and, in the process, save the thing (the duck hunt) that gives the Delta the greatest national publicity.
• Partnership with the Agriculture Division of the University of Arkansas to complete the Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center near Jonesboro. The center spans 600 acres in Poinsett County and is the only agricultural experimentation station based on so-called “white soils” in a part of northeast Arkansas where rice is. King. The center will provide rice producers in these soils with the necessary research-based information. Arkansas produces half of the country’s rice. For the Arkansas Delta to do well, we need the rice industry to do well. This center will help maximize the output of producers through the development of advanced agricultural methods.
• Partnership with Arkansas State University to expand its heritage sites across the delta. These include the Dyess Colony and Johnny Cash childhood home, the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Education Center in Piggott, the Lakeport Plantation near Lake Village, the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, and the Rohwer Japanese American Relocation. Center in Southeast Arkansas. ASU has played a key role in helping to interpret Delta’s history. These heritage sites increase the quality of life for those who live in the area while attracting visitors with money to spend.
• Aid for the expansion of the Sultana Museum in Marion. For decades, it was believed that nearly 1,800 Union troops perished when the Sultana sank. These soldiers had been released as prisoners of war. The overcrowded ship sank in the Mississippi River near Crittenden County in April 1865. Recent research indicates the number is closer to 1,200, which still means more people died on the Sultana than on the USS Arizona during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The Sultana Museum will cost $ 7.5 million and will be part of a tourist corridor that includes Dyess Colony and the nearby town of Wilson. Together, the attractions will have many visitors to Memphis spending a day or more on the Arkansas side of the river.
• Participate in the development of the National Cold War Museum in Blytheville. The museum at the former Eaker Air Base will retrace the events of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Future phases will include a visitor center, self-guided tours, an interactive alert tower, and possibly even a Cold War study institute. Done well, it will garner national attention and be one of the most significant developments in Delta’s history.
Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis is moving fast with its high-rise hotel adjacent to Interstate 40. I can imagine visitors staying there several nights while taking day trips to Marion, Dyess, Wilson and Blytheville. The success of these attractions will change the perception people have of the Delta and lead to additional investments. The Walton Family Foundation can accelerate this initiative if they wish.
Wilson already has a benefactor in the form of Gaylon Lawrence Jr., who is among the largest landowners in the country. Lawrence acquired much of the company’s former town when he paid around $ 150 million in 2010 to Lee Wilson & Co., which operated one of the largest cotton plantations in the country. He’s since spent millions of dollars to transform Wilson into a place that attracts affluent people from across the region with its restaurant, museum, and upscale shops.
In December, the Hôtel Louis, a boutique hotel with 16 rooms, will open its doors on Place Wilson. The city regularly hosts events ranging from wine dinners to pottery lessons.
As agriculture becomes even more mechanized, we are not going to see the population increase in the delta. With the right investments by entities such as the Walton Family Foundation and the Lawrence Group, however, life can improve for those who stay there. At the same time, the number of visitors who hike, bike, hunt, fish, listen to blues music, eat in famous restaurants and visit historical attractions will increase. It just takes vision, planning and money.
Last year, the Walton Family Foundation announced a $ 20 million grant for the Delta Heritage Trail, an 84.5 mile bicycle and walking trail from Lexa to Arkansas City. The matching grant will allow the State Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism to complete the trail within the next five years. This was huge news for the Delta, but there is still a long way to go.
Even with everything that has happened in Northwest Arkansas, foundation officials may one day name the Delta as their greatest achievement. The Delta is seriously ill but not yet dead. Saving this patient deserves international media coverage.
Rex Nelson is editor-in-chief at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
