July 11, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode, we explore a game-changing affordable housing initiative designed to support Bentonville’s essential workers, including teachers, hospitality staff, and service industry professionals through the new partnership between Bentonville ISD and the Excellerate Foundation.
Hear from the Superintendent of Bentonville Schools, Dr. Debbie Jones, and our CEO, Kalene Griffith, about the project and how it’s reshaping access to housing, strengthening the local workforce, and keeping the heart of the community right here at home.
Whether you're a local resident or just curious about innovative community development, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.
A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to A New American Town.
I'm Natalie with VisitBentonville.
Today, we're exploring a vitaltopic for our growing community
affordable housing for educators.
Educators Bentonville's risingpopularity as a national
destination has broughtincredible opportunities, but
also challenges, especially whenit comes to keeping our
teachers and essential workersliving and thriving here.
(00:31):
Joining me is Dr Debbie Jones,superintendent of Bentonville
Schools, and our CEO, kayleenGriffith, to discuss Macaulay
Place, a new affordable housingdevelopment designed
specifically with educators inmind.
We'll explore what this meansfor our schools, community and
the visitor experience.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Thank you, it's a pleasure tobe here.
Thanks, thanks, kayleen.
(00:52):
So I want to kind of set thestage and get a little bit of
background of what inspiredBenville Schools to do this,
because this is the first timeanything like this is ever
happening in America.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It was kind of a surprising accident, and we went
into this process thinking, ohmy gosh, this could never happen
.
But it really started out of aneed.
Bentonville Schools hires about100 teachers every summer.
We're in the process right nowof hiring 100 new teachers to
(01:24):
come into Bentonville schools.
Part of that is just because ofthe significant growth, which
is good.
But again, with growth we havechallenges, and so about three
now, maybe four years ago therewas a summer where we offered
contracts to people, and youhave to know that we have.
We've been very fortunate inthe fact that we've been able to
(01:47):
hire the cream of the crop.
We would have lots of people.
So I was shocked when threepeople in one summer accepted a
contract and then looked forhousing and came back and had to
resign their contract becauseit was too expensive, they
couldn't afford to live here,and so that really alerted me to
(02:08):
the future problem that we weregoing to have.
Yeah, yeah.
And from there we went toAccelerate.
Jeff Webster it's who we alwayswent to Accelerate when we had
a problem, whether it was withour staff who during COVID they
experienced problems Maybe theirhusband was out of work, they
(02:30):
couldn't pay their rent orcouldn't pay some bills.
I always went to acceleratebecause they have really it's a
great nonprofit, well-developedsystems very much supported in
this area and said I don't knowwhat we're going to do.
What does the future look likewhen our teachers can't live in
(02:52):
our town?
And we have really goodexperiences of what that looks
like.
We experience it every year.
This year we're losing one ofour really amazing employees
because his family lives inFedville.
They now have children, theirchildren get into sports and
they're never around and so theywant to be closer to home, and
(03:15):
that's one of the reasons it'sreally really important.
Our staff, our teachers, ourbus drivers everyone really
builds roots in Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and so now, because of all of that, this
partnership with Accelerate hasbecome Macaulay Place, which is
180 different units, 120 ofthose are for multifamily right.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yes, and so you can picture it as two apartments.
There are apartments in themiddle and surrounding that.
We have 42-bedroom multifamilycottages, family cottages, and
those 40 are reserved forBentonville Schools employees.
And so we've seen the sketches.
(04:06):
They're beautiful.
The beautiful part about thisstory is it is the best possible
outcome, because people in townwork together on a problem,
because this is a problem Icould not have solved on my own.
And when we started, my HRperson and my CFO and I said
(04:28):
could this really happen?
No, this is never going tohappen.
This is a dream.
And we walk.
I remember walking out of thatroom and it's like the
impossible dream came true.
Jeff Webster and Acceleratekept working and they'd come
back.
What about this?
And my CFO was saying we havezero dollars.
(04:48):
We have zero dollars.
But together we made it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, wow.
So, kayleen, I want to bringyou in on the conversation.
