Arkansas
Leaders provide views on diversity in Northwest Arkansas – Talk Business & Politics
In a current webinar, regional leaders highlighted the significance of fairness and inclusion to enhance the standard of lifetime of Northwest Arkansas residents because the area continues to turn into extra various.
The Onward Ozarks webinar Friday (July 29) included a panel dialogue about range, fairness and inclusion (DEI). Onward Ozarks is a speaker sequence offered by Springdale-based nonprofit Northwest Arkansas Council, which launched a report on space inhabitants range this week.
“Have interaction the Future” seems at inhabitants range in Northwest Arkansas and contains breakdowns by space cities and faculty districts. It additionally gives projections for the way various the inhabitants might be in 2026.
For a PDF of the report, click on right here.
The report reveals Northwest Arkansas’ inhabitants is predicted to develop by 10% to 611,193 in 2026, from 555,481 in 2021. Over that interval, the area’s racially and ethnically various populations are projected to rise to over 32% of the inhabitants, from 29%. Hispanic residents are anticipated to account for 19% of the inhabitants by 2026, up from 17% in 2021.
“Northwest Arkansas is altering quickly, and the council will redouble its efforts to advertise various voices throughout the area to permit all NWA residents an opportunity to prosper,” stated Nelson Peacock, president and CEO of Northwest Arkansas Council. “That is the appropriate factor to do, and Northwest Arkansas will achieve economically and culturally for it.”
Based on the report, the council commissioned a research to grasp the influence of its work within the area, notably associated to range, fairness and inclusion. The research has recognized methods to enhance, and the council plans to undertake them as a part of a brand new DEI technique to be launched later this 12 months. Following are among the methods:
- Enhance range inside the council’s membership
- Present DEI-focused coaching and studying alternatives internally and for the group
- Set up a DEI-focused advisory committee
- Develop and implement equitable hiring and retention insurance policies.
Within the webinar, panelists mentioned methods to interact with and help the varied communities within the space, together with via occasions, sports activities, music and meals.
Yang Luo-Department, founder and president of the Arkansas Affiliation of Asian Enterprise, stated engagement begins together with her. Luo-Department, initially from China, moved to Northwest Arkansas three years in the past.
“It takes me to introduce myself to the world, to the group,” Luo-Department stated. “We have to come ahead and say, ‘Hey,’ to different folks. They might not attain out to you. It’s OK. I can attain out to others.”
She stated the Arkansas Affiliation of Asian Enterprise works to attach Arkansas and Asian companies, and the group is for anybody excited about Arkansas and Asia.
Francisco Herrera, president of Banco Si, defined the significance of providing comparable alternatives to everybody and that the area received’t develop with out this. Banco Si, a division of Signature Financial institution of Arkansas, will formally open in September in downtown Rogers and gives banking providers to those that communicate Spanish and English.
Chef Judy Tatios, the proprietor of Marshallese meals truck Road Lakwe Eulala, mentioned the significance of meals and occasions to interact with the group. Tatios, a Marshallese American, has lived in Northwest Arkansas for six years and moved right here from California.
“The range out right here is altering, and it’s rising,” stated Tatios, noting Springdale’s massive Marshallese inhabitants. “I wished to convey my perspective as a chef and share the tradition via meals.”
She stated one of many challenges of cooking Marshallese meals right here is entry to elements. They have to be flown from the Marshall Islands to Hawaii and the continental United States. She stated Marshallese haven’t any spices. The meals is cooked utilizing what’s discovered rising naturally within the Marshall Islands.
Requested in regards to the DEI outlook in Northwest Arkansas in 10 to twenty years, Luo-Department hopes the realm will turn into much more nurturing and proceed to be a vibrant enterprise hub.
Herrera stated space companies and organizations must “be certain that we help all of them to have equal alternative to develop, equal entry to providers and that everyone grows and strikes in the identical route, so once more, we elevate the standard of life for everyone within the space.”
Margot Lemaster, govt director of EngageNWA, stated the Northwest Arkansas Council’s new report is comparable report it accomplished a couple of years in the past. EngageNWA is the council’s DEI arm.
Lemaster stated one thing that stood out to her within the new report is the range in faculties. Small space communities are also seeing an increase in range.
“We would like this report back to be a software for all of you,” Lemaster stated. “We would like it to assist our group higher perceive how our area is altering, assist inform determination making and actually encourage leaders to extend efforts to create extra welcoming and inclusive organizations and to influence our broader area as an entire.”
Lemaster additionally mentioned the undercounting of space various populations within the 2020 Census. She added that the Marshallese inhabitants is about 10,000 in Northwest Arkansas however could be nearer to fifteen,000 to twenty,000 folks.
Arkansas
Viewer pictures: The Natural State transforms into a winter wonderland
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A winter storm rolled into Arkansas Thursday and brought with it snow to the majority of western and central Arkansas.
Many from around the Natural State sent in pictures of their area covered in snow.
Though Arkansas is already full of natural beauty, there’s something about the state covered in snow that makes it even more of a winter wonderland.
