Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: An important event will take place in Benville next week, November eigth and 9th. It's called the Heartland Summit, the flagship event of the nonprofit Heartland Ford, and it brings together hundreds of the brightest minds to talk about issues crucial to Arkansas and the rest of America's heartland. We're going to talk about it with Angie Cooper, executive vice President with Heartland Ford, on this week's edition of the Know The News podcast.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: You.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: I'm Dave Prozick. Your know, the news. Host this week Angie, thanks for taking time to talk with me during what I'm sure is a very busy time for you.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Thanks, Dave. I appreciate you having me.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Our profiles writer, April Wallace, has already spent some time talking with Angie and has written a very thorough story about her that you can find in this Sunday's Democrat Gazette.
Angie, I want to talk about the organization you work for, Heartland Ford. Can you describe how and why it got started and what are you as a group trying to accomplish?
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So the Heartland concept actually was started in 2018 with our flagship event, the Heartland Summit.
In 2018, a lot of people were talking about what's happening in the middle of the country and where could there be more investments, how do we better tell our story? So our co founders brought 350 people to Bittenville, Arkansas. Really key decision makers, policymakers, philanthropists, investors, entrepreneurs, business and industry, really, with the core mission in 2018, and it still exists today for the Heartland Summit is how do we help change the narrative about the middle of the country and kickstart economic growth? Because of all the great dialogue and conversations that happened at the Summit, and there's some really amazing stories where an investor came in 2018 and met an entrepreneur, and that investor became the entrepreneur's second round. And her business, the entrepreneur, her business is scaling and growing because of the connection that she made at the Heartland Summit. We also have great stories where people came from the coast and to Bittenville, Arkansas for the Summit, and they now live in Bentonville, Arkansas. So it really is a great opportunity. We like to say at the Summit, it's a unique event where we bring people together that want to take action and they want to drive change.
I always say we don't bring people together just to sit and talk and admire the problems, but people that want to go do something about it. So coming out of 2018 and the great success of the event, our founders created Heartland Forward. And at Heartland Forward, we're a nonpartisan nonprofit organization. We call ourselves a policy think and do tank. And while we still have the same mission of how do we help change the narrative about the middle of the country and kickstart economic growth, all the work we do is centered around how are we a resource for states and local communities? So we work really closely on key issues related to entrepreneurship, human capital and workforce development, health and wellness, and regional competitiveness. And we do applied research, and then we have programmatic and public policy work. And we work closely every single day with mayor's offices, governor's offices, economic development directors, again, to be that resource to them, to help accelerate economic growth in the 20 states we define as the Heartland.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: And how many people are part of this organization.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah, so the team started in 2018 with about three employees and we have now grown to about 20. So the Heartland Forward team is growing. We've had great successes. There is nothing like starting a new startup organization and then a health pandemic hitting, but we were like many people that we just kept our head down and kept doing great work. And we're just so thrilled about the work that we're doing at Heartland Forward and hosting 350 here people here in.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Bentonville, Arkansas next week, that must be a tremendous undertaking.
What's involved you're organizing it. Correct. What's involved in that for you?
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Well, like many big events, there are lots and lots of details. But what I find really fun about the summit, from the guests and speakers that we've had in the past, to the people that have attended the summit, to our partners and networks across the 20 states in the heartland and across the country, we have a lot of great speakers. We have a lot of people that are engaged to come and be with us. We have been planning for months.
So not only are we going to talk about the core issues that are impacting the Heartland, but we also want to show off the great things happening here in the Northwest Arkansas region, in Bittenville, and across the state of Arkansas. People truly get jazzed, I think, when they come to this area. So we're excited about that. And we have some new venues online this year that we're going to be showcasing. So a little bit new of an opportunity for those guests that have been.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: With us before and understand that Matthew McConaughey will be there. Your headline speaker.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: We do have an amazing headline speaker, Matthew McConaughey. He is doing great work in the Heartland.
He has his Green Lights initiative and is really focused in on school safety and bringing together public private dollars to help schools across the country. So that will be a delight to hear from him and the work that he's doing. And I'm sure he'll have some other really fun things to talk about and his journeys being from the Heartland and things he's focused on. But we have amazing speakers throughout the day and a half, everyone from big investors to CEOs to those entrepreneurs that I mentioned earlier. Heartland Forward will be making some announcements as it relates to our entrepreneurship program. And I always say know it's a great opportunity to not just listen to the most amazing speakers and content, but going back to then how do you take action and really make connections while at the summit?
