Arkansas Delta region selected for Kellogg
Foundation-supported program grant

Sept. 21, 2005 -- The Arkansas Delta region, which includes 15 Arkansas counties, has been selected as one of two rural pilot regions to participate in the Rural Heritage Development Initiative, a new National Trust for Historic Preservation program that will work to implement preservation-based economic development strategies, according to Dr. Ruth A. Hawkins, director of Delta Heritage Initiatives at Arkansas State University.

The new RHD initiative is funded in significant part through a $745,000 three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Arkansas Delta was selected from 11 regions across the country that demonstrated the capacity to work collaboratively to develop cultural and heritage assets for economic benefit.

The Rural Heritage Development Initiative will address the many issues facing rural regions today – from ‘hot growth’ to the loss of their traditional agricultural base – and bring together various multi-disciplinary services of the National Trust for intensive work with partners in the pilot regions over a three-year period.

Through preservation-based strategies including heritage tourism, local entrepreneurial and business development, barn preservation, rural land-use planning, and neighborhood housing revitalization, the program will utilize local assets to achieve economic gains in the pilot regions.

The 15 selected counties are part of Arkansas Delta Byways, the tourism promotion association serving Eastern Arkansas. Counties include Arkansas, Chicot, Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Desha, Drew, Greene, Lee, Mississippi, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett, and St. Francis. These counties include two national scenic byways--the Crowley’s Ridge Parkway and the Arkansas Great River Road.

“This is a significant step forward for our region,” noted Dr. Ruth Hawkins, executive director of Arkansas Delta Byways. “It gives additional national recognition and validation to ongoing heritage and preservation efforts in our communities and provides strong support in expanding these efforts.”

Major state and regional partners for the Arkansas Delta pilot project include the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, Arkansas Delta Byways, Arkansas State University, Main Street Arkansas, and five Main Street Arkansas communities, including Blytheville, Osceola, West Memphis, Helena and Dumas.

The National Trust has a long history of working on rural preservation and revitalization issues through its nationally recognized National Trust Main Street Center; which originally focused on small towns; its heritage tourism program; the Barn Again! program; and other public policy advocacy.

Additional information about the National Trust’s Rural Heritage Development Initiative can be obtained by contacting the Center for Preservation Leadership, statewide and local partnerships office, 202-588-6216.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.” Its programming activities center around the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth; accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities.

To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America's communities. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the trust was founded in 1949 and provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to protect the irreplaceable places that tell America’s story. Staff at the Washington, D.C. headquarters, six regional offices and 26 historic sites work with the trust’s 270,000 members and thousands of preservation groups in all 50 states.

For more information, contact Dr. Ruth A. Hawkins, director of Delta Heritage Initiatives at Arkansas State University, or visit the trust web site at www.nationaltrust.org.
                                 

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