Bentonville is becoming such awell-known tourist destination
and it's really important thatour essential workers like
teachers, but now also extendingthat hopefully into hospitality
workers what message do youthink this sends to tourists in
our city?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, I think for me it's more important to what
message does it send to ourresidents and our workers in our
community?
And I think one of the thingsI'm super excited about is the
innovation that has happenedwith Accelerate and the school.
It can really tie to thehospitality industry.
If we look at it and I'mlooking at this as an
(05:39):
opportunity for us to visuallywatch for the next year or two
and see how this goes to say,how do we make this work for the
hospitality industry?
How do we support Because I dothink it's important, I think
you talk about it from teachersliving in because they want to
be integrated People that aregoing to work?
They have families, they'reworking at a restaurant and
(06:01):
their schedules are not an eightto five or an eight to four.
They could be a variety ofhours that they could work the
early shift or the late shift.
How do they make it work fortheir family?
And I think this model issomething that I think could be
done in our industry very easily, and you're hearing some of
these different kinds of modelshappening.
(06:22):
I know that the Gulf Shoresworked on a project and seeing
how they could do temporaryworkers.
My friend Beth did that and Ithink, listening and looking and
hearing what they're doing andthen seeing what Debbie and her
team is doing, it reallyliterally could be a game
changer, not just for teachers,not for essential workers, but
(06:43):
also for that hospitalityindustry.
That really does need thatsupport and that partnership
which goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, because all of those people are the heartbeat
of our town.
You could not have Bentonvillewithout our educators, our
frontline workers and ourhospitality workers, and I love
how much you care about that.
It's really fabulous.
So, debbie, sorry, pointing itback to the conversation on
macaulay place and thesignificance of what's happening
(07:10):
there um, so 40 of those unitsare reserved for educators.
Um, is there an idea of whatthe rest of those places will be
used for, because obviously mybrain is going to hospitality
workers?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
um, affordable housing, and so that will hit
the service industry.
And you know, I think manypeople have a misconception of
affordable housing, attainablehousing, and I read every word
of the requirements.
The criteria to get into theapartments is, I promise you,
(07:42):
much more strict than peopleliving in your neighborhood, as
required by federal law, by thegrants, and as far as background
checks no offenses you can'thave a sketchy history and be
able to be accepted to live inthe housing, and so it's going
to be a really incrediblecommunity, not only because we
(08:06):
have teachers and staff there,but what we want, whether it's
in our schools, whether it's inour service industry, I want
teachers to see this as theirtown.
They have a vested interest inseeing every single student in
their classroom be successful,to come back to this town and be
(08:28):
productive citizens, and so ifyou approach your job that way,
I want every single Bentonvilleschool staff to love this town
as much as I do.
We talked about we're nevermoving from here.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
This is a dream.
I honestly wake up every dayand think how fortunate are we.
I just returned, we just threwout a little field trip and took
K through third graders on abus to Crystal Bridges to see Al
Roker, who gets to do that, andthen you walk downstairs and
they give you free pizza.
(09:04):
Not everyone has the incredibleopportunity that we have and we
want to preserve that for thefuture.
We want to grow opportunitiesfor families.
We want to create superproductive, smart graduates that
come back to this town andsupport us when we're really old
and we're tired of working.
(09:24):
I mean, if we throw that kindof passion into our work, then
we will make things like thissucceed.
It wasn't an easy road.
It was a political battle.
It was worth the battle and Iknow as soon as we start
announcing some informationabout application which is going
(09:46):
to be by the end of this summervery soon it's going very well.
I know we're going to have somany staff interested in
applying for this.
The housing you know this is areally unique national model.
Kayleen, you talked about itand this is one of the things
that makes this housing modelunique.
Kayleen, you talked about itand this is one of the things
(10:06):
that makes this housing modelunique.
In Macaulay Place my staff canchoose to buy into a shared
equity about $1,500 a monthwhich they'll pay that for rent
anyway if they're lucky enoughto get an apartment here or they
can choose to pay cheaper rent,which is about half that.
If they buy into the sharedequity model, they can walk away
(10:29):
after five years which is howlong they can live in Macaulay
Place and get about a $50,000check to invest on their new
home.
