It’s Bigger Than Walmart
Why did 33,000 people apply to move to northwest Arkansas in the last year? Spoiler alert: it wasn’t just the free mountain bikes.
If you think about Northwest Arkansas, you might think of Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville. And if you dug deeper, you’d find the region is home to large companies like Tyson Foods in Springdale, J.B. Hunt in Lowell, as well as the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
But you would not think that these communities are at the heart of one of the fastest growing areas in the US, or that it is home to a well-paid, culturally diverse workforce.
Nelson Peacock
Despite this success, or perhaps because of it, northwest Arkansas needs more workers. There is a labor shortage in the region, and more than that, perhaps an imbalance in the type of people the region attracts.
To address that, the Walton Family Foundation sponsors Life Works Here, a program offering incentives to Soloists looking to make the move to a vibrant corner of the US with arts and culture, a lot of opportunity, a low cost of living, and high quality of life—and mountain bike trails galore.
Life Works Here started up in late 2020 and has attracted more than 33,000 applicants by offering cash incentives as well as your choice of a mountain bike to explore all those trails, or passes to the region’s many museums and cultural attractions.
Nelson Peacock, a native Arkansan, returned home from stints in California and Washington, DC, to become the President and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council and promote the region, building on its inherent advantages and successes, and to generate some good PR in the process. He seems to be succeeding on all counts.
We recently spoke to Peacock about the charms of northwest Arkansas, why the program was launched in the first place, the importance of STEM and STEAM, and why the offer of the mountain bike was a good way to build the brand and attract attention to Life Works Here and the region overall.
Show Notes
Mountain Biking in NW Arkansas
More mountain biking in NW Arkansas
Growth of NW Arkansas
Crystal Bridges Museum
The race to attract STEM workers