[00:07:15] Speaker A: So is the summit open to anyone who wants to attend, or how do you have to be invited?
[00:07:21] Speaker B: What is the summit is invite only, and we really try to focus in on people that are engaged on some of the pressing issues of our times around economic development in the Heartland. We have had some public opportunities, and we just can't thank the Bentonville community in the Northwest Arkansas region enough for supporting events like the Heartland Summit visit. Bentonville has been amazing to work with and the host of volunteers we have throughout the community that are engaging and participating in the event.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be back in just a minute with more of our talk with Angie Cooper.
[00:08:08] Speaker C: If you're enjoying this podcast, consider a newspaper subscription to the northwest Arkansas democrat gazette or the river valley democrat gazette. We have a special offer for our podcast listeners, so visit Nwanline.com podcast 23 to get started. You can also click the subscribe button on our websites, nwanline.com and River Valleydemocratgazette.com, or call us at 479-684-5509 and be sure to say that you're a podcast listener. Now, back to the show.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: All right, we're back.
Angie, can you tell us about the future of Heartland Ford and what you're looking forward to accomplishing in the future?
Do you have any major initiatives that you want to talk about going forward?
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Absolutely. As I mentioned earlier, our team is growing, and we have so many partners across the Heartland and value the relationships we have with those policymakers and governors and community leaders across the 20 states.
I mentioned also earlier that we're going to be making an announcement at the summit. So when we kicked off in 2019 and started building our programmatic team, our inaugural program is called the Community Growth Program, and it came out of research that we did through our in house economists looking at where is entrepreneurship growing across our country. Unfortunately, it's still growing at a faster pace in the coastal states that each one of us can all name. And so we said, okay, where are the gaps and opportunities, specifically in the Heartland? And we took the data and the research and we said, we've almost made entrepreneurship unattainable for the average person. You think you have to be this next unicorn or ready for big venture capital funding. And so our program takes you at the very beginning stages that Dave has an idea, and Dave applies for our program with just an idea. And that's all we know about Dave before he gets accepted into the program. And it's a 90 day program. You get $5,000 to go through the program we work with and connect you with various mentors throughout the process. Halfway through, when you get that $5,000, you start testing your idea and thinking about how to scale the 2.0 of this that we are officially launching and announcing at the Heartland Summit is what we call Stepping Stones. So Stepping Stones are those alumni that went through the initial phase, Idea Accelerator. And I should mention that we actually call them builders versus entrepreneurs because they're really building something. So at the Heartland Summit, we will have some alumni builders on stage with us pitching their idea with the opportunity to get into the Stepping Stones program, which is a year long program, to receive $25,000. And within that year, the builders will incorporate their business. And then their goal is to get to a million dollars in revenue and hire two to three employees. It's an amazing program. We're excited about those five builders and to be at the Summit and to make the announcement of who will win the prize to be of $25,000 and to join the program, both the Idea Accelerator and Stepping Stones program. Today idea accelerator is in twelve states. We are looking to expand that and go statewide. So we're super excited about that. And that is done with community partners because the goal is to build a pipeline for entrepreneurs. And we're proud to be running the program here in Northwest Arkansas and the Delta region and hoping to expand across the state of Arkansas in the future. We're also doing a ton of work, specifically in Arkansas and four other states around what we believe is the number one economic issue of our time, which we call our initiative Connecting the Heartland to High Speed Internet.
Number one economic issue. If you don't have access to the Internet, it's hard to advance economically, it's hard to advance our education system. Using the Internet is how you train for a job or search for a job, train for a job and do a job. Healthcare, everything is related to that. So we're really working closely with the Arkansas State broadband office and other broadband offices, and mayors and community leaders really focused on the affordability piece and the adoptability piece. So once we have the infrastructure and the federal dollars are accelerated and being put to use, how do we support through public private partnerships to really accelerate, to ensure everyone is connected with affordable high speed Internet? We're also doing some really amazing things in health and wellness and some other workforce, but we're excited for what's ahead, and we're excited to work with our partners across the 20 states and of course, our home state partners here in Arkansas.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Wow, a lot going on.
As I mentioned earlier, April's story about you delves a lot into your background personally.
So you grew up in Oklahoma, is that correct?
[00:13:52] Speaker B: That's correct.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: And then how did you end up in Arkansas?