And that's only becauseAccelerate Foundation owns those
cottages, and so it's abrilliant financial model to
give teachers and staff a chanceto invest in this community.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, when I first heard about that, I was just
blown away Me too.
That will change so manypeople's lives.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We've had lots of interest.
When we ran the numbers andthis is a year ago we had 1,000
employees in our district thatwould qualify, so I expect I'm
watching it closely too.
I can't wait to see theapplication period.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Wow, wow.
Kayleen, how do you think thatthis housing stability for
teachers will be able to supportthe larger ecosystem for
Bentonville?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I think one of the things that Debbie said was the
teachers want to be in ourcommunity.
They want to invest in thecommunity.
They want to be around wherethe kids are living in our
community.
They want to invest in thecommunity.
They want to be around wherethe kids are living and they're
going to be supporting all ofour businesses, from our
restaurants to our retail, on aregular basis.
If they're living here, ifthey're living somewhere else,
they're probably going to dothat on their way home, closer
(11:37):
to their house.
If they're here in ourcommunity, they're going to be
impacting our ecosystem in thecommunity.
I think that's one of the thingsthat I see as a huge value is
that the dollars that they'reinvesting in are coming back
into our community and that'salways a circle effect for us.
But I think it's also how dothey engage with their students?
If they're not in the same areathat their students are, it's
(11:59):
hard to engage in a daily basiswith them.
So I think those are thingsthat are important, and you and
my kids are 25 and 27.
And I just know that when mykids were younger, when they saw
their teacher, how importantthat was to have that
conversation and having thatrelationship that they had and
you knew we saw them in Walmart,we saw them in the retail shop,
we saw them in a restaurant.
(12:20):
So they were spending theirdollars back in our community
and I think that's key to whatis important, because then
there's a value and I think yousaid it is that they want to be
part of that community.
They see a value in that and Ithink that's important for us as
we support our businesses inour community.
We see that value from everydaypeople in our community, not
(12:42):
just teachers but everybody.
But I think having that housinghere will change that for our
community.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, and people always say it's a small town
with big city amenities.
Yes, this is just one of thoseinitiatives that's going to keep
that same.
You know, walking down thestreet you can see your teacher.
That, you know, makes it staylike a small town and that'll be
really special because the lovefor Bentonville really stems in
the classroom from the teachersand that's just so cool.
So do you think that thishousing model could be adapted
(13:11):
for other sectors in our town inthe next coming years, or what
is the bigger goal here?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I think that we really have to be innovative in
our approaches for building.
We can't build traditionalschools the way we've always
built them, and so that's whyyou see in many cases as
contractors or businesses put upoffice buildings they include
housing, they include retail.
(13:40):
We can think about that as aschool district as well, when we
look at probably what will beour third high school, which
will be our next building.
Likely it will be aprofessional studies building.
I would love to see businessesplugged into that, higher ed or
(14:02):
junior college plugged into that.
We have to be efficient aboutland use and we have to think
Just think outside the box.
I think everyone will benefit.
This community is driven to havea great quality of life.
That's one thing that we thinkabout with all construction, not
(14:26):
just your business, yourpurpose, but how does this
affect the neighborhood aroundme and how can it serve the
community around me?
So as we build and we'retalking about our future
building we're talking a lotmore about hey, how can the
community use this?
Why would we build a buildingthat couldn't be used 24-7 in
the summertime as well?
(14:47):
That's super inefficient.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
That's a huge asset for us because we see those
partnerships with the school,with some of our sporting events
.
Now we could see that with thebusiness world, and I think
that's a huge asset for us.
And I think one of the thingsthat I value what Debbie is
leading on is that theinnovation is at its highest
level of we don't say no tothings.
(15:11):
We say yes, we look to seewhere can we go with those and I
think it's solving for that,yes, but also looking at other
things that are going on around,not just here, but everywhere,
and saying, okay, what's working, what's not working, how can we
do it better, or how can we doit differently that works for
our community.
And I think we talk a lot aboutthat.
(15:31):
And I think when we're talkingabout these ideas, debbie
doesn't keep them to herself.
She brings them to thecommunity leaders and we talk
about the ideas and thedirection we're going in.
