Pictured from right to left: Mr. Mark Hays, director of Legal Services for Arkansas Municipal League, Rep. Fred Love (District 29), Rep. David Meeks (District 70), Rep. Stephen Meeks (District 67) and Rep. Douglas House (District 40). Not pictured are Anushree Jumde with U.S. Rep. French Hill’s office and Tim Riley with U.S. Sen. John Boozman’s office.
The University of Central Arkansas hosted a panel with several members of the Arkansas State Legislature as part of the two-part Community and Economic Development Training Series.
The first session was help Friday, Dec. 9. Panelists provided information on building effective relationships with legislative officials to the approximate 60 officials who attended the training session.
Amy Whitehead, director for the Center of Community and Economic Development (CCED), moderated the discussion and posed questions to the panel regarding ways for local constituents to communicate with their legislators and the issues the legislators expected to address during next year’s legislative session.
“We love to hear from our constituents,” said Rep. Fred Love, urging the audience to reach out to their legislators. “It is very important that you contact your local legislative official and let him or her know what needs you have in your community.”
Rep. David Meeks stated that the key to effective communication “is to contact your legislators now and build a relationship with them before crises occur.”
When asked about the “hot topics” to expect during this legislative session, Rep. Douglas House said, “I believe we can expect topics on health care issues, medical marijuana, tax cuts and other budgetary priorities.”
CCED is partnering with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to provide a training series that will focus on relevant community and economic development topics. The next training will take place May 11-12, 2017 at Dawson Education Service Cooperative in Arkadelphia. The Community and Economic Development Training Series is open to all communities and municipalities across the state as a free service.
For more information, visit uca.edu/cced, or call Shelby Fiegel at 501-450-5269.
The Community and Economic Development Training series provides city officials and other community leaders training on community and economic development best practices and resources available by the state to fund community and economic development projects. The Community and Economic Development Training Series is sponsored the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.