Several kids from around the state got out and took advantage of the day off of school by throwing snowballs, digging up the snow, sledding and of course making snow angels.
Many who got out in the snow had enough accumulated to make snow men.
Share your snow day pictures at KARK.com/winter-pics.
Arkansas
Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield Lays Off About 75 Workers, Reports $100M Loss
The Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield building in Little Rock (Michael Pirnique)
Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield sent layoff notices to 2% of its workforce — about 75 employees — on Thursday after reporting a loss of more than $100 million in the first three quarters of 2024, the state’s dominant health insurance carrier confirmed.
The Little Rock nonprofit had 3,375 employees as of April 2024, and its $3.14 billion in 2023 revenue put it at the top of Arkansas Business‘ most recent list of the state’s largest private companies.
But revenue in the first three quarters of 2024 was down by almost 7%, and the company (officially USAble Mutual) reported to the Arkansas Insurance Department a net loss of $100.5 million for those nine months. That compares with net income of $94.7 million for the same period in 2023, although the year finished with net income of just $13.2 million.
“The reduction in workforce was due to changing conditions in the market and increasing financial pressures primarily due to health care costs jumping to the highest levels in more than a decade,” Max Greenwood, an ABCBS spokeswoman, said in response to email questions Thursday afternoon.
ABCBS also has seen “large increases” in the use of all medical services, especially prescription drugs.
“These situations have caused necessary shifts in business strategy across the health care and health care insurance industries,” she said.
In addition, the insurance company lost tens of thousands of members as result of the state’s disenrollment of tens people on Medicaid in 2023.
As part of the Obama-era Medicaid expansion, the state pays private insurers to provide health insurance policies to qualifying Arkansans under the Arkansas Health & Opportunity for Me program, or ARHOME. This program had been known as the “private option” and Arkansas Works.
In January 2023, ABCBS had about 207,000 ARHome members. By December 2024, it was down to 108,729, Greenwood said.
“We’ve also seen a drastic increase in the claims amounts among our ARHome population,” she said. “Remember, since we were the first company who offered ARHome policies statewide when the program began, our block of members in that program is older and most likely unhealthier than what other carriers may be experiencing.”
ABCBS’ premium revenue fell during the first three quarters of 2024. It reported $2.2 billion premiums collected net of reinsurance through Sept. 30, a 4.8% drop from the same period in 2023.
The insurance company’s total members also fell from 630,444 on Dec. 31, 2023, to 598,492 on Sept. 30. The biggest drop came from its comprehensive individual plan. In that group, the total members fell nearly 17% to 132,596 members.
ABCBS also laid off 85 employees in January 2024. Those positions have not been refilled, Greenwood said.
She said it was too early to tell what the financial numbers will look like for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31. No additional layoffs are planned at this time.
“Every executive vice president was asked to make reductions in their areas,” she said.
Greenwood said the insurance company has made several other budget-tightening moves for 2025. “We’ve reduced our budget by more than 7% including cuts to consulting and outside vendor costs, contract labor, software and equipment and facility costs,” she said. “We’ve also had to implement substantial premium increases on our small and large groups.”
Greenwood said the company has a strong balance sheet and has no concerns about its liquidity.
Founded in 1948, Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield offers health and dental insurance policies for individuals and families.
Arkansas
Topping out ceremony for new $33.9 million Arkansas Tech University Ferguson Student Union set for Tuesday in Russellville | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University and Kinco Constructors will host a topping out ceremony for the $33.9 million Ferguson Student Union at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Attendance will be open to the public. Those in attendance will have an opportunity to sign the final steel beam before it is put in place atop the facility. Refreshments will be served in Chambers Cafeteria West Dining Room following the ceremony.
Construction on Ferguson Student Union on its Russellville campus began last year after the ATU Board of Trustees accepted the guaranteed maximum price for building the facility during its meeting on June 20.
Kinco Constructors submitted a final price of $33,946,865 for the project. That figure includes the cost of demolishing the Administration Building and Tomlinson Hall, constructing Ferguson Student Union and parking lot development on the south side of the new building
Parking for the event will be in the lot between Rothwell Hall and Doc Bryan Student Services Center with overflow in the Tucker Coliseum parking lot. Golf cart shuttles to and from the ceremony site will be available.
Those unable to attend the ceremony who wish to sign the steel beam may do so from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday through the ceremony at 2 p.m. that afternoon. The beam will be located on the east side of the construction site near Rothwell Hall and Dr. Robert Charles Brown and Jill Lestage Brown Hall.
Construction of Ferguson Student Union began in July 2024 and is scheduled to be complete in early 2026.
Located on the parcel of land between Chambers Cafeteria and the Hull Physical Education Building, Ferguson Student Union is named for ATU benefactors Cindi and Jimmy Ferguson.
Ferguson Student Union will provide student meeting spaces, lounge spaces for students to enjoy during their free time, fast casual dining, an e-sports gaming lab, basketball courts, a location to check out outdoor recreation gear and workout areas for cardiovascular and strength fitness training.
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