How can we all work together tosupport what Debbie's doing?
And I think when you talk aboutit a lot of times, somebody
will say why are you workingwith the superintendent and the
tourism director?
Well, the things she's doingare going to impact our industry
(15:53):
.
So if we're not working together, we're not doing our job, and I
think that's important as welook at the opportunities, the
quality of life initiatives, thefacilities that you're building
, and us being part of thatconversation and saying, okay,
what are our needs in thetourism industry?
How are they building somethingthat we could maybe use in the
future?
And I think those areinnovations that are not
(16:15):
happening other cities and Ithink that's a huge value for us
.
So to me, I give kudos toDebbie and her leadership team,
but our community really does doa good job of working together
with that innovation and also,it doesn't matter whose idea it
is or what works.
It's the idea that it works forour community and that's
(16:35):
important for people tounderstand.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, I feel like tourism here has always been
really pushed by how theresidential quality of life has
been the bedrock of why ourtourism is so successful, and so
the fact that it's kept thatintentionality and it's just
going to keep our residents aregoing to be continuously at the
forefront of all of the qualityof life initiatives, it's just
(16:59):
really, really exciting andtransformative.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And I think that's a talent recruitment opportunity
for our businesses when they'rerecruiting.
It's that quality of lifeinitiative that you talk about,
that business recruitment whenwe're doing that, and the
schools that you're looking at,that talent recruitment.
How do we keep people in ourcommunity?
And I think that's theimportant thing, that we don't
want somebody to be hired andnot be able to find a house.
I mean from the educationalside to fire chief or to the
(17:28):
fire and police department.
We want all of those folks tobe part of our community and so,
being innovative, like Debbie'steam has done with Accelerate,
it will be a game changer forour community.
But I also think it's going tobe a national model that people
can adopt and really run with itand make it work for their
(17:49):
community.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Right.
I've thought a lot about howimportant it is for us to work
together because we have toproduce the best product
students, successful, driven.
I want every industry in thistown to say I hired them,
they're Bentonville High orBentonville West graduate and
they are so successful.
I can't do that unless I canhire the best.
(18:13):
I can't do that unless I canhire the best.
And as people move in town,industry needs to say we have
excellent schools and they'reable to do that, but we have to
be able to produce all of thistogether.
For example, for me to producethe highest quality career ready
(18:33):
student, I need businesses tosay, hey, I need an intern,
these are the skills.
I can come talk to the class orI can take some interns on in
my own business and we havestudents at both of our high
schools and IGNITE that needthose experiences.
We have the pathway for anybusiness that's out there and so
(18:55):
as we succeed, you succeed andit really is.
It takes all of usparticipating to create this
lifestyle.
We want to continue inBentonville.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
What would you say to a teacher that's maybe looking
to move into the area and heardabout this initiative?
May be looking to move into thearea and heard about this
initiative.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I would say watch closely and don't sign a
long-term lease right now,because we'll be announcing some
information, hopefully by theend of the summer, and the
opportunity will be there toapply for, of course, it's 40
cottages.
That's going to go quickly, butthey can also apply for the
other apartment housing in themiddle.
Yeah, fabulous.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Do you guys have a set time for when those will be
done?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Well, it's a building schedule that gets pushed back
a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
You don't ever know.
I can't give a hard timeline,and be honest Makes sense.
Do you have anything to add,kayleen?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I think I'm just excited and thankful for the
vision of the Accelerate andDebbie and her team.
I think that this doesn'thappen with people that are not
innovative and forward thinking,and so we're very, very
fortunate to have them part ofour community, but also part of
(20:17):
our thought leadership in ourcommunity.
Yeah, we are very thankful.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know we raised the bar together.
Think about as Kayleen doessomething.
It's tough to work in this townbecause you have to be
innovative, you have to keep upand if you don't, then you're
falling behind, and so we driveeach other and we have excellent
people.
I find that leaders andteachers, they want to be a part
(20:49):
of the best and that does a lotof recruitment on its own.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And students too.
Students perform so much betterwhen they're a part of the best
.
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
And the opportunity they're getting is just really
incredible, yep.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah Well, thank you both for joining us.
It was fabulous having you onin this conversation.