[00:13:58] Speaker B: Yeah, so I grew up in Oklahoma and as I shared with April and many of my good friends, colleagues and family hear me talk about this. So I was daughter of the mayor of Enid, Oklahoma when I was growing up. And so I learned at a very early age that I am a policy nerd. I love civic engagement, I believe giving back to communities. I went to Oklahoma State. I thought I would find myself at a school in Washington, DC. But I found myself in Arkansas. And where else do you work? A few of the main companies. And I chose Walmart and was very fortunate to have a 16 plus year at Walmart doing what I love working in policy and government affairs at the state and local level. I lived out west in California, and at the end of my time at Walmart, for about five years, I had created and ran Walmart's global Public policy team. So I love Northwest Arkansas, I love Bentonville, so it's great to be in Arkansas for quite many years. Oklahoma, though, is still home. My roots are there, but I've been very fortunate to work with extremely intelligent people. I've been challenged throughout my career. Working in 28 countries for global public policy for Walmart is a pretty exciting job, but I wanted to take it back home. And I believe in the Heartland, and I think that there's so much we can do here. So I just can't wait for what's ahead for the Heartland forward team and the great people that we work with.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: How did you end up making that transition from Walmart to Heartland to your current job?
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I was fortunate to attend the first Heartland Summit in 2018 and just loved it, and I loved the concept and idea. And so when our founders were creating the think and do tank, which is a big differentiator for many policy think tanks, and focused in an area that is dear to my heart, near and dear to my heart, I said, Sign me up. And so I've had the opportunity. I still work in and around my Walmart friends and colleagues, but again, just it's been a great change and a little bit different to be part go from the largest company to a startup organization. So it's allowed me to challenge myself and think differently and learn some new things and meet some new partners.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Well, Angela, it's been a pleasure talking to you this morning. Really appreciate your time, and I know you've got lots to do, probably prepare for next week's summit. So again, thank you for joining us and really look forward to hearing more about Heartland Ford and what comes out of it in the summit.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: Thanks, Dave, I really appreciate it. And thank you for telling all the great stories of what's happening in Arkansas and bringing people together. We appreciate you, and thanks for having me.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: For more about Angie Cooper and the Heartland Summit, see April Walsh's story in this Sunday's edition of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat cassette. Let me share with you a brief preview of some other stories we have coming your way over the next few days. The candidate filing period starts monday for the March 5 primary election. Doug Thompson will have a story on what local legislative seats are up for grabs, and education reporter Al Gasparney will explain what school board seats in Northwest Arkansas are open and who might be running for them. In other election related news, Stacy Ryburn will have a preview of the special election for Fayetteville City Council's Ward. One position, one seat. Four people are running for the seat in the election to be held November 14.
Greg Puckett, an assistant principal at Bentonville High School, will be one of thousands running in the New York City Marathon this weekend. It will be Puckett's 31st marathon overall. Reporter Mike Jones talked to Puckett earlier this week to understand how he got so into running.
Organ donation is an important topic. Reporter Lorinda Jenks talked to some arcans who are involved in promoting organ donation, and she'll share some statistics as well as responses to some popular myths surrounding the subject matter.
We also have the river valley covered. For example, the city of Fort Smith is preparing a new initiative, Fort Smith Focus, to give residents monthly updates on important topics impacting the city. Monica Brick will have that story, and Thomas Asnte attended this week's meeting of the Sebastian County Election Commission and will explain why the commission is seeking a new voting center location for the March 5 primary election.
As always, our sports writers will deliver the best coverage of the region's high school football games this weekend, including games such as Benville at Benville, West Rogers, Heritage at Rogers, and Springdale Harbor at Fayetteville. Don't forget the Sunday's what's up section. Becca Martin Brown has a preview of the NWA boutique show taking place at the Rogers Convention Center this month. She'll also have a preview of Fort Smith Little's Theater's production of A Christmas Carol, as well as A-Q-A with Jay Gilligan, a master juggler set to perform at the Jones Center next weekend. All of this and more will be available to our subscribers on our tablet, smartphone apps and at our websites, nwanline.com and Rivervallieddemocratgazette.com know the News is a weekly podcast brought to you by the newsrooms of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette and the River Valley Democrat Gazette. Thanks for listening again. I'm Dave Perozic, your podcast host this week. Have a great weekend. Until next Friday. So long.
