For this highlight, we are featuring Matt Twyford!

Matt is a Class of 2016 graduate of the Community Development Institute (CDI).

Tell us about yourself

I have lived in Arkansas my entire life. I was born in Fordyce, raised in Little Rock, went to the University of Arkansas – Fayetteville for college and worked in Northwest Arkansas for several years, and now am back in Little Rock. I have a B.S. in Finance from UA with emphasis in both Financial Management and Real Estate. Since graduating I have worked several jobs, both with the state and in the private sector. I love working with people, which is what led me to my current position. I love to travel, love sports, poker, bowling, and have been known to do karaoke on occasion.

What organization do you work for and what is your role within the organization?

I work for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) and am the Director of the Community Development Division. Our division is essentially the face of the agency. We work with community leaders (elected officials, Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development Organizations, etc.) and connect them to resources, provide training, and overall work to make communities more competitive with regard to economic development. I manage a wonderful team of three Regional Managers (Kelsey Kelton – Northwest; Tonya Hass – Northeast; Kristen Barré – South) and one Project Analyst (Brittany Lutz).

Why did you decide to attend CDI?

I was blessed to have been hired by Denisa Pennington to be the Regional Manager of Community Development for Central Arkansas at AEDC in March of 2014. With my background having been in Finance, I had no previous exposure to community and economic development. I was able to attend the Mid-South Basic Economic Development course, and the first year of CDI within my first few months working for the agency. Both were invaluable, but I really preferred the interactive learning element of CDI.

What was your favorite session at CDI?

There were so many that I enjoyed it is difficult to nail down one I would say was my favorite. I really liked the interactive sessions – so I guess I’ll say Miller County. I was thrilled to have been asked to help Steve Jones with Miller County in the upcoming year of CDI.

What was your biggest takeaway from CDI, and how has it allowed you to develop a better community?

I think my biggest takeaway is that community development is a process, and it takes a lot of people to be successful. Additionally, I believe that most challenges a community faces have been faced before by other communities, so developing a network that you can call on to learn from other peoples’ experiences is invaluable. I think going through the 3 years of CDI at the UCA campus really helped me develop such a network.

Why do you think community leaders should attend CDI?

Having worked with communities across the state, I can say that my experience has been that communities that have leadership who can see the “big picture” tend to be the most successful.  CDI is the best program I have been exposed to that teaches people in all levels of community leadership about community development. Additionally, as I mentioned before, the network you build by attending the program is invaluable.

Do you have any news or upcoming projects you would like to share with our audience concerning yourself or your organization?

The community development team at AEDC will be continuing to work with communities all over the state utilizing our Competitive Communities Initiative (CCI). Additionally, be on the lookout sometime this year for a new tool we are developing that will connect all the community development resources in the state in an effort to maximize all of our efforts and eliminate duplication of efforts. I am very excited about the potential for this tool to help improve community development efforts throughout the state

For this highlight, we are featuring Melida Heien!

Melida was a Class of 2017 graduate of the Community Development Institute (CDI).

Tell us a little about yourself

I’m originally from the Midwest. I moved to Texas from Pekin, Illinois, but my immediate family lives in Evansville, Indiana. I enjoy traveling, true crime podcasts, and I also enjoy teaching group fitness classes at my local gym. I have a bachelor’s degree in Communication from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, a law degree from North Carolina Central University, and I recently graduated with my Masters in Public Administration from the University of Texas at Tyler. I did my first two years of CDI with CDI Texas and completed my 3rd year of CDI in Arkansas at CDI Central. I took my Professional Community and Economic Developer (PCED) test at the conclusion of CDI Year 3 and was so happy to have passed!

What organization do you work for and what is your role within the organization?

I’m the Main Street Coordinator for the City of Longview, Texas, which is on Interstate 20 about 1 hour from Shreveport, LA, 2 hours from Dallas, and not too tremendously far from Arkansas either. My primary work focus is on downtown development, which includes working with our small business community to help develop an economically viable downtown district, assisting with event planning, and helping with a variety of things related to our downtown. Every day is a different challenge.

Why did you decide to attend CDI?

I attended CDI because I really didn’t want to pigeon hole myself into being just a “Main Street” Coordinator. A downtown is really a city within a city, and I really felt that I needed to broaden my skills and knowledge and know more than just downtown related things. I have aspirations to get into city management and having a PCED is a very valuable credential to have.

What was your favorite session at CDI?

It’s hard to remember a particular session that I liked more than others, but I can say that I really loved my experience with my Year 3 class. I was coming in from elsewhere while they all knew each other and talked to each other regularly, but they embraced me and brought me into the fold. It was a lot of fun, and I know I really did learn a lot in that session. I also really enjoyed my 1st year mostly because I made some really good friends that are still friends to this day!

What was your biggest takeaway from CDI, and how has it allowed you to develop a better community?

My biggest takeaway was that the role of the community developer is not to fix problems but to cultivate community relationships that allow community members to work together and fix their problems. Being a relationship builder is a very powerful role to have and absolutely critical to the success of our communities.

Why do you think community leaders should attend CDI?

The people you meet are absolutely amazing! I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet any of them had it not been for CDI. I think it covers a lot of topic areas that pertain to any job within a municipal organization.