Don't forget that VisitBentonville is here to help you
navigate things to do, where toeat and stay and what's going on
in our new American town.
Check out the show notes tofollow us on social media,
subscribe to our newsletter andcheck out our website at
visitbentonvillecom.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to A New American Town.
I'm Natalie with VisitBentonville.
Today, we're exploring a vitaltopic for our growing community
affordable housing for educators.
Educators Bentonville's risingpopularity as a national
destination has broughtincredible opportunities, but
also challenges, especially whenit comes to keeping our
teachers and essential workersliving and thriving here.
(00:31):
Joining me is Dr Debbie Jones,superintendent of Bentonville
Schools, and our CEO, kayleenGriffith, to discuss Macaulay
Place, a new affordable housingdevelopment designed
specifically with educators inmind.
We'll explore what this meansfor our schools, community and
the visitor experience.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Thank you, it's a pleasure tobe here.
Thanks, thanks, kayleen.
(00:52):
So I want to kind of set thestage and get a little bit of
background of what inspiredBenville Schools to do this,
because this is the first timeanything like this is ever
happening in America.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It was kind of a surprising accident, and we went
into this process thinking, ohmy gosh, this could never happen
.
But it really started out of aneed.
Bentonville Schools hires about100 teachers every summer.
We're in the process right nowof hiring 100 new teachers to
(01:24):
come into Bentonville schools.
Part of that is just because ofthe significant growth, which
is good.
But again, with growth we havechallenges, and so about three
now, maybe four years ago therewas a summer where we offered
contracts to people, and youhave to know that we have.
We've been very fortunate inthe fact that we've been able to
(01:47):
hire the cream of the crop.
We would have lots of people.
So I was shocked when threepeople in one summer accepted a
contract and then looked forhousing and came back and had to
resign their contract becauseit was too expensive, they
couldn't afford to live here,and so that really alerted me to
(02:08):
the future problem that we weregoing to have.
Yeah, yeah.
And from there we went toAccelerate.
Jeff Webster it's who we alwayswent to Accelerate when we had
a problem, whether it was withour staff who during COVID they
experienced problems Maybe theirhusband was out of work, they
(02:30):
couldn't pay their rent orcouldn't pay some bills.
I always went to acceleratebecause they have really it's a
great nonprofit, well-developedsystems very much supported in
this area and said I don't knowwhat we're going to do.
What does the future look likewhen our teachers can't live in
(02:52):
our town?
And we have really goodexperiences of what that looks
like.
We experience it every year.
This year we're losing one ofour really amazing employees
because his family lives inFedville.
They now have children, theirchildren get into sports and
they're never around and so theywant to be closer to home, and
(03:15):
that's one of the reasons it'sreally really important.
Our staff, our teachers, ourbus drivers everyone really
builds roots in Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and so now, because of all of that, this
partnership with Accelerate hasbecome Macaulay Place, which is
180 different units, 120 ofthose are for multifamily right.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yes, and so you can picture it as two apartments.
There are apartments in themiddle and surrounding that.
We have 42-bedroom multifamilycottages, family cottages, and
those 40 are reserved forBentonville Schools employees.
And so we've seen the sketches.
(04:06):
They're beautiful.
The beautiful part about thisstory is it is the best possible
outcome, because people in townwork together on a problem,
because this is a problem Icould not have solved on my own.
And when we started, my HRperson and my CFO and I said
(04:28):
could this really happen?
No, this is never going tohappen.
This is a dream.
And we walk.
I remember walking out of thatroom and it's like the
impossible dream came true.
Jeff Webster and Acceleratekept working and they'd come
back.
What about this?
And my CFO was saying we havezero dollars.
(04:48):
We have zero dollars.
But together we made it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, wow.
So, kayleen, I want to bringyou in on the conversation.
Bentonville is becoming such awell-known tourist destination
and it's really important thatour essential workers like
teachers, but now also extendingthat hopefully into hospitality
workers what message do youthink this sends to tourists in
our city?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, I think for me it's more important to what
message does it send to ourresidents and our workers in our
community?
And I think one of the thingsI'm super excited about is the
innovation that has happenedwith Accelerate and the school.
