The Walton Family and their corporations are renewing commitments to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in Northwest Arkansas. 

• Gifts: The Walmart Foundation and Walton Family Foundation is providing $5m in grants over 3 years to the University of Arkansas Foundation, which will enable the IDEALS Institute to provide 100 local organizations with developmental opportunities. 
• Advancement: The IDEALS Institute is located inside the U of A’s Division of DEI and is the lead of the TRUE initiative in Northwest Arkansas, which was created to advance community back in 2018. 

For the full press release, click HERE. 

To all the young professionals in Northwest Arkansas: The 6th annual NWA YP Summit will be at the Record in downtown Bentonville on Nov. 5.

• Ignite Your Passion: There will be three areas of developmental focus during the leadership summit: personal, professional, and philanthropic. From 1-3:45p there will be speaker sessions, followed by a networking and happy hour.
• Listen: The main keynote speaker this year is Vice President Tony Waller of Constituent Relations and Racial Equity at Walmart. His talk is titled: ‘Owning Your Personal Brand.’ The University of Arkansas Ideals Institute will be talking about ‘Moving From Diversity to Inclusion.’

For more information about the event click HERE. 

Halloween has become more than one night and turned into its own holiday season. You will not be disappointed with all the Halloween festivities going on in Northwest Arkansas.

• Something for everyone: There are plenty of kid friendly halloween events, adult halloween parties, haunted houses, corn mazes, and more. 
• Festivities: Locations like Crystal Bridges, and the Fayetteville Public Library are doing fright nights this week. Amazeum is putting on a Halloween themed evening, and the Air and Military Museum in Fayetteville is doing candy, characters, cocktails, and scary history. 

Make your Halloween plans HERE.

A new park is under construction in Rogers as a result of citizens who voted on the Bond Issue of 2018. 

• The park: Mt. Hebron is on about 75 acres and will have amenities such as trails, a splash pad/ice skating rink, sport courts, fields, and more. This is the first major park in West Rogers.
• Timeline: The park is coming together with a slight shift in timeline caused by “design and acquisition delays.” It is on track to be finished in the summer of 2022. 

Click HERE to see the latest video of the site.

The Fayetteville City Council recently approved a zoning request to transition the former Hooters in north Fayetteville into a spot for retail, apartments, and other amenities. 

• The old: The former Hooters building closed in 2013 and has since sat empty on land that includes a large undeveloped area as well as access to a drive that serves Georgetown Square.
• The new: The demolition of the old restaurant is part of a rezoning plan, which will integrate a strictly commercial zone into the area. The planned project will include 169 apartments, a 6,000 sq/ft retail center, "modern amenities”. 

Read the full Fayetteville Flyer article HERE.