It can really tie to thehospitality industry.
If we look at it and I'mlooking at this as an
(05:39):
opportunity for us to visuallywatch for the next year or two
and see how this goes to say,how do we make this work for the
hospitality industry?
How do we support Because I dothink it's important, I think
you talk about it from teachersliving in because they want to
be integrated People that aregoing to work?
They have families, they'reworking at a restaurant and
(06:01):
their schedules are not an eightto five or an eight to four.
They could be a variety ofhours that they could work the
early shift or the late shift.
How do they make it work fortheir family?
And I think this model issomething that I think could be
done in our industry very easily, and you're hearing some of
these different kinds of modelshappening.
(06:22):
I know that the Gulf Shoresworked on a project and seeing
how they could do temporaryworkers.
My friend Beth did that and Ithink, listening and looking and
hearing what they're doing andthen seeing what Debbie and her
team is doing, it reallyliterally could be a game
changer, not just for teachers,not for essential workers, but
(06:43):
also for that hospitalityindustry.
That really does need thatsupport and that partnership
which goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, because all of those people are the heartbeat
of our town.
You could not have Bentonvillewithout our educators, our
frontline workers and ourhospitality workers, and I love
how much you care about that.
It's really fabulous.
So, debbie, sorry, pointing itback to the conversation on
macaulay place and thesignificance of what's happening
(07:10):
there um, so 40 of those unitsare reserved for educators.
Um, is there an idea of whatthe rest of those places will be
used for, because obviously mybrain is going to hospitality
workers?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
um, affordable housing, and so that will hit
the service industry.
And you know, I think manypeople have a misconception of
affordable housing, attainablehousing, and I read every word
of the requirements.
The criteria to get into theapartments is, I promise you,
(07:42):
much more strict than peopleliving in your neighborhood, as
required by federal law, by thegrants, and as far as background
checks no offenses you can'thave a sketchy history and be
able to be accepted to live inthe housing, and so it's going
to be a really incrediblecommunity, not only because we
(08:06):
have teachers and staff there,but what we want, whether it's
in our schools, whether it's inour service industry, I want
teachers to see this as theirtown.
They have a vested interest inseeing every single student in
their classroom be successful,to come back to this town and be
(08:28):
productive citizens, and so ifyou approach your job that way,
I want every single Bentonvilleschool staff to love this town
as much as I do.
We talked about we're nevermoving from here.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
This is a dream.
I honestly wake up every dayand think how fortunate are we.
I just returned, we just threwout a little field trip and took
K through third graders on abus to Crystal Bridges to see Al
Roker, who gets to do that, andthen you walk downstairs and
they give you free pizza.
(09:04):
Not everyone has the incredibleopportunity that we have and we
want to preserve that for thefuture.
We want to grow opportunitiesfor families.
We want to create superproductive, smart graduates that
come back to this town andsupport us when we're really old
and we're tired of working.
(09:24):
I mean, if we throw that kindof passion into our work, then
we will make things like thissucceed.
It wasn't an easy road.
It was a political battle.
It was worth the battle and Iknow as soon as we start
announcing some informationabout application which is going
(09:46):
to be by the end of this summervery soon it's going very well.
I know we're going to have somany staff interested in
applying for this.
The housing you know this is areally unique national model.
Kayleen, you talked about itand this is one of the things
that makes this housing modelunique.
Kayleen, you talked about itand this is one of the things
(10:06):
that makes this housing modelunique.
In Macaulay Place my staff canchoose to buy into a shared
equity about $1,500 a monthwhich they'll pay that for rent
anyway if they're lucky enoughto get an apartment here or they
can choose to pay cheaper rent,which is about half that.
If they buy into the sharedequity model, they can walk away
(10:29):
after five years which is howlong they can live in Macaulay
Place and get about a $50,000check to invest on their new
home.
And that's only becauseAccelerate Foundation owns those
cottages, and so it's abrilliant financial model to
give teachers and staff a chanceto invest in this community.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, when I first heard about that, I was just
blown away Me too.
That will change so manypeople's lives.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We've had lots of interest.
When we ran the numbers andthis is a year ago we had 1,000
employees in our district thatwould qualify, so I expect I'm
watching it closely too.
I can't wait to see theapplication period.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Wow, wow.
Kayleen, how do you think thatthis housing stability for
teachers will be able to supportthe larger ecosystem for
Bentonville?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I think one of the things that Debbie said was the
teachers want to be in ourcommunity.
They want to invest in thecommunity.
They want to be around wherethe kids are living in our
community.
They want to invest in thecommunity.
They want to be around wherethe kids are living and they're
going to be supporting all ofour businesses, from our
restaurants to our retail, on aregular basis.
If they're living here, ifthey're living somewhere else,
they're probably going to dothat on their way home, closer
(11:37):
to their house.
If they're here in ourcommunity, they're going to be
impacting our ecosystem in thecommunity.
I think that's one of the thingsthat I see as a huge value is
that the dollars that they'reinvesting in are coming back
into our community and that'salways a circle effect for us.
But I think it's also how dothey engage with their students?
If they're not in the same areathat their students are, it's
(11:59):
hard to engage in a daily basiswith them.
So I think those are thingsthat are important, and you and
my kids are 25 and 27.
And I just know that when mykids were younger, when they saw
their teacher, how importantthat was to have that
conversation and having thatrelationship that they had and
you knew we saw them in Walmart,we saw them in the retail shop,
we saw them in a restaurant.
(12:20):
So they were spending theirdollars back in our community
and I think that's key to whatis important, because then
there's a value and I think yousaid it is that they want to be
part of that community.
They see a value in that and Ithink that's important for us as
we support our businesses inour community.
We see that value from everydaypeople in our community, not
(12:42):
just teachers but everybody.
But I think having that housinghere will change that for our
community.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, and people always say it's a small town
with big city amenities.
Yes, this is just one of thoseinitiatives that's going to keep
that same.
You know, walking down thestreet you can see your teacher.
That, you know, makes it staylike a small town and that'll be
really special because the lovefor Bentonville really stems in
the classroom from the teachersand that's just so cool.
So do you think that thishousing model could be adapted
(13:11):
for other sectors in our town inthe next coming years, or what
is the bigger goal here?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I think that we really have to be innovative in
our approaches for building.
We can't build traditionalschools the way we've always
built them, and so that's whyyou see in many cases as
contractors or businesses put upoffice buildings they include
housing, they include retail.
(13:40):
We can think about that as aschool district as well, when we
look at probably what will beour third high school, which
will be our next building.
Likely it will be aprofessional studies building.
I would love to see businessesplugged into that, higher ed or
(14:02):
junior college plugged into that.
We have to be efficient aboutland use and we have to think
Just think outside the box.
I think everyone will benefit.
This community is driven to havea great quality of life.
That's one thing that we thinkabout with all construction, not
(14:26):
just your business, yourpurpose, but how does this
affect the neighborhood aroundme and how can it serve the
community around me?
So as we build and we'retalking about our future
building we're talking a lotmore about hey, how can the
community use this?
Why would we build a buildingthat couldn't be used 24-7 in
the summertime as well?
(14:47):
That's super inefficient.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
That's a huge asset for us because we see those
partnerships with the school,with some of our sporting events
.
Now we could see that with thebusiness world, and I think
that's a huge asset for us.
And I think one of the thingsthat I value what Debbie is
leading on is that theinnovation is at its highest
level of we don't say no tothings.
(15:11):
We say yes, we look to seewhere can we go with those and I
think it's solving for that,yes, but also looking at other
things that are going on around,not just here, but everywhere,
and saying, okay, what's working, what's not working, how can we
do it better, or how can we doit differently that works for
our community.
And I think we talk a lot aboutthat.
(15:31):
And I think when we're talkingabout these ideas, debbie
doesn't keep them to herself.
She brings them to thecommunity leaders and we talk
about the ideas and thedirection we're going in.
How can we all work together tosupport what Debbie's doing?
And I think when you talk aboutit a lot of times, somebody
will say why are you workingwith the superintendent and the
tourism director?
Well, the things she's doingare going to impact our industry
(15:53):
.
So if we're not working together, we're not doing our job, and I
think that's important as welook at the opportunities, the
quality of life initiatives, thefacilities that you're building
, and us being part of thatconversation and saying, okay,
what are our needs in thetourism industry?
How are they building somethingthat we could maybe use in the
future?
And I think those areinnovations that are not
(16:15):
happening other cities and Ithink that's a huge value for us
.
So to me, I give kudos toDebbie and her leadership team,
but our community really does doa good job of working together
with that innovation and also,it doesn't matter whose idea it
is or what works.
It's the idea that it works forour community and that's
(16:35):
important for people tounderstand.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, I feel like tourism here has always been
really pushed by how theresidential quality of life has
been the bedrock of why ourtourism is so successful, and so
the fact that it's kept thatintentionality and it's just
going to keep our residents aregoing to be continuously at the
forefront of all of the qualityof life initiatives, it's just
(16:59):
really, really exciting andtransformative.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And I think that's a talent recruitment opportunity
for our businesses when they'rerecruiting.
It's that quality of lifeinitiative that you talk about,
that business recruitment whenwe're doing that, and the
schools that you're looking at,that talent recruitment.
How do we keep people in ourcommunity?
And I think that's theimportant thing, that we don't
want somebody to be hired andnot be able to find a house.
I mean from the educationalside to fire chief or to the
(17:28):
fire and police department.
We want all of those folks tobe part of our community and so,
being innovative, like Debbie'steam has done with Accelerate,
it will be a game changer forour community.
But I also think it's going tobe a national model that people
can adopt and really run with itand make it work for their
(17:49):
community.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Right.
I've thought a lot about howimportant it is for us to work
together because we have toproduce the best product
students, successful, driven.
I want every industry in thistown to say I hired them,
they're Bentonville High orBentonville West graduate and
they are so successful.
I can't do that unless I canhire the best.
(18:13):
I can't do that unless I canhire the best.
And as people move in town,industry needs to say we have
excellent schools and they'reable to do that, but we have to
be able to produce all of thistogether.
For example, for me to producethe highest quality career ready
(18:33):
student, I need businesses tosay, hey, I need an intern,
these are the skills.
I can come talk to the class orI can take some interns on in
my own business and we havestudents at both of our high
schools and IGNITE that needthose experiences.
We have the pathway for anybusiness that's out there and so
(18:55):
as we succeed, you succeed andit really is.
It takes all of usparticipating to create this
lifestyle.
We want to continue inBentonville.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
What would you say to a teacher that's maybe looking
to move into the area and heardabout this initiative?
May be looking to move into thearea and heard about this
initiative.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I would say watch closely and don't sign a
long-term lease right now,because we'll be announcing some
information, hopefully by theend of the summer, and the
opportunity will be there toapply for, of course, it's 40
cottages.
That's going to go quickly, butthey can also apply for the
other apartment housing in themiddle.
Yeah, fabulous.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Do you guys have a set time for when those will be
done?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Well, it's a building schedule that gets pushed back
a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
You don't ever know.
I can't give a hard timeline,and be honest Makes sense.
Do you have anything to add,kayleen?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I think I'm just excited and thankful for the
vision of the Accelerate andDebbie and her team.
I think that this doesn'thappen with people that are not
innovative and forward thinking,and so we're very, very
fortunate to have them part ofour community, but also part of
(20:17):
our thought leadership in ourcommunity.
Yeah, we are very thankful.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know we raised the bar together.
Think about as Kayleen doessomething.
It's tough to work in this townbecause you have to be
innovative, you have to keep upand if you don't, then you're
falling behind, and so we driveeach other and we have excellent
people.
I find that leaders andteachers, they want to be a part
(20:49):
of the best and that does a lotof recruitment on its own.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And students too.
Students perform so much betterwhen they're a part of the best
.
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
And the opportunity they're getting is just really
incredible, yep.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah Well, thank you both for joining us.
It was fabulous having you onin this conversation.
Don't forget that VisitBentonville is here to help you
navigate things to do, where toeat and stay and what's going on
in our new American town.
Check out the show notes tofollow us on social media,
subscribe to our newsletter andcheck out our website at
visitbentonvillecom